Atsa Louie Ima Phil Spaghetti Dinner 29-Jun-2011

This is a recipe from the Palermo Brothers, a comedy duo, who had the famous tag line “‘Atsa Louie, I’ma Phil”. This appeared in their autobiography of that name. I am pretty sure it’s out of print now, but you can pick up facsimiles still. This recipe appeared in the paper, which is how I got it. It’s a winner!

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. ground beef
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tbsps. oregano
• 1 tbsp. parsley flakes
• 2 tbsps. sweet basil
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 4 cups tomato puree
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp. sugar

• 2 tbsps. grated Parmesan cheese

• 2 1/2 pounds thin spaghetti
• More grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Firsta, washa you hands!

2. Brown the ground beef in hot oil about 10 minutes, add salt, black pepper, oregano, parsley flakes, sweet basil, chopped onions, and garlic salt. Sauté for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Place in pot with tomato puree, paste, water, sugar, and grated cheese. Simmer on low burner for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally (keep pot uncovered).

4. Put on a huge pot of water, about 6 quarts. Add 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bring to a rolling boil.

5. Add the spaghetti noodles to the boiling water and cook for about 20 minutes. Check on this often as you don’t want to (a) run out of water, (b) overcook the spaghetti.

6. Drain spaghetti and pile on plates. Top with the meat sauce and grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 10-12, depending on appetites.