It's A Regular

I'm not sure how it happened. I read all the food magazines, flip through "food porn" cookbooks, search out the finest local and seasonal ingredients -- and still, the most school cafeteria of entrées has made regular rotation on our table.

To be honest, regular for us isn't quite like some families where Tuesday is meatloaf night but if something shows up more than twice a month it's pretty unusual.

It always starts the same . . . olive oil, chopped onion, sometimes sausage sometimes bacon, garlic, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper and ground beef. I let the beef brown in the oil and add a few TB of tomato paste and let the whole sauce simmer over low heat until the pasta is done. I toss in the drained pasta, a bit of the reserved pasta cooking water and chopped parsley. Give a couple good turns over medium heat and it's comfort food Italo-American style.