Just because this recipe is called “Greek Spaghetti” doesn’t mean it has your most familiar “Greek” ingredients- olives, feta, etc. It’s Greek in an entirely different way. This recipe is packed with ground beef spiced with cinnamon and drizzled with (lots of) rich browned butter, and sprinkled with Romano cheese. It’s rich, earthy, and decadent. And amazing and wonderful and represents everything that is good in the world. It truly is the food of the gods. If you’ve never had this combination before, you may be thinking: “Really? Ground beef with cinnamon? I don’t know…” Using cinnamon in savory dishes is very common in Greek cuisine. Have you ever had Pastitsio (a very common entree served at Greek festivals)? Or perhaps Cincinnati Chili (a cinnamon spiced chili served over spaghetti developed by Greek immigrants in the Cincinnati area)? Both use cinnamon (and sometimes nutmeg) and both are absolutely delicious.
I’m writing this post at 8am and just looking at these photographs makes me really, really wish I could dive face-first into a big bowl of this for breakfast. Sigh. Sadly, it’s all gone. Here are the great things about this recipe:
Anything made with browned butter is bound to be delicious. In fact, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to recipes that use it. If you’ve never made it before, don’t be sacred- it’s easy. Just melt butter over medium high heat and stir constantly, with a spoon or a whisk, until it foams and turns a light brown color under the foam. The brown color is a result of the dairy solids that are in butter getting toasted. Just don’t heat for too long, or you’ll end up with burned butter! Here’s a good tutorial on how to make browned butter.
If you love browned butter as much as I do, try this Spaghetti with Browned Butter and Wilted Greens, this Mushroom Brie Soup, or this Butternut Squash, Browned Butter, and Rosemary Fettucini Alfredo. That’s it, folks. The best recipe in the world. Hope you like it :-) Recipe for Greek Spaghetti below!
