Spaghetti Western

This hearty spaghetti dinner has authentic roots and flavor. Our earthy, flavorful porcini meat sauce is a variation on a family recipe from Blair Erigero of Stockton, California, whose grandparents brought the recipe when they came to San Francisco from Italy in the 1880s.

Our porcini meat sauce or savory roasted eggplant marinara serves 8 to 12; choose one for a party, or make both for a really big crowd. Either is delicious with tender, juicy meatballs, made from a recipe that three generations of the Gonnella family have served up at the Union Hotel in Occidental, California.

Round out the menu with toasted garlic bread, plenty of parmesan cheese and easygoing red wine, and a simple layered ice cream terrine with spumoni flavors, and you have a homey dinner that’s perfect for a crisp fall evening.

START WITH ANTIPASTI

Put together a family-style first course with three or four of these purchased or easily assembled items.

•Canned kidney or white beans tossed with minced garlic and olive oil

•Pepperoncini

•Roasted bell pepper strips

•Mozzarella cheese sticks

•Rolled thinly sliced salami or mortadella

•Rinsed, trimmed radishes

•Olives

Recipes:

Roasted Eggplant Marinara Sauce

Porcini Meat Sauce

Union Hotel Grand Meatballs

Sourdough Garlic Bread

Spumoni Ice Cream Terrine