As I noted in November, I lost my mom. I find myself looking to favorite childhood recipes to remember here. This one we had at least once a week when I was a kid.
Quick, easy and freezes well, I usually make double so I have some on hand for quick dinners. Trust me, you will never find any jar sauce in my house. Ever. If you’d like to have meatballs instead, recipe is here.
On the board tonight: Continue reading
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I have celebrity chef crushes: Nigella Lawson, Ming Tsai, Michael Symon…and Nick Stellino
These are more than just following their recipes, it’s about enjoying their story-telling, their cooking style, their outlook on life. Right now, I’m enjoying a story a day from Nick Stellino, via his Storyteller in the Kitchen series.
Here’s the link to the meatball recipe. I believe you can easily use the electric pressure cooker (instant pot, etc) for this. Just use the saute setting first to bring it to a boil, then reduce to the slow cooker high setting for about 2 hours, or until the meatballs are cooked through to the center. I would not use the pressure cooking setting – the sauce will burn and the meatballs will fall apart.
I made so much sloppy joe that I figured we needed to use some for something other than sammiches. My giardiniera is so good on this I may make it a regular addition to my pasta. It is garlicky enough to add it to plain noodles.
This dish is usually made with tenderized chicken breasts, I like the boneless, skinless thighs better. I pounded these a little but not a lot. The prep was typical, though: dredge in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs, Cook in olive oil until golden, then flip. Bake, topped with sauce and cheese and serve. I like a bed of spaghetti that has been tossed in butter and good olive oil with plenty of garlic.
Meatballs! I followed this recipe, mostly. Quantities in the recipe were for 1 lb. of meat – I went with 1 lb. of ground beef and 1 lb. of Italian sausage and scaled the amounts accordingly. I’ve no idea what locatelli cheese is so these were made with Parmesan.
They were browned in the toaster oven before going into the sauce.
I like then over spaghetti with more grated Parmesan and ribbons of basil. I may do some meatball subs today with the rolls I baked the other day:
I had planned to smoke a pork shoulder but when the big chunk of meat was thawed it turned out to be beef. I resorted to the crockpot and made a batch of Italian beef. My recipe is to slice a bunch of onions, mince a lot of garlic, add beef or chicken broth, red wine, bay leaves, dried basil and oregano, more granulated garlic and onion, and salt and ground black pepper. Open a jar of pepperoncini and dump them all in – with the juice. Some red pepper flakes work well but are optional. Put all of that stuff in with the beef and give it 8 hours or so on high. Proper Chicago style Italian beef is made with thin sliced beef but I don’t do it that way because I don’t keep a deli slicer out on the counter. Mine is more like pulled pork:
Here’s a quick lunch we had the other day before I baked the rolls, the little buns are a par-baked item Kroger carries, just pop them into the toaster oven for a few minutes and they made credible slider buns.
Here we go with a full sized sammich. I like them dipped but if you dip the whole sammich it becomes a race to finish it before it falls apart. A little bowl of juice on the side overcomes that problem.
Lest you think it’s all meat and carbs around here, Mrs J cuts up a sweet yellow watermelon.
I’ve been waiting for this since the first tomato turned ripe – enough to do the sauce thing for a delicious summer treat.
Cook them down in a little olive oil over medium high heat, using a potato masher to help them along. Cook the pasta while the sauce is making, reserving some of the pasta water in case the sauce is too dry. Stir in a couple pats of butter and a tablespoon or two of tomato paste to finish the sauce. Add the spaghetti and fresh basil to the pan, toss with tongs, or flip it in the pan chef style if you’ve got the chops – this amount was a little too much for me. I did try and didn’t embarrass myself by spilling any but I will admit to a certain timidity. 
Garnish with more grated cheese and basil.
What's 4 Dinner Solutions 