Leftover Corner: Spaghetti and Meatballs to Italian Burrito

I don't quite know what got into me this week. I've had a lone tortilla in the refrigerator for a while now, quietly mocking me and my lack of beans, rice, or any other Mexican fare, so that might have something to do with it.

Maybe I felt like channeling my inner child and playing with my food. Maybe I've lost my marbles. You be the judge.

I humbly present, for your approval, the Italian Burrito.

Ingredients:

1 Large Tortilla

Leftover Tomato Sauce

2 Leftover Meat Balls

1 Small Handful of Spaghetti

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Steps/Analysis:

First, get a pot of water boiling over High heat. Salt the water and add the spaghetti. Try to remember that cooked pasta always looks like more than when it was stiff and dry. This is going to be crucial when you try to fit it into a tortilla.

As the spaghetti cooks, break out your leftovers! Cut up two meatballs into bite-size pieces and set them aside.

If you have a George Foreman grill, as I do, or a panini press, you'll want to warm it up now. If not, you'll have to experiment with a pan on the stove top as we go along.

Now that I think about it, the oven might work as well, on very low heat.

At any rate, once your pasta is done, drain it as thoroughly as possible and return it to the pot. It's residual heat is going to help dry the pasta as well, which is very important to the integrity of the tortilla.

Add a few spoonfuls of leftover sauce to the pasta and stir to coat.

Get your tortilla out and prepare it with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese. Next, situate the spaghetti in the tortilla's center. Arrange the meatballs on top and spoon on a little more tomato sauce. Sprinkle a little more cheese over everything.

Wrap the tortilla as well as you can. Unfortunately, I cooked a little too much spaghetti and could not tuck in my ends--as you'll see in my pictures. That means I had to be a little more careful in placing it on the Foreman.

Serving/Notes:

Because my wrapping was a little untidy, I attached this beast with a fork and knife at first. Surprisingly, though, as I ate, I found that it was possible to pick the Italian Burrito up and eat it as I had originally intended.

My goodness, the tortilla is a marvelous thing, isn't it?

As far as taste is concerned, this isn't all that different from eating spaghetti and meatballs in the more conventional way. It is, however, a lot more fun, I think. In that respect, this was a worthwhile little experiment.

Rustic Tomato Sauce

Didn't I tell you I'd be back? Didn't I?!

Coming from a large, Italian family, I've never made my own tomato sauce. There's always been someone around the who handled it. Someone who's been cooking sauce longer than I've been alive.

Since that is no longer the case, though, I'd give it a shot. Too proud (read: stupid) to ask for my mother's recipe, I tried to throw together my own, simple tomato sauce.

Ingredients:

1 Onion

1 Bell Pepper

2 28-oz Cans of Crushed or Diced Tomatoes
6 Cloves of Garlic

3 Teaspoons of Red Pepper Flakes

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Oregano

Olive Oil

Steps/Analysis:

To begin, dice the onion and bell pepper into uniform pieces. Peel and finely chop the cloves of garlic.

Put a large pot over high heat. Coat the bottom with a thin layer of olive oil and throw in your chopped onion, pepper, and garlic. Add your red pepper flakes and oregano and leave to saute. You really want to break the onion and bell pepper down about as far as they'll go. Stir occasionally, but don't move on at least until the onions are translucent.

Next, add the canned tomatoes. I chose diced, simply because it was the cheapest canned tomato option. Looking back, though, I'd recommend crushed. I have a hunch it would make a smoother, thicker sauce.

Stir to thoroughly incorporate everything and bring the pot to a simmer. Keep an eye on it, but the sauce will need to cook like this for at least an hour. That way, a lot of the water will evaporate out of the pot and the solid tomatoes will have a chance to break down. If you can let it go even longer, it'll only get better.

This is an easy recipe, but it is not a quick one.

When you're satisfied with the consistency of your sauce (or when you can't stand the waiting any longer because your kitchen is full of the smell of Italian cookery) remove from the heat and serve.

Serving/Notes:

Because I chose diced, my tomatoes stayed mostly solid throughout the cooking process. Ultimately, I decided to just call it "rustic" and chow down.

Naturally, I served this sauce over spaghetti. I also had a leftover chicken breast laying around, which I let simmer with the sauce for the last half hour or so.

The sauce didn't cling to the pasta as well as it might have, but was quite tasty otherwise. It had a nice kick to it. Also, the proportions of the recipe will leave lots of leftovers if you're only feeding yourself: probably enough for a week or so.