Espaguetis con Atun y Salsa de Tomate (Spaghetti with Tuna and Tomate Sauce)

This is a dish from a collection of recipes from Almonte, Andalucia, Spain.  It is a very simple dish, you can use store-bought tomato sauce, or make your own.

Ingredients:
400 gr. (1/2 lb) Spaghetti
can of tuna
can of tomato sauce (or homemade)
grated cheese
olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
bay leaf
ground nutmeg
salt and pepper

In a large pan, heat olive oil and saute garlic.  As soon as they start to turn golden, add cooked spaghetti, ground nutmeg, tuna (broken-up with a fork) salt and pepper.  Then add the tomato sauce and mix.

Serve with grated cheese and chopped parsley.  You can also put the finished product in a casserole and bake until crispy on top.

Pasta all'Amatriciana

This is a very simple pasta dish that originates in Rome. It is originally made with guanciale (cured pork-cheek) but can also be made with either smoked or salt-cured bacon.  You can either use homemade or canned tomato sauce.  Be careful when adding salt as the bacon is pretty salty.

Ingredients (Serve 3 to 4)
90 g (about 1/2 cup) Guanciale or smoked/salt-cured bacon
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
500 g (1 lb,) pasta or your choice (spaghetti, rigatoni, etc)
pecorino or pecorino romano

In a skillet, fry the guanciale or bacon until lightly crispy.  Add the tomato sauce and let simmer.  Meanwhile, cook the pasta according the box instructions.  I usually cook the pasta one minute less than the box indicates to ensure that it is al dente.  When the pasta is done, drain and mix it into the sauce.  Serve with plenty of grated cheese on top.

Hungarian Stuffed Peppers (Töltött paprika)

This is a very hearty and delicious Hungarian meal.  Here in Germany its possible to find the long 'corno' peppers from Hungary, otherwise any long and green pepper will do.

Ingredients:
8-10 green peppers (sweet or mildly hot)
500 g (1 lb) ground beef and pork
1 small onion, grated
50 g (1 3/4 oz) lard (or butter)
50 g (1 3/4 oz) rice
1 kg (2 lbs) tomatoes, chopped
40 g (1 1/2 oz) flour
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the top off the green peppers, remove the seeds and ribs.  Add the onion in some lard or butter, stirring frequently.  Mix the ground meet with the rice, onion, salt and pepper.  Loosely fill the green peppers with the stuffing and make a hole in the middle with the end of a spoon so they have room to expand.  Place the stuffed peppers in a pot and pour hot, salted water on top and cover them.  Cook on low heat for 50 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a another pot, cook the tomatoes with a little water and reduce to a pulp, pass through a food mill or blend with an immersion blender.  Prepare a roux from the flour and some lard (or butter), stir in the tomato puree. flavor with sugar, salt and pepper.  Then pour over the stuff green peppers and cook for another 10 minutes.  Serve with boiled potatoes or dumplings.

Madrid-Style Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (Albóndigas con Tomate)

Spanish-Style meatballs have always been one of my most favorite dishes.  There was a tapas bar in Jerez, Spain that I ate at frequently as a child called Bar Alegria (Happiness Bar) and that was certainly the feeling you got as you devoured those meatballs.  Since then, my aunt and mother have been trying tirelessly to replicate that beloved balls of meat.  I was always more than happy to try each and every one of their attempts.  Unlike the Italian cousin of this dish, Spaniards tend to eat meatballs with fried potatoes.  Gotta love anything fried in oil.  This is a recipe I got at a book fair in Madrid.  It is called Madrid Al Fuego

Ingredients for 6 people

1 lb. ground beef/pork mixture
2 cloves or garlic, minced
1 teaspoon parsley
fist sized quanity of left-over inside of bread
equal quantity of milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
6 tablespoons of flour
vegetable oil for frying
2 big potatoes, cut into pieces

For the sauce:
3 tablespoons of oil that the meatballs were fried in
1 medium sized-onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup tomate frito (or homemade tomato sauce/tomato puree)
3/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

In a big bowl, mix the meat, garlic, parsley, white pepper, salt, cinnamon and bread together and blend together.  Then mix in the eggs.  At this point, its best to let this mixture set for about an hour, covered, while the flavors blend together.  Now, roll the meatballs about the same size as ping-pong balls.  Set aside.

Now in a deep pan, add oil and allow it to heat up.  Add the flour to a wide plate, and roll the meatballs, then, place them one by one into the oil and brown on each side.  Once the meatballs are brown on each side, remove and reserve.  Finish browning all the meatballs.

Once the meatballs are all brown, use some of the oil from frying the meatballs and add the onion and cook.  Cook until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.  Then add tomato sauce, white wine, water, salt and cumin.  Now, return all the meatballs to the pan and cover.  Let the meatballs simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are cooked completely.  Serve over fried potatoes with a generous helping of the sauce.