Weekend Cook and Tell: Spaghetti, Meatballs, and Wine

Posted by Caroline Russock, October 7, 2009 at 5:32 PM

Welcome to the Weekend Cook and Tell. Every Wednesday we pore over the food sections of various national newspapers to create a weekend cooking project. We hope you will cook along with us and share your experiences, recipes, and photos here.

This week's inspiration comes from Bill Daley of the Chicago Tribune. Daley, who specializes in wine and spirits wonders why spaghetti and meatballs have fallen out of favor, while other types have pasta dishes have found their way to the spotlight. While browsing through several wine pairing guides, Daley found that barely any of them address what to drink with this Italian-American classic. Maybe it's due to the fact that spaghetti and meatballs rarely appears in restaurants that don't grace their tables with checkered tablecloths and straw-wrapped Chianti bottles. It might not be the fanciest dish, but man, is it good, especially with a nice bottle of wine.

For this week's challenge we want to hear all about your favorite spaghetti and meatballs recipe. Do you have a secret ingredient for perfect meatballs? Is there something that makes your sauce sing? You don't have to be a nonna to accept this challenge but if yours had a great recipe, we want to hear about it.

We also want you to play sommelier, let us know what you are drinking with your pasta. Daley gives some great recommendations for bottles that don't double as candleholders. Chianti is the classic but don't be afraid to try a Chilean Carmenere or even a Cru Beaujolais. So get out that pasta pot and polish those glasses!

Show us your photos on Photograzing (make sure to include "Cook and Tell" in your submission title) and tell us about your recipes here! If you'd like to blog the experience, please leave a link in the comments below. We'll post a round-up of your photos and recipes next Wednesday.

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Tags: meatballs, pasta, spaghetti, Weekend Cook and Tell, wine