Memorial Day Dinner

As it was a dreary day here in the Reingau, I somewhat half-heartedly attempted to straighten out my new apartment. This type of work takes long periods of avoidance and procrastination. Since I drove over 100 miles this weekend, I vowed that I would not drive today. And since today is a German holiday too (White Monday- the day after Pentecost?) everything nearby is closed. In any case it was raining off and on all day long, and I did not set foot outside of the house.

I had washed a shelving unit yesterday, and planned to leave it to dry in the sun today. Alas, it sits in the same spot where I left it. It has been wetted and rewetted several times by now. It hasn’t really dried, and the entire thing is plastic so there is nothing to worry about in leaving it be.

No, today was an interior day. Some might say introspective, me … not so much. After I had eaten my breakfast, as previously chronicled, I set about to fixin’ up the place. Work was slow, but deliberate. My new stereo system was working just fine. My last system had a 60 CD changer, and it changed the way I listened to music. Prior to this I would buy a CD or LP and listen to the entire thing. With 60 CDs, I would just hit “Random” and go about my business. It became kind of a radio where I got to choose all of the albums it played, but I had no say over what was played when. It was kind of nice, but now I am listening to entire albums (or CDs) all the way through again. And this is kind of nice too. I guess I need the variety, and surprisingly a 60 CD changer didn’t offer it.

Once you’ve got your top 60 lined up, how much do you really mess with it? It ends up being loaded with greatest hits CDs. There is always some fantastic stuff you just never listen to anymore. Quadrophenia? Both CDs? All the way through? Forget about it! Before I got the changer I used to listen to that all the time while working on my house in KY. Sure you could listen to the 60 CDs any way you wanted to, but random was so easy, and fun. You never knew what as coming next, so there was always an element of surprise. I guess it was sort of a double edged sword.

Before I knew it, it was 1600 in the afternoon. It was then that I started thinking about fixin’ some dinner. Since I am in Germany, I decided on … well … spaghetti, of course.

I had stopped by an Italian grocery on Saturday and picked up some things. Not the least of which were some canned tomatoes and some of the best dried pasta I’ve ever had. I had it once before, back in PA. I bought it at the Italian deli in Hellertown. When I went back to get more, they didn’t have it. When I asked them about it, they looked at me like I was crazy. They had never heard of such a thing!

Truth be told, it was quite a while before I had gone back there and asked about it. I was also probably less than accurate in description of the item; however, any retailer worth his salt should have known what I was talking about. I told the man it was spaghetti, but made with egg, and was squared off instead of round. They started showing me the usual egg noodles that you see everywhere. Eventually I gave up. I was fully prepared to have this be just another in the long list of great things in my life that never seem to repeat themselves. The 6-5 exacta at the Kentucky Derby springs to mind (Go for Gin – Strodes Creek if I remember correctly).

Then I walked into the Italianischer grocery (as the Germans call it). I do not even know the proper name for the place; I just followed the signs that said “Italianischer Grocery”. I had been to another one near where I work, but never to this one. It doesn’t seem to have as much to offer as the one near work does, but it did have THE pasta. The funny thing is that I wasn’t even looking for it. The pasta from that time long ago had faded from memory. Oh I had looked for it in the past; I had asked for it in Italian stores in Virginia and Kentucky. I was always met with the same stare, and the inevitable, “We’ve never heard of such a thing!”

Well here it was. It was sitting meekly on the shelf in the midst of all of the other pasta. I was vindicated! I laughed heartily, “Never heard of such a thing? Hah!”

I think I was unnerving the other customers. The girl at the register gave me the hairy eyeball. I stifled my gratification. Now that I had it in my hands, I would never let it go. I will Xerox the label and hand it to the plebeians who ask me about “good” pasta. But this box will never leave my side!





That said, I needed to set about making some sauce for this Pasta of pastas. Now that I’ve built it up so, I could only hope to do it justice with my sauce making abilities.

I started with some onion and carrot, sautéed in a little olive oil.



Then I added the mushrooms and garlic. After letting them sweat for a while I added some tomato paste and anchovy fillets (trust me they will melt away to nothing, and add a certain oomph that is needed).



After deglazing the pan with some red wine and allowing it to reduce a bit, I added 2 cans of wholes tomatoes. I squished them up in my hands, and put the extra juice into another bowl just in case the sauce is watery and I don’t need it all. Today I used all of the extra juice.

Of course I salted all along the way, and added some herbs &c to the pot. The most different thing I did today was to add a dried lemon to it. I had bought the dried lemons at the Spice Suq in Dubai, and was really just more intrigued with the idea of them than actually having any plan for their use. I had added salt-preserved lemons to sauces in the past and have had really good results with it. I thought that if I just put a whole dried lemon in there, it would soften as it cooked, release whatever goodness it had, and as long as I kept tasting it … well I shouldn’t f*ck it up too bad.

The one thing I didn’t count on was the dried lemon floating. It was like trying to hold a beach ball under water in the pool. I needed to push it to the side, and try and hold it under with the weight of the wooden spatula. I didn’t want to end up having to stand next to the pot, holding the lemon ball under the sauce for a couple of hours.

After adding a secret blend of spices and herbs to the sauce I let it cook for a while. I did tinker with it here and there, but basically just let it simmer for a couple of hours before putting the pasta on. When the pasta was cooked I placed some into a bowl and added some sauce and some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, poured myself a glass of wine.

I was in heaven.

But if you want to make a tomato sauce, do yourself a favor and get a real cookbook.

Don't follow my directions, I don't know what the hell I'm doing!