Spaghetti & Meatballs & Hollywood

 Jon Favreau is a big, huggable bear of an actor who turned to directing and gave us some entertaining films. Favreau played the loser at love trying to get dates in the 1996 comedy, SWINGERS. He directed Will Ferrell in the Christmastime comedy, ELF. He directed Robert Downey Jr. in IRON MAN and IRON MAN 2. He directed the totally enjoyable and food-centered comedy, CHEF. Favreau starred in that one along with Robert Downey Jr., John Leguizamo, Sofia Vergara and Dustin Hoffman.

Jon Favreau loves to eat. He's the host of a Netflix series called THE CHEF SHOW. 

On the weekends, I love to be a couch potato for a while and watch cooking shows on TV. I used to turn on Food Network but now it seems like all their cooking shows are competitions with winners picked by a panel of three judges. So I go to PBS.

I really dig seeing the dishes being made and hearing the recipes given while the chef is creates the dish. At the end of the shows, the completed dishes look terrific and I'm sure they are tasty. Would I try to make them myself? No. Because they ultimately get fancy with spices most of us do not have on our kitchen shelves -- spices like marjoram, allspice and cardamom.

Favreau and Los Angeles chef Roy Choi ate at a restaurant there in L.A. They fell in love with the restaurant's $24.00 spaghetti and meatballs dish. Roy makes it and tells us that, instead of the $24.00 version, he's making a $4.00 version.

I just had to share his dish and recipe with you, Roy Choi keeps it simple. He used ingredients you'd find in your average kitchen. Nothing fancy but, man, does it look delicious. It is a dish that I would try to make. It looks fabulous for solo dining, family meals or a good date night dish to make. You get excellent tips while Roy and Jon make the low-budget spaghetti and meatballs.. You also learn something about film history,

If you get Netflix, search for THE CHEF SHOW. Go into Volume 4 and click onto Episode 2, "Roy's Italian Cuisine." The spaghetti and meatballs recipe segment is the first 15 minutes of that episode. Here's a trailer for the show.

Yum.