Italian Throwdown

This weekend, in the land of foodie adventures, I decided to take it back to the first reasonably complicated thing I learned to make. That's The Family Redsauce...which I learned in conjunction with The Family Lasagna (see earlier post). Since I have an upcoming knee surgery that will leave me laid the fuck up for a number of weeks, we were brainstorming things that could be made ahead and preserved to eat, over time. One of which is some red sauce that we can freeze, then thaw for like, spaghetti or whatever else. This was Thursday. Sauce was made, pasta was boiled, all was enjoyed.

Then, since this was the first time I was making The Sauce without making The Lasagna, Michael decided to get all fancy pants and make better-er meatball. Not just the regular ones that I usually make, but the fabled tri-meat, super tender, flavor-blasted ones that people talk about but never actually make. Because, you know, reasons. This was Friday.

So he did. And they didn't suck. In fact, they were awesome. Truly. Awesome.

Heh Heh...balls....

So then, inspiration struck to make fresh pasta. Why not? I had a pasta machine (thank you Stoney!) and a thing I'd never made. I started with a full "batch" then cut it into quarters, to make with various sauce interpretations. The first was the redsauce...baller. Then a small-batch Caccio e Pepe. Dude.  DUDE. Then a throwback to my childhood, and simple butter noodles. Then we were too full and feeling too fat so we decided to dry the last run, split all fancy-like into linguine and spaghetti noodles, seen here....

Theeeeeeeen we brought it all together on Saturday. Rather than MY family sauce (that we had mysteriously run out of), Michael decided to make HIS version. So he did, and it was good.

So good....

There are slight variations that make it different than mine, but still completely awesome. I truly can't decide which one I like more....I guess both, for different reasons....

Then I made some more fresh pasta, because of course I'm now a pro...

Pac-man pasta dough!!!

Add some sausage from the local butcher (rather than regular store bought, obvs), and some leftover meatball heaven, and we've got Saturday night's "Best Spaghetti I've Ever Had" dinner.

It's like sex on a plate.

I have to say....fresh pasta is totally superior. Not in the "it's good but not worth it, really" sense...It's Really. Fucking. Better. Really. If you're making it in conjunction with a sauce or anything else, then really, you've got time. And if you then subtract cook time for fresh vs. dried you come out even, but happier. It soaks up and clings to sauce like dried pasta never could. It also has this wonderful springy, light texture that you just don't get with the boxed stuff. Next time I make The Lasagna, I'm totally making my own noodles.

In summary...
1. There are two very amazeballs redsauce recipes in this house. Win!!!
2. The extra work for fresh pasta is absolutely worth it, especially if you're trying to impress...
3. Meatballs are amazing, no matter what.
4. I'm learning to love Italian Sausage in a way that I never previously considered.
5. I need a day and a half on the treadmill to get rid of this carb-load weekend....
6. I regret nothing.