Spaghetti with Sweet Butter and Heinz Ketchup Circa 1953... YUM!

Spaghetti with sweet butter and ketchup. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. As far back as I can remember....ohhhhh somewhere around 1953 in Brooklyn, N.Y., this was a dish my grandmother Hazel and my "Aunt" Sadie would make for me, my brother Paul and everyone else.

My granddaughter Emma's favorite since is...hmmmmm...guess what?

To this day, some people just can't imagine the taste...and when I ask if anyone wants some, I get the age old response of "Ewwwww" or "Arrgghhhh".

"Did you ever taste it" I ask?

No!

So how do you know you won't like it?

I was in Los Angeles last week and whipped up a quick batch of my famous sweet butter and ketchup for Alan and his son, Cooper. You never saw 2/3 of a pound of spaghetti, 5 Tbsp of butter and ohhh, about 8 ounces of ketchup disappear so fast.
Alan asked why do they even bottle spaghetti sauce while Cooper was in non stop sweet butter and ketchup heaven, as the pics above will attest.
Two more converts.
While getting a haircut recently by my buddy Eddie, he proceeds to tell me about how he and his 3 brothers were brought up on elbow macaroni made with Velveeta cheese and Campbells tomato soup. An hour later, my waiter Ben at Vincent's in Carle Place proceeds to tell me about his father who thrived on spaghetti with Velveeta cheese and Ketchup.
I  even remember many years ago...while raving about my butter and ketchup recipe, my dentist Artie raved right back about his spaghetti with cream cheese and ketchup.
We'll call her Nancy P. After reading this entry, she confessed for her love of spaghetti with sauce and Velveeta cheese...AND... placing dollops of cream cheese in her tomato soup.
Sounding familiar?
I guess as strange as it sounds, these recipes to some degree, were borne out of necessity long ago. They thrived for many years and it is now my pleasure to share them with you. Remember...if you never tasted it, you can't knock it. 
Wanna see unusaul, wierd and strange recipes...just Google them.

Not everyone has the technique...so here it is. Follow it explicitly and you will become a convert.

*About 10 oz of thin spahgetti or vermicelli...or really any shape you like

*About 5 Tbsp sweet butter (I love Plugra or Land O Lakes)

*About 8-10 ounces of Heinz Ketchup

* 2 tsp kosher salt

* slice butter into pats so it can melt quickly when added to pot in last step

*Boil at least 4 quarts of water and when water starts to boil add 2 tsp kosher salt

*Immediately add pasta & cook until soft..not mushy and not, in this case, al dente...which is the way one MUST cook their pasta normally

*Drain pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of pasta water

*Immediately add butter and reserved water to pot to melt butter...add pasta immediately and cook over medium heat stirring quickly for about 30 seconds
*Remove from heat, add room temperature ketchup, stir quickly for another 30 seconds and serve. Wanna add more ketchup on top, be my guest 

*Thats it...Yum City

 An aside: Ketchup does not need to be refrigerated. For everyday use, it will also taste much better at room temperature. .

One more thing...

There are sooooooooo many strange recipes in this world. Strange or unusual, however, is relative.
If you have any doubts at all, GOOGLE "Strange Recipes"!

Check out the tomato bread below made with butter. Sound familiar?
Moral of the story...and you've heard it before...
Don't knock it until you've tried it.

Mangia Baby!

Bert


Please feel free to comment.

   

You must have come across innumerable types of breads like garlic bread, brown bread, milk bread, fruit bread and so on but you might not have heard about the tomato bread.

This bread retains the tangy flavor of tomato and deeply reminds you of your favorite tomato soup that you had always ordered first in the starters. Besides tomato, you can also savor the excellent taste of cloves, butter and brown sugar.