spaghetti for all seasons

i made spaghetti for dinner today.

for us Filipinos, pasta, more particularly, spaghetti is present on the most momentous occasion in our lives like birthdays. it's either spaghetti or pancit (chinese long life noodles) that can be found on our tables. we believe that the presence of these noodles can bring long life.  oh, and we mean bolognese (pomodoro meat sauce) when we say spaghetti sauce.

but why spaghetti? why not puttanesca or other pasta favorites?  well, you see, the ingredients for spaghetti is cheaper. even cheaper than the ingredients for pancit. here, you can buy spaghetti sauce in a can or pouch (already flavored with spices).  all you need to buy is a pack of dried spaghetti noodles (to be cooked according to package instructions) and some ground meat (i use half ground pork and half ground beef). we even add bits of hotdog for extenders. those with a tight budget can buy these ingredients and go home and make this for their families.

i cook spaghetti the way my mother made them - with a Filipino taste. traditional pomodoro sauces tend to be made with tomatoes, celery, carrots, onions and garlic. it tends to be a bit more on the sour side. we Pinoys like our food with a mixture of sweet, salty and sour, and the same goes to the way like our spaghetti sauce.  the sauce in the pouch (or can) are already seasoned this way, so we just add a little pepper and salt to the mixture.  and we top our spaghetti with cheddar cheese, not with parmesan cheese.  this is the way we grew up eating spaghetti.