Let me start by saying if you haven’t seen the TV show ‘The Bear’ (available on Hulu), you need to! It is hands down one of the best shows I’ve seen in a very long time. The acting is top-notch, the writing is superb, and if you’re a foodie, the cooking makes you want to run to the kitchen! If you’re already a fan, then you know that the Family Meal Spaghetti is a big part of the show (If you haven’t made it to the end, I suggest you stop here and come back once you have). And if you’re a foodie like me, you’ve probably been thinking a lot about how to make the spaghetti recipe written on that index card. Because Carmy made most of the dish off camera, I thought a lot about how it could be done. I mean, I thought about it for days. I never saw it done that way and needed to fill in the blanks. So, I made my version, and I have to say, it’s a delicious way to make a marinara sauce! I used the recipe ingredients on the card, even though Carmy didn’t. If you want a recipe for his version – check out this recipe on buzzfeed. I used the few clips we had from the show to come up with the cooking method. There are a few ways it could be done, but I tried to keep it quick and easy. I hope you enjoy it and I’d like to think that Carmy and his brother would approve. Thank you, Chef!
How To Make Family Meal Spaghetti (From The Bear)
Start with putting a large pot of salted water for the spaghetti over high heat.
San Marzano tomatoes: These are sweet with low acidity and worth paying for as long as they have the DOP-certified seal on the can. If you can’t find them, substitute them with whole Roma tomatoes. You’ll need two 28oz/800g cans (the small cans taste better). When I lived in the UK, I found that 400g cans were much more readily available, so if that’s the case where you are, four of those will be just fine.
Fresh Basil: You can find this in the herb section of most supermarkets. You’ll need a big handful for this recipe—no need to chop or remove the leaves – stems and all.
Add a half cup of olive oil, 10 cloves of peeled garlic, and a handful of fresh basil (stems and all) to a small saucepan.
Turn the heat to medium-low. Once the mixture comes to a slow boil, let it simmer for a few or until the basil is wilted.
I did this in stages, adding a little basil at a time and then removing it once it wilted. Then I repeated the process to get as much flavor into the oil as possible. You don’t want to let the basil get crispy.
Remove the basil and set it aside while you finish cooking the garlic to a light golden color.
Remove the pan from the heat, add the basil to the pot and allow the mixture to cool.
Add the tomatoes, garlic, and basil to a food processor or blender with 2 tablespoons of the oil. The infused oil helps the sauce emulsify into a silky smooth texture and adds extra flavor.
Puree until it reaches your desired smoothness. Season with salt and pepper, and then heat the mixture over medium heat in a deep skillet until it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer the sauce until thickened.
This is a good time to cook the spaghetti. You want it to be cooked until it’s just under al dente. It will finish cooking in the sauce.
Add the chopped herbs to the sauce, and taste for seasoning. Add more salt as needed. Just be careful here because you may be using the salty pasta water to loosen the sauce, and you don’t want to overseason.
Add the pasta to the thickened sauce and toss to coat.
Cook until the pasta is al dente, adding pasta water to help loosen the sauce as it cooks with the pasta.
Add some fresh chopped basil or parsley, taste for seasoning, and add more salt as needed before serving.
There you have it- Family Meal Spaghetti (From The Bear)
Erren’s Kitchen is written and produced for informational intentions only. We are not certified nutritionists, and the nutritional information found on this site has not been assessed or authorized by a nutritionist or the FDA. The nutritional information found in our recipes is offered as an estimate and should not be considered a guarantee or fact. The estimated data is provided as a courtesy and calculated through a third-party online nutritional calculator, spoonacular API. Although we do our best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered rough estimates. Many factors, such as brands or products purchased and the nutritional fluctuations that naturally occur in fresh produce, can alter the effectiveness of the nutritional information in any recipe. Furthermore, various online calculators provide different results depending on their particular algorithms and nutrition fact sources. To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
