GREEK STYLE SPAGHETTI

Everyone loves spaghetti. That’s a given. It’s a staple for Sunday evenings with the family. It’s an easy meal for the kids after school. The leftovers are as good or better than the first time. One of the more popular ways is with a rich meaty sauce, like Bolognese.

Over in Greece the spaghetti and meat sauce is  Makaronia me Kima. They may look similar, but Kima uses warm spices like cinnamon, allspice and clove. It really transforms this into something unique

For a few months, I had a Makaronia me Kima recipe planned. Last month, I had a free day, a bushel of fresh tomatoes, and a craving for pasta.

Instead of my planned traditional version of it, I wanted to fancy it up a tad. I wanted to roast up the tomatoes to get a heartier flavor. To really bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes, I drizzled a tiny bit of pomegranate molasses on them. I intended to use balsamic vinegar for this, but did not locate my bottle of it. The result is even better in my opinion.

The result was a fantastic Kima. The heartiness of the sauce and spices completely work together. It was a treat to go overboard on the carbs or a change!

Here’s the recipe:

MAKARONIA ME KIMA WITH ROASTED TOMATOES

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

• 24 oz ground beef. You can also use a combo of beef and pork if you like.
• 5 lb fresh tomatoes cut up in large chunks.
• 1-2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 19 oz jar of tomato passata or puree
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 2 garlic finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 3 whole cloves
• 2 bay leaves.
• 1 tsp ground oregano
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 3 allspice berries
• 1/4 cup parsley chopped
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 tsp black pepper
• salt as needed
• 1 lb spaghetti
• grated mizithra

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the tomatoes into large chunks. Put them in a large bowl. Add a big glug of olive oil. Also add a tablespoon of salt, pepper. Finally, add a tablespoon or two of pomegranate molasses. I added the pomegranate molasses for a touch of sweet caramelization. You can substitute a small bit of balsamic vinegar also.

Toss the tomatoes until it’s evenly coated and pour into a sheet pan.

Roast tomatoes for about 50 minutes, tossing every 15 minutes or so. Near the end, the tomatoes will break down quite a bit and start to turn into a paste. Make sure to keep an eye on it. It can burn quickly. It should not burn as the edges of the pan brown up. Fantastic flavor!

Near the end of roasting, in a large skillet or saucepan, saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Then add the two cloves of garlic and cook for 30 seconds or so.

Add the meat to the pan. Break up the meat to achieve a consistent texture. Cook until the meat is browned. If there is excess grease, spoon some of it off and discard.

Add the cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and black pepper. Save the green herbs until later. If you throw fresh herbs in during cooking, all the flavor is cooked out of them. Also add the oregano, thyme, bay leaves with the tomatoes.

Then add the wine and tomatoes from the sheet pan. At this point, the tomatoes are more like a paste

Add the jar of tomato passata until you get the consistency you want. The sauce should be quite thick. The amount you add depends on the thickness of the roasted tomatoes. I used the whole jar

I let that cook on the lowest simmer for about an hour to meld the flavors.

Cook the noodles according the directions to get an al dente pasta.

Serve the noodles, top with the meat sauce and top that with a snowfall of grated mizithra. Have some garlic bread with it.

Another way to serve it is to place the pasta in a baking dish with a touch of olive oil. Place the sauce over the noodles. Top with mizithra and bake in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes. It turns it into a kind of casserole.

Either way, it turns out super satisfying

OPA!