Abe Vigoda's Spaghetti and Meat Balls

from the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook

Abe Vigoda, an actor with a long and distinguished career in television, contributed an old classic and personal favorite recipe to the the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook.  Here is his version of Spaghetti and Meat Balls, a  mid twentieth century style preparation that is still appealing.  In the recipe Mr. Vigoda recommends using envelopes of dried tomato sauce, a popular kitchen item of the 1960's fast and instant food explosion.  Instead, hoping that Mr. Vigoda will not mind, I chose to start out by making my own Italian style sauce using canned tomatoes, olive oil, onion, garlic, and herbs.  You could do the same or choose a favorite bottled sauce with mushrooms as the recipe suggests.  From there I followed the recipe closely adding the green pepper, mushrooms, and ripe olives, all of which brought significant interest to the sauce in terms of color, flavor, and texture that stood up to the pasta and hearty meat balls.  The meat balls themselves were uncomplicated --  ground beef, bread crumbs, and seasonings -- browned in the skillet and submerged in the lightly seasoned sauce to simmer.   What could be better?  Personally, I find the more simply flavored, but well prepared, pasta sauces to be the best and the most satisfying, and this recipe is just right as a good reliable dish of comfort food.  I'd recommend having it on a rainy night.  Serve it with traditional crisp bread sticks, a green salad, and a bottle of Chianti.  Put some Mantovani on the stereo, or maybe some Robert Cobert, and enjoy.  But the most interesting thing about this recipe is that is was in fact frequently prepared in Collinsport.  It was often remarked by patrons of Ezra Braithwaite's jewelry shop that while they were there a very tantalizing aroma of Italian cooking always seemed to be coming from somewhere and permeated the room.  All the time it was Ezra's pot of spaghetti sauce and meat balls simmering on the stove in his apartment behind the shop.  Who would ever have guessed it until this revelation in the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook caused it come to light?