Taylor Swift with her hair down, wearing a plaid choker necklace – Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images
Taylor Swift may be a Grammy-winning, Platinum-selling pop star with the access (and the means) to hire a team of personal chefs. During her downtime, you’re more likely to find her rolling up her sleeves and getting her own hands dirty in the kitchen. From whipping up homemade pop tarts for fiancé Travis Kelce’s football team to fine-tuning her sourdough skills, the muiscal hit-maker’s love for baking in particular is no secret. But she knows her way around plenty of savory entrées, including a spaghetti and meatballs dish from none other than Ina Garten (who happens to be one of Swift’s BFFs).
In an interview with Elle, the songstress revealed the three celebrity chef recipes she’ll be making “for life.” Among them? The Barefoot Contessa’s Real Meatballs and Spaghetti. This version calls for meatballs made from three different types of ground meat (veal, beef, and pork), along with fresh breadcrumbs to help bind and tenderize.
But as the “All Too Well” singer told Elle, she puts her own spin on it, in line with Ina Garten’s “store bought is fine” philosophy: “I just use packaged bread crumbs and only ground beef for meat.” Since she only mentioned those two swaps, it seems she keeps everything else that makes the meatballs special, including the mixed-in Parmesan and nutmeg. As for the all-important sauce, Garten’s stands out for a boozy inclusion: a half cup of good red wine, such as Chianti, which adds depth and complexity to the whole shebang.
Read more: Here’s What Taylor Swift Really Eats In A Day
The origins of spaghetti and meatballs might surprise you
Spaghetti, meatballs, and tomato sauce in a white bowl – Olga Mazyarkina/Getty Images
Ina Garten’s (and Taylor Swift’s) go-to version elevates the dish that most of us associate with candlelit restaurants, cozy nights in, and, of course, classic Italian cuisine. But, old school though it is, the iconic combo actually wasn’t invented in Italy. The surprising truth about spaghetti and meatballs is that it actually originated right here in the United States.
During the Italian immigration boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, newly minted Italian-Americans could afford to buy more meat. Traditional Italian meatballs, known as polpettes, started getting bigger and denser, made with more meat than breadcrumb filler. Meatballs as we know them today were born — and they could be enjoyed far more frequently than they could back in the motherland, where purses were much tighter at the time.
Adding those meatballs to marinara sauce can also be credited to the Italian-Americans, who had easy access to canned tomatoes and could whip up the simple sauce quickly and easily. Even the idea of eating pasta as a main course was an immigrant invention. Back in Italy, it was (and still is) primarily served as an appetizer or side dish. But whether you take a page from Swift and look to the Contessa’s recipe, try making it in a slow cooker, or even turn it into a casserole, we can all agree that spaghetti and meatballs is certainly a meal in itself — and a seriously comforting one at that.
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Read the original article on Mashed.
Dining and Cooking