Classic Spaghetti & Meatballs with Caesar Salad

We had a guest for dinner. The menu was homemade meatballs simmered in homemade tomato sauce over pasta and caesar salad. The recipe for the pasta was by Cook's Illustrated with a small change like skipping prosciutto, like before. For the tomato sauce, unlike the last time, I mostly followed the Cook's recipe, adding grated onions and replacing tomato juice with Italian passata, which seems common in the UK. I forgot to add white wine, but the result was fine and nobody knew that. The Cook's recipe was for a crowd - 12 people. I halved the recipe. Even though we had a guest, there was plenty of leftovers. Meatballs and pasta dinner for three days. J didn't mind it. At least we changed the shape of pasta for fun.

Caesar salad was a side. J liked my homemade Caesar salad dressing. It was an egg-free version that I made before. Croutons were also homemade. The dinner was a lot of meat, cheese and carb, but somehow I didn't feel bad. "Homemade" is a magic (or less guilty) word.