Ketchup Spaghetti (AKA “Depression Spaghetti”)

Grama Dee grew up during the Great Depression in one of the most poverish towns in Missouri. They raised rabbits and chickens to eat and growing up in such dire straits as she did, she was not one to ever waste food.

Many times I would watch her in disbelief as she scraped the mold off some old bread and eat it with a slab of butter. When she caught my looks of shock and horror, she would roll her eyes at me and say…”Julie Anne, a little mold never hurt anyone.” I begged to differ…but that’s beside the point, because old habits die hard, and for her…wasting food just wasn’t an option. Many times she would scrape our plates clean, and then…when the last spoonful of green beans just could not be eaten…she would save it in an old margerine tub, put it in the refrigerator to be eaten another time.

This used to drive my mom crazy because whenever my grama came over for dinner (which was a few times a week at least), we’d have 20 margerine tubs full of food that NOONE was ever gonna touch. But then Grama Dee would come over again the next day or so, and sure enough…she’d take out that margerine tub full of those 10 green beans and eat them. So nothing ever really did go to waste.

Anyway…one of the most important food memories that I (and everyone in my family) has of my Grama Dee, is her most beloved Depression staple, ketchup spaghetti. From the time I could slurp down a noodle, I’ve been eating it. And it’s my dad and cousin Brian’s favorite food. I’m not kidding, it really is. There are so many memories surrounding this one dish, that they’d be far too many to write here.

But one of the most comical, was the first time my poor brother-in-law, Mark encountered this infamous dish. Now, Mark is 100% Italian (or EYE-TAIL-YUN as Grama Dee used to say) and he was horrified that a spaghetti noodle could be so abused. IN EVERY WAY. But he was a good sport, and for my sister (and our grama) he obliged us all, and tried a bite. After his first gag reflex kicked in…my dad howled with laughter, and my poor grama was never able to convince Mark to eat another bite, no matter how many times she tried.

Yep, true enough, ketchup spaghetti is not for the weak of palette, because unless you were raised on the stuff like I was, I can’t imagine most people would react much different than Mark did. But as gross as it must seem to most, it is the one food I hold dearest to my heart, and will never, EVER tire of eating until the day I die.

So I probably don’t have to tell you that ketchup spaghetti was born out of the Depression because all it required was spaghetti and ketchup and of course, the hillbilly requirement to any dish…BUTTER.

Times were tough, and that’s all I know. My grama used to tell me that when her family did happen to have a few extra pennies, they would fancy it up with some sugar, onion and ground beef. But most of the time, it was just simply noodles and ketchup. While my grama was known to mix it up every once in a while and make it with elbow macaroni, for my purposes here, I’d like to keep it real, and stick with the way she usually made it – with spaghetti noodles. So here it is…(and I’m giving you the fancified version, with the onion and ground beef, and if you’re too poverish for that, then you can just omit those from the recipe)…

KETCHUP SPAGHETTI recipe from Doris Foxworthy

INGREDIENTS: (see photo)
1/2 lb Spaghetti
1 24 oz bottle of Heinz Ketchup
1 lb Ground Beef
1 Medium Onion
1/4 stick Butter
1 Tbsp Sugar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut up medium sized onion to a small dice.
2. Cook the spaghetti according to package directions.
3. While the spaghetti is boiling, heat a large skillet over high heat and throw in the diced onion with a little bit of butter.
4. Saute the onion until it’s just translucent (not brown) and then add the ground beef.
5. Saute the beef mixture until the meat is cooked through.
6. Drain the cooked spaghetti and return to pot.
7. Combine beef mixture and spaghetti.
8. Squeeze in about 3/4 of the bottle of ketchup until the noodles are good n’ saucy then add the butter, sugar, salt and pepper to taste.
9. Heap a pile of noodles on your favorite plate and see what all the fuss is about.

I really, really hope that you like this ketchup spaghetti, but if you don’t? Well, I won’t feel so bad, as you probably only wasted less then $6.

4 comments January 18th, 2006

Would you like some squash with your butter?

Six months after my Grama Dee passed away, my family was a sad mess. It was the first time in all our lives, that we’d not had our beloved grandma around to prepare us our New Year’s Day feast. And to add to that gloom, it was also the first anniversary for me and my siblings of my father telling us that he was divorcing our mother. Needless to say, January 1st, 1999 was not the happiest of days for me.

So in order to give myself a little bit of comfort, I decided that I would make my own little New Year’s Day feast. One of the essential menu items being my grama’s “squash” as she called it. But unfortunately, I’d never learned how to make my grama’s squash. So I furiously went through all my recipe cards she’d sent me over the years, and then realized that I did not have it. I really did not know how to make her squash. And when that fact hit me, well…I guess you could say that I had a bit of a meltdown. My back slowly slid down the front of my refrigerator, until my body was collapsed into a heap on the floor of my tiny apartment kitchen. My body racked with sobs, missing my grama, and our family traditions, wanting so much for my mom and dad to be together again, and feeling just plain miserable that our family had deteriorated so much in one short year.

Then somehow, the tears stopped, and it occurred to me that I was being stupid, because of course my Aunt Fran would know how to make Grama’s squash! She was her only daughter, and my Grama Dee had lived with my Aunt Fran and her family for over 20 years! Excitedly, I called up my aunt and said “Aunt Fran, I’m really sad. I want to make grama’s squash, but I don’t know how.” She cracked up laughing and said “Well, Julie Anne, all it is, is a can of pet milk, a half stick of butter, and some boiled yellow squash sliced up in a pot.”

I was dumbfounded. Something so tasty? THAT SIMPLE? No way. But yes, it’s true. I found out, that some of the tastiest things are no more than a can of pet milk and a stick of butter, plus a vegetable or two.”Sweetie…that’s it. And Grama Dee used to like a lot of pepper, so don’t forget to add lots of pepper.” I sniffled…”I remember. I won’t forget.”

And so, here it is. A recipe so simple, even my dad could make it (and he barely knows how to open a can of Campbell’s).

BUTTERED SQUASH recipe from Doris Foxworthy

5-6 small yellow squash
1 can pet milk
1/2 stick butter
dash salt
dash black pepper

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice up your squash, in about 1/4″ slices.
2. Add squash to a pot of boiling water (a medium-sized saucepan will do the trick).
3. Boil until squash are tender, then drain.
4. Return squash to pot, and add pet milk, butter, salt and pepper.
5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally until sauce thickens slightly, and squash begins to break down
6. Ladle a huge spoonful into your favorite bowl, and enjoy!

Add comment January 18th, 2006

“Cornbread! Ain’t nothin’ wrong wid dat!”

Those words were once uttered by Chris Rock. And I say, “No there isn’t, Mr. Rock, indeed there is nothin’ wrong wid dat.”

Now, when it came to cornbread…my Grama Dee was known for just poppin’ a box of Jiffy cornbread mix in the oven, and callin’ that shit a day. Which, yeah I know…not very southern of her…but then again? It WAS pretty dang tasty. Anyway…as I was making my “good luck” beans this year, I didn’t happen to have a box of Jiffy in my vast and expansive pantries just then (SHOCK, i know since just about everything else is in there). I did have, however, a box of yellow cornmeal that was just begging to be joined with a little sugar, milk and eggs. So I scoured the web for a decent cornbread recipe and I stumbled upon a pretty tasty one from Jeremy Jackson found in his book titled “The Cornbread Book” and so I share it with you all here:

SWEET CORNBREAD recipe from Jeremy Jackson’s “The Cornbread Book”

INGREDIENTS (see photo)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1-cup cornmeal
5 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2-teaspoon salt
1-cup milk
1/3-cup canola oil
1 large egg, slightly beaten

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease and 8 or 9-inch square pan.
2. Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Form a well in the mixture and add the milk, oil, and egg. Stir just until everything is combined – there should still be scattered clumps of flour, about the size of baby peas or BBs.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 24 to 30 minutes, until the cornbread is starting to brown slightly (especially at the edges) and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve hot.

The only thing I changed was that instead of the square pan, I used a cast-iron skillet, it just seemed more legit to do it that way. As for the recipe…it was pretty tasty. Could you expect anything else from a mizzoureh-raised hillbilly boy? Nice work, Jeremy.

Add comment January 18th, 2006