“I’m making the Italian dish,” my brother-in-law Shaun Vahl informed Wendi and me this year. I am the third generation on my mother’s side to be born in the United States. Every holiday in an Italian household includes all the traditional foods you would get here, plus the Italian dishes. “Will I like it,” I replied, and Shaun assured me I would. Italian cooking covers a wide spectrum of flavors and ingredients, and I am more partial to the Southern Italy dishes than the Northern Italy ones.
Wendi normally cooks the Italian dish for me. I appreciate her willingness to make sure a family tradition of mine that started in Revere, Mass., continues today, even though we live in Northeastern Ohio. When Shaun informed us he would take care of the Italian dish, she was relieved she didn’t have to worry about what to cook. In the past, we have had lasagna, manicotti, rigatoni and meat sauce, baked rigatoni, pizza, a variety of pasta dishes, including fettuccine alFredo, chicken marsala, cannelloni al forno, and meatball subs.
Christmas arrives, and what does Shaun present? Only a 3-pound meatball stuffed with spaghetti. So, I guess you could say we had spaghetti and meatball. When Shaun came across the dish on the Internet, he knew he had to make it for Christmas. The recipe called for only a quarter pound of spaghetti, and Shaun thought he would need more. He discovered there’s a reason he only needed four ounces of spaghetti and had to take some out. The way he put it, he kept trying to cram more spaghetti into the hole, but it wouldn’t fit.
When Bobby posted a photo of the 3-pound monster meatball on Facebook, everyone wanted Shaun to dish out the secret to making it. He didn’t, until the other day. You can watch a video and get the recipe here.
We have another tradition in our family during the holidays. It is the one in which we determine which of the food dishes brought turns out to be the “broccoli cauliflower casserole” each year. That is the dish that people might try, but don’t go back for seconds. They always say it is because they are “too full” or don’t have room on their plates. A lot of time it is my (Wendi’s) Italian dish. But, oh no, not this time! Everybody made sure to eat Shaun’s spaghetti-stuffed meatball. In my defense, whenever it is time to divvy up the leftovers, we don’t get to bring home much Italian food with us.
It’s not a competition, but maybe I’ll (Wendi) just let Shaun carry on the tradition from now on. I can just sit back and enjoy the food without the worry! If Shaun or Randi want to discuss why we call it the poorly eaten dish the broccoli cauliflower casserole, they can do so in comment section below. If they don’t, you might want to ask them, because it is a good story.