Sunday Meatballs

Is it Sunday Gravy or Sunday Sauce? I've seen many posts on which one to call it. All I have to say, is that I don't care what you call it as long as you make it well!

This week I went shopping at Restaurant Depot. For those of you who have had the opportunity to shop in one of these warehouse you will know that the quantities that you must purchase are enormous! Think Costco, Sam's, B.J's amounts and triple the quantity! They had some chop meat that looked really good, so I bought the package. The package was 10 pounds! I made some hamburger patties, made stuffing for the zucchini flowers and had enough left over to make meatballs for dinner tonight.

When ever I make my meat balls I always start with fresh chopped onion, garlic, parsley, seasoned breadcrumbs, eggs, and grated cheese. I usually only use Parmigiano in my meatballs, but today used a combination of cheeses that were in the refrigerator, Parmigiano and Pecorino. Again, I thank my friends from Rome, Giorgio and Marina who brought me fabulous cheese from Italy!

Some days I like the meatballs to be more rustic and will chop the onions and garlic by hand. Today I wanted a smoother meatball so I tossed everything into the food processor and pulsed it a few times to get the onions and garlic almost like a puree.

I was also in the mood for big meatballs, so I made them really large. 

Line the baking sheet with some parchment paper and bake the meatballs in a  450 degree preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Turn them around and baked them another 15 - 20 minutes. 

These were extremely cheesy.  And they were nice and soft! Into the tomato sauce they go!

I used 4 quart jars of the tomatoes that I jarred last season. I've got to use up what's left in my pantry. It's almost time to make the sauce again!

Start the sauce with a little bit of olive oil in the bottom of the pot. Add to the oil a  small chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic, chopped. Saute the onion and garlic just until they start to sweat, and become clear. Add the tomatoes and stir.  I added some hot sausage, which I had browned on each side, to the pot,  and a few pieces of country pork ribs. To season the tomatoes I also added fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cover the pot and let everything simmer for a few hours. I know it's done when the pork flakes off the bone!

Tonight, this is being served with Spaghetti! There's nothing like a great dish of spaghetti and meatballs on a Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully they'll stop stealing meatballs out of the pot so there will be enough left for dinner!

Meat Balls Recipe

chop meat (I like chuck for this, has lots of flavor)
eggs (I use 2 - 3 eggs per pound of meat)
1 large onion, chopped
3 - 4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup grated cheese
1 handful of breadcrumbs- just enough to bind the mixture

Mix all the ingredients together until well incorporated. Form the meatballs and either bake them in the oven  @ 450 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes on each side or pan fry them to brown them on all sides.

Add the meatballs to your favorite tomato sauce, simmer until cooked through and serve with your favorite pasta! Enjoy!

Buon Appetito

xoxoxo

Lorraine

Chicken Soup and Chimichurri Sauce

If it's Monday in my house it means that we are having soup for dinner.  You can turn a very simple Chicken Soup into something very different by serving it up with a sauce on the side. Tonight that sauce is a Chimichurri Sauce.
When ever I make Chicken soup I use a whole chicken in the pot, covered with water and seasoned with salt and pepper and a bay leaf. I add celery, onion and carrots to the pot and let the chicken gently simmer until the chicken is done.  From this simple stock you can go in many directions just by adding some additional ingredients. Add some ginger, garlic, green onions and some sherry and you have the wonderful beginning of a broth for Wonton Soup. Add some egg yolks and lemon juice and you're absolutely going to love the flavors that develop into an Avgolemono Soup. Feel like something Mexican? Try adding some cilantro, chopped green peppers and scallions to your stock and you're on your way to making a delicious Chicken Tortilla soup. You'll be amazed at all the delicious stocks that you can make.

The stock is delicious, and my family loves the stock with the vegetables cut up and cooked with a small shaped pasta, such as Ditalini.  The problem I have is getting anyone to eat the plain, boiled chicken. It's funny how history repeats itself. When my mother would make boiled chicken we wouldn't eat it either, until she made this fabulous sauce to accompany the boiled chicken. We didn't know that we were eating Chimichurri Sauce. She just called it a Green Sauce or Salsa Verde!  There are so many sauces that my mom used to make that we now know have culinary names.  I'll be sharing some of these sauces as I go along and who knows, I may even learn the proper culinary names for the sauces, instead of calling them brown sauce and green sauce! Are you along for the crawl?

Chimichurri
One bunch of fresh parsley chopped fine
3 - 4 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped fine
a pinch of oregano
a pinch of salt and pepper
a pinch of red pepper flakes
3 - 4 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Chop everything and mix it all together in a bowl adding olive oil.

I took the chicken off the bone, the dark meat went into the soup pot and the white meat was arranged on a platter and topped with the Chimichurri Sauce.

and for those who love Balsamic....
drizzled with some glaze

What can be better than a nourishing cup of soup with a delicious chicken chimichurri?

Buon Appetito
xoxoxo

Lorraine