Rainy Saturday

    I set out with ambitions greater than I fulfilled yesterday.  I was hoping to polish off another 4 recipes and instead ended up with 2.  It was a lazy rainy day,  but I admit I ended up focused on the funeral and Memorial service for Senator Edward M. Kennedy.   I am not sure if it was the draw of the Kennedy's, the fact that he died of a brain tumor, or that I hadn't really watched a full state funeral  in my life. ( I for some reason wasn't tuned in for Nixon, Ford and Reagan) Anyway, it distracted my goals today.  
   Instead of the Irish impulse I had the night before, I stayed with cleaning out the freezer.  I had Sweet Italian Sausage and more ground beef left.   I made Perciatelli with Sausage Ragu and Meatballs, page 222 and with it the Sicilian Meatballs on the same page.  Perciatelli is apparently like a ridged Penne and I do not have an electric pasta maker ( I owned one once and hated it so I gave it away) and I wanted to make fresh pasta so I made this with homemade fettucini instead.   It was a very rich and delicious dish.  Probably better suited for a cold  February day than August, but it was still really good.  The secret to this dish was in the meatballs.  The meatballs contained, ground almonds, pine nuts and Cinnamon!   The cinnamon is definitely what added the underlying flavor to the meatballs and thus, the sauce.   Actually I did accomplish 3 recipes, becuase I did make Homemade Pasta Dough, Page 209,- sort of but I admit after making pasta for 17 years, and no disrespect to Gourmet editors, I couldn't bring myself to use this recipe again. ( I have tried it before)  I opted for The Joy Pasta recipe, page 9, that I have used for years.  I use 1/2 regular flour and 1/2 00 Pasta flour I buy from the Italian Specialty store in Chelsea Market.  I had no Chanti around so I drank it with a  cheap Red Argentinian wine that was intended for Sangria, but it worked really well with this dish.
     I intended to make a salad and dessert, but just never got to it.  Instead Coco ate the Apple Crisp that I ate for breakfast.  (It was delicious) I abstained from dessert as I did eat mine for breakfast.