Napolitano Spaghetti - Recipe

A baked spaghetti dish
As you probably already know, spaghetti is a type of noodle and not something you get out of a Chef Boyardee can. So there are literally thousands of things you can do with spaghetti (therefore, saying spaghetti noodles is redundant). The traditional way to eat spaghetti is with a marinara sauce over the noodles and maybe a big meatball on top. It is easy to make. Just take my rich tomato sauce and spread it over the spaghetti. Eat it with meatballs if you like and some Parmesan on top. But I have a baked spaghetti dish that I hope you will find special.
Ingredients (6 servings):

• 3 to 4 cups tomato sauce
• 1/2 to 1 pound of my meatballs fried until brown (made into the size of ping pong balls)
• 8 oz. of fresh sliced mozzarella cheese (enough to cover the baking dish)
• 20 Kalamata olives halved - you can use green olives if you prefer
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 pound of spaghetti (fresh if you have time to make it)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Boil a couple of quarts of water with a teaspoon of salt. Once it is boiling, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente (about 5 minutes for fresh spaghetti - add a touch of oil if it is fresh to keep it separated). Pour the water off using a colander and then place the spaghetti back into the pan used to boil it. Pour two cups of the tomato sauce in with the spaghetti and mix. Place the spaghetti into a large baking dish and put the meatballs on top (actually stick them down some into the spaghetti). If you prefer to have less meat, use 1/2 pound of meatballs. Sprinkle the olive halves on top and then pour 1 or two cups of tomato sauce over the mixture depending on how much sauce you like. Drizzle the butter over the top and sprinkle with thyme. Cover with mozzarella, and bake for 45 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown.
Jack Botticelli

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