Midnight Spaghetti

What is midnight spaghetti? Simply put, it is a delicious pasta recipe. It’s quick, easy, filling, and relatively inexpensive. Great, let's get started! Before we do, let me tell you a little about what this recipe means to me. The dictionary defines a recipe as “something which is likely to lead to a particular outcome”, a formula, or a blueprint. Cooking to me is more of an art form.

Sometimes it is slow, passionate, and tender. Like when you go on vacation somewhere snowy and secluded. The drive up there is fairly dull but scenic. You just want to get there and settle in for a relaxing 3 day weekend. After about 4 hrs you arrive in town, the last stop before the cabin you have heard so much about. You spend some time in the boutiques and restaurants of the small alpine town to grab a few things before heading to the cabin. The cabin that you are staying in is rustic and cozy. It smells of aging wood and something else, something sweet. The fireplace is warm and welcoming, it gently crackles as you warm yourself by the fire. Both of you wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of everything. No tv, no reception, no internet, just the two of you. You talk, sharing secrets with each other that are deep and intimate, secrets neither of you intended on telling. Maybe it was the wine, the new atmosphere, understanding who they are as a person in a much more profound way but passions take you both. There on the bearskin rug, by the crackling fire, clothes were strewn about in haste. Slow and calculating at first, but rhythmic and powerful like the rising tide in an oncoming storm. With full eye contact, you gaze deeply into each other's soul, one million unspoken things conveyed with a single look. The storm hits, lightning, thunder, sound, and fury. The storm rages on, harder and longer than you expected. One of your legs trembles, it's never done that before. Breathing heavily a feeling of contentment washes over you. Emotionally and physically satisfied you both lie there a moment in a sweaty embrace. Your partner turns to you and says “midnight Spaghetti then round two?”.

You watch, nude from under a fur blanket on the leather couch, as your partner takes out a frying pan and a saucepan. They fill the saucepan with water and put it on the burner at a high setting. The frying pan, obviously the superior cast iron variety, goes on another burner which they set on low heat. They get two lumps of ground beef, make the patties, and put them in the frying pan. When the patties are ready to turn your partner adds some cheese of your choice. You chose pepper jack, spicy and romantic. About this time, the water should be boiling and they add the pasta. It can be any pasta, but you were promised midnight spaghetti, so they use spaghetti. You watch as they search for the fresh Italian bread that you picked up in town hours earlier. As they do, they flex their butt just a bit to see if you are paying attention. You were. Patties go on the bread, and the pasta is strained and plated. Then they grab the vodka sauce you also picked up earlier. They explain with a wink that it can be any sauce, even Prego. Top with parmesan and pepper, and serve. You eat the spaghetti first and use the burger and bread to clean up the excess sauce. Contemplating what round two might involve.