On Top of Spaghetti

I've always had a problem keeping meatballs from turning into meat cubes. How do you keep them from flattening out when you are browning them? Every recipe tells you not to pack them super tight when rolling, but then they deflate once they hit the frying pan and end up totally deformed. In my experience. 

Tossing these bad boys into the sauce without browning them first helps keep the proper spherical shape, but you may find yourself with a bit of an oil slick on top. (Good thing I didn't add any pork.) Either embrace it or skim away.

Served on toasted hoagie rolls with some extra parm and mozz would make for a great Super Bowl party meal. Or just serve classically...

On top of spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball,
When somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table,
And on to the floor,
And then my poor meatball,
Rolled out of the door.

It rolled in the garden,
And under a bush,
And then my poor meatball,
Was nothing but mush.

The mush was as tasty
As tasty could be,
And then the next summer,
It grew into a tree.

The tree was all covered,
All covered with moss,
And on it grew meatballs,
And tomato sauce.

So if you eat spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
Hold on to your meatball,
Whenever you sneeze.


Slow Cooker Meatballs and Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Food & Wine

Two (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large basil sprig plus 2 tablespoons thinly sliced basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds ground beef chuck
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Using your hands, crush the tomatoes into a slow cooker and add their juices. Add the olive oil, tomato paste, basil sprig, crushed red pepper and half of the garlic. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours, until the tomato sauce is very flavorful.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the ground chuck with the remaining garlic and the bread crumbs, egg, 3 tablespoons of Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Roll the mixture into 24 meatballs, being careful not to pack them too firmly.

3. Add the meatballs to the sauce. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour longer, until no trace of pink remains in the center of the meatballs. Discard the basil sprig. Uncover and continue to cook on high for one hour more (or up to 2 hours), until the sauce has reduced. 

4. Skim the excess fat from the surface of the sauce and discard. Add 1 tablespoon of the sliced basil to the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the meatballs into bowls, or serve over pasta or in toasted rolls, sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sliced basil and serve, passing extra grated cheese at the table.

Note: The cooked meatballs can be refrigerated in the sauce for up to 2 days before serving.

Just Beachy

Wishing you were at the beach, enjoying some super tasty, fresh lobster? Me too. Why not fake a lobster roll with shrimp instead? It might not be the same, especially the relaxing at the beach part, but if you close your eyes tightly and try really hard, you can convince yourself otherwise. And it's actually quite delish, in spite of having to use mayo to dress it up. I'm so not a fan, but in this instance, it's an absolute recipe requirement. Incidentally I did actually see some nice looking lobster tails at Whole Foods last week, but my experience with their "fresh" fish has been iffy at best. Sorry. I love you Whole Foods, but your seafood offerings are seriously lacking in the quality department. I might have passed on the lobster this time, but not the beach. I will be there next weekend!

• 
  
• Shrimp Salad
• 
  
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and cooked
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced red onion
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1/3 cup good quality mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Lettuce or toasted hot dog or brioche buns

1. Divide the shrimp into two piles. Chop one pile into fine pieces and chop the other roughly, leaving large pieces. Place in a large mixing bowl.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, onion, chives, celery, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Add to the bowl of shrimp and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve over greens or on toasted, buttered hot dog buns. Serves 4.

Splitting Hares

Grilled cheese is one of my all time fave foods (up there with French fries and macaroni and cheese). It has to be really buttery, a little crispy and really cheesy (using any kind of cheese except "American cheese"). Good to know that the Welsh have their own version with just a touch of beer thrown in for good measure. (And open faced to cut down on your carb intake obvs!) It fits my requirements for a great grilled cheese but also incorporates a mac and cheese type bechamel. Two great tastes! And with Cinco de Mayo just around the corner and on the brain, it's not unlike a hoppy queso fundido...

The unusual recipe name (Welsh Rarebit or Welsh Rabbit) originates from 18th century Great Britain. According to WikiPedia:

"The first recorded use of the term Welsh rabbit was in 1725, but the origin of the term is unknown. It may be an ironic name coined in the days when the Welsh were notoriously poor: only better-off people could afford butcher's meat, and while in England rabbit was the poor man's meat, in Wales the poor man's meat was cheese. It might also be understood as a slur against the Welsh: if a Welshman went rabbit hunting, this would be his supper.

The term Welsh rarebit is evidently a later corruption of Welsh rabbit, being first recorded in 1785 by Francis Grose. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'Welsh rarebit' is an "etymologizing alteration. There is no evidence of the independent use of rarebit."

Regardless, it's a super tasty treat, whatever it's called...




Welsh Rarebit

Adapted from The New York Times

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon mustard powder. or to taste

1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

3/4 cup strong dark beer, like Guinness

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, or to taste

1 pound Cheddar, Double Gloucester or other English cheese (or other good semi-hard cheese, like Comté or Gruyère, or a mixture), grated

4 to 8 pieces lightly toasted bread

1. Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and, as it melts, stir in the flour. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard and cayenne, then whisk in the beer and Worcestershire sauce.

2. When the mixture is uniform, turn the heat to low and stir in half of the cheese, stirring until smooth, and then repeat with the remaining cheese. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour into a broad container to set (you can refrigerate for up to a day at this point).

3. When ready to use, spread the mixture thickly on the toast and place under the broiler until it is bubbly and the edges of the toast are crisp. Serve immediately. Makes four to eight servings.

Biscuit Brunch

Since I spent the last few days in Georgia, it seems only right that I make little biscuit brunch. (And I had leftover buttermilk from a crème fraîche experiment. More on that later.) OK yes, I've made biscuits before, but that recipe called for cake flour and let's be honest, most people don't have cake flour in their cupboards. And this recipe let's you cut the biscuits into perfect circles, thereby creating the perfect sandwich shape with which to create a breakfast treat. Sadly I was out of bacon and cheddar but hello, how good does that sound? Bacon, egg and cheese on a biscuit? Yes, please!

Buttermilk Biscuits

Adapted from Martha Stewart

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk, plus more for brushing

1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and cream. Stir to combine.

2. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and pat into a 6 1/2-inch round (about 1 inch high). Using a lightly floured 2 1/2-inch cutter, cut out rounds. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing about 1 inch apart. Gather the scraps, reshape, and cut out. Brush the tops with buttermilk. Bake until the tops are golden, 22 to 24 minutes. Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack, and cool. Makes about 8 biscuits.

The Mentalist

No, sadly, this post is not about Simon Baker. But earlier this week I took a mental health day and was joined by my fabulous friends, Jen and Lisa, for an afternoon of knitting (actually...I read magazines and watched them knit). I think that I may have tricked them into coming over by tempting them with the potential of a home cooked meal, except that I just made sandwiches. (Sorry, guys!)

Like the pappardelle that I made last week, this recipe was also adapted from the Recipes for Health section in The New York Times. Since I don't have a panini grill, this is essentially a grilled cheese...with some other stuff too. The annoying thing is that you have to cook the greens and mushroom slices separately and ahead of time, but then it only takes a few minutes to actually construct and cook the sandwiches. And they're GOOD.

Heads up to everyone at work: It's going to take way more than one day for my mental health to improve. But you probably already knew that.



Mushroom, Greens and Gruyère Panini

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for cooking sandwiches
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 pound stemmed and washed greens (like kale or chard), coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large portobello mushroom, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1/2 cup Gruyère, grated
1 ounce goat cheese
4 slices whole grain bread

1. Heat one tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, just until fragrant. Add the greens and toss in the hot pan, just until lightly coated with oil. Cook until the greens are tender, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and transfer to a plate and set aside.

2. Preheat a griddle or grill pan. Brush both sides of the mushroom slices with the remaining one tablespoon oil, and cook for 1 - 2 minutes per side. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.

3. Sprinkle half of the Gruyère over two of the bread slices and top with the mushroom slices. Next, pile half of the greens on top and press down. Sprinkle the greens with the remaining Gruyère. Spread the goat cheese on the remaining two slices of bread and place, cheese side down, over the greens and Gruyère.

4. Brush the outside of the sandwich with a little olive oil. Place on a griddle (or grill pan or panini maker or nonstick saute pan) and cook for about 3 minutes per side, until the cheese has melted and the bread is toasty. Makes two sandwiches.

Lunch

Assorted Sandwiches (Mozzarella, Pan Bagnat, Turkey)


Date Salad with Goat Cheese and Croutons

And I'm not talking about the place you pass on the way to Montauk. I'm talking about what I ate for lunch, not what I made for lunch...OR dinner. I went out for both. So here's a peak into my so called (occasionally cooked) life.

Up in Flames. Nearly.

I'll be honest. I didn't cook up a pound of pasta after whipping up my latest batch of pesto. The last thing I need is a tub of pasta available for feeding 24 hours a day. But I do like having some leftover pesto on hand, just cuz...you never know. Instead of an obvious sandwich, why not make some little pesto toasts for a snack or for when your friends pop in to watch the latest reality series in HD. (Oh. Just me?) They only take about 5 minutes to make, and even though you're turning on the broiler, it won't heat up your whole apartment. Well, my whole apartment. You probably have a separate kitchen and central air. Lucky!

Pesto Toast

Preheat the broiler. Split a baguette in half lengthwise. Cut one of the halves crosswise into 1-inch wide pieces. (Reserve the other half for something else...like, for a breakfast of Plugra butter and blood orange marmalade...or an open-faced Nutella sandwich...or...whatever.) Spread pesto on the cut side of each piece of bread, followed by a slice of a plum tomato, then a slice of fresh mozzarella. Place under the broiler for approximately 2 minutes, until the cheese is melted and starting to brown. DO NOT WALK AWAY. Food burns quickly under the broiler. Keep an eye on it. (My True Blood Tomato Toast nearly went up in flames when I decided to make a phone call.) Place the pesto toasts on a platter and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt. Serve immediately. Still hungry? Cut up the other half of the baguette and repeat.

Steak-Umm!

Perhaps you spent the long weekend grillin' and chillin'. Perhaps you cooked up a bunch of meat. Perhaps you have (had) some leftovers. Perhaps I had some leftover strip steak... What's a girl to do?

I think cold, leftover meat is gross, but reheating it tends to overcook it. I thought about cutting up my strip steak to put on (yet another) salad (lame!), or throwing it into a quesadilla (closer...) but then realized that a panino (panini) was the only way to go. Fortunately I spied a languishing onion and my brilliant plan was hatched. I would make a caramelized onion and steak panino!

Although a sandwich is always a super easy meal to prepare, I, of course, had to mess things up by caramelizing the onion. It's a really easy step, but it just takes an extra 45 minutes of waiting for your sandwich. So start making it before you're actually hungry! (Or just cook a couple of onions ahead of time.)

Caramelized Onion and Steak Panino

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 slices rustic bread

Dijon mustard

Blue cheese (semi-soft such as a Gorgonzola), at room temperature

Sliced steak

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is a deep golden color (see the photo below), about 45 minutes. Set aside.

2. Place the bread slices on a work surface and spread the mustard (to taste) completely over the bread slices. Follow by topping with the blue cheese (to taste). Finish by layering the onions and the sliced steak on one slice of the bread. Top with the remaining slice of prepared bread.

3. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining oil and allow it to coat the skillet. Add the sandwich and then top with a heavy pot to weight it down. Cook for 5 minutes and then, using a spatula, carefully flip the sandwich over. Again top with the heavy pot and press down (to compress the ingredients). Cook for 5 minutes more.

4. Remove the sandwich to a cutting board and slice in half. Serve immediately. Makes one sandwich.

Not Your Mother's Leftovers

The other day when I made the Prosciutto Wrapped Fish, included in the recipe was a little herb pesto that was spread on the prosciutto before the fish was wrapped up (sorry you couldn't really see it in the photo!). Since I only roasted 2 pieces of fish, I had quite a bit of the pesto left over. Not the worst problem to have.



Oh, wait. Before I go into my miraculous solution for what to do with leftover pesto (yawn) I have to mention what happened when I was actually making it. I grabbed my mini-prep, threw all of the ingredients into it, and it didn't work. Annoying! After 18 times of unplugging it and plugging it back in, and 17 times of taking the top off and putting it back on, I finally remembered that I had dropped the plastic top a few weeks ago. I discovered that I had totally broken off the little tab that slides into the mechanism that allows the whole thing to turn on. Crap. So I did what anyone in this predicament would do. I shoved the handle of a plastic spoon into the slot to turn it on. Hurray! To make a long story short (too late!) I need a new mini-prep. Waah.

OK so back to the recipe. It's a sandwich, folks. Nothing fancy, but definitely a step up from PB&J. (Not my fave.) Wait, does a sandwich even qualify as a recipe? I say yes, if there is more assembly than a piece of bologna nestled between two pieces of bread. And you have to make the herb pesto for this one. By the way, this pesto isn't made with cheese, so if you aren't into dairy, you should make it and toss it on your favorite pasta, or...whatever, with no need for Lactaid. But then you might not want to make this sandwich the way I did, with gobs of goat cheese oozing out of it. For everyone else...



Tina's Red, White and Green Sandwich

For the Herb Pesto (sans cheese - by way of Mark Bittman):
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Sandwich:
Baguette, Ficelle or other rustic bread, cut into 5-inch lengths, then split lengthwise
2 large beefsteak tomatoes, thickly sliced
4 ounces goat cheese
Herb Pesto
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a small food processor, combine the herbs, pine nuts, olive oil and salt and pepper to form a thick paste. Set aside. (Or use your leftover pesto from the Prosciutto Wrapped Fish recipe.)

2. Arrange the bread cut side up. Spread half of the pieces with the goat cheese, then top with the sliced tomato. Season the tomato with salt and pepper. Spread the pesto on the remaining bread pieces, and close the sandwich. Serves 4, more or less.