the constant hunger

Polpettine a.k.a Meatballs

After a stressful work week, I needed to eat something comforting. Not only did I need comfort food, but I also wanted something that I could make a large batch of and be able to re-heat during my even more stressful week ahead. The plan: meatballs. The chef: my husband.

It's almost an unspoken rule in our house that I never attempt to make Italian food, not that I don't think I could, but my husband makes it so much better. We each have our specialties in the kitchen and Italian is definitely his. The things he could do with a few simple ingredients is amazing. 

I was really in the mood to eat meatballs. The last time we made some at home was over a year ago. We also had some tasty ones at Osteria Morini for my husband's birthday in January. It was about time to take our our huge stock pot and make a big batch or meaty deliciousness. 

We did a little research and came across this recipe. It was a good start, but my husband definitely tweaked it. The result...light, fluffy meatballs. Awesome!

 

Polpettine

Ingredients:

1 small loaf of crusty white bread

1 cup milk

1 1/2 lbs. ground pork

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 hot Italian sausage, casings removed

1/2 mortadella, ground up in a food processor

2 eggs

3/4 pecorino

7-8 leaves of basil, finely chopped

small bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped

1/2 tbs. garlic powder

1 tsp. cayenne

salt and pepper to taste

For sauce:

2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

4-5 cans of whole plum tomatoes

1 small onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, halved

7 basil leaves

salt and pepper to taste

 

Method

Heat olive oil in a very large stock pot. If you don't have a large stock pot, you can make this recipe in two pots. Add a couple halves of garlic and let saute till golden. Remove from oil and discard.

Add onions and saute till soft. Carefully add the canned tomatoes. Using a hand blender, blend till desired consistency.  

Add rest of the sauce ingredients and let simmer while you prepare the meatballs.

Carefully tear away the soft interior of the bread and place in a medium bowl. Add milk and let soak for about five minutes. With your hands, make sure there are no large pieces of bread left. 

In a large bowl add all the meatball ingredients and bread mixture. Using your hands mix all the ingredients together. 

Here is the fun part. Start forming meatballs and set aside on a plate. 

Tomato sauce must be gently boiling before adding the meatballs, otherwise they will fall apart. 

One by one add the meatballs to the tomato sauce. Let simmer on low for several minutes before attempting to mix for the first time.  

Let simmer for about 3 hours, stirring about every 20 minutes.

Serve with pasta or with a side of greens.

Happy cooking!

Baked Sausages with Herbed Beans

Today's recipe isn't very summery, but it's darn tasty. I would save this for a rainy day. It's a hearty and comforting dish. My husband actually found this recipe and planned on making it for dinner last night. I got home from work earlier than him and decided to make it myself. 

I tweaked the recipe a little, adding three cans of beans to the pot instead of two and adding fresh sage to the mix. The result was a little soupy, but full of flavor. The original recipe has you adding the beans with their liquid, but I decided there would be too much. It's a good thing I didn't because even without that liquid, there was a bit too much sauce for my taste. Next time I'll add a little less chicken stock and a little more bread crumb to absorb any liquid. 

Happy cooking! 

Country Pork Ribs with White Beans and Kale

I have been planning a weekend trip to Hudson, New York for a few weeks now. I am hoping to go there for my one-year anniversary. Because I know that men need obvious hints, I decided to write an article about my ideal weekend. Check it out here. Now on to today's recipe...

When I was little, I used to love going to Tony Roma's for ribs with my mother. I can still taste that rib sauce slathered all over my baby back ribs. I haven't been there for at least 15 years and I am thinking of dining there the next time I'm in LA, you know, to remember my childhood. 

These days, the only times I eat ribs are at the occasional barbecue. I never thought to make ribs in my oven until I came across today's recipe from Tasting Table. I was worried that they wouldn't be tender and I'd need a chainsaw to bite into them, but they were juicy and oh-so-tender. I think next time I make this dish I will leave out the white beans and replace them with black-eyed peas. 

 

Country Pork Ribs with White Beans and Kale from Tasting Table

Ingredients:

½ cup orange juice

¼ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon grated ginger

½ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon hot smoked paprika

3 pounds country spare ribs

1 bunch (about ½ pound) kale, stems removed, leaves finely shredded

One 15.5-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of your favorite rib sauce (optional)

 

Method:

In a blender, combine the orange juice, olive oil, garlic, ginger, thyme and paprika and blend on high until emulsified, about 30 seconds. Place the ribs in a shallow dish, pour the marinade over the ribs and turn to coat. Refrigerate for two hours.

Remove ribs from fridge and let them reach room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven, toss the kale, white beans, salt and pepper. Lay the pork ribs on top of the kale and beans and reserve marinade.

If using rib sauce, mix with reserved marinade. Pour some of the mixture over the ribs and vegetables. Make sure to pour marinade over ribs even if you haven't mixed it with ribs sauce. Reserve some for basting. Season the tops of the ribs with salt and pepper.  

Preheat the oven to 425º.

Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes and baste. Continue cooking until the rib meat is cooked through and very tender, about another 30 minutes. Serve each rib with a scoop of the beans, kale and sauce that forms during baking. 

Happy cooking!

Pork, Rice and Beans

Last week my husband was away on business and that usually means I eat out. You can read more about my love of dining alone here. But this time around I wanted to a) finish up all the leftovers in my fridge and b) not spend money on dining out. I had some pork chops in the fridge that I had marinated the same way I did my pan chicken (click here for recipe) and simply grilled them stove-top on my grill. I poked around in my pantry and found a bag of dried black beans and some basmati rice. Pork, rice and beans. Perfect! 

Now a little word on the pantry. Most of us buy groceries on a weekly basis and our list usually includes items we need to create recipes for the week. However, our pantries are probably full of items we can use and turn into healthy meals and all this without spending a dime. Sure, once in a while, you'll have to re-stock your shelves, but once you have the essentials, meal-planning will be a cinch. For tips on stocking a pantry, click here. 

Since I prepared the pork chops the same way I did the chicken, I have not included that recipe again. I adapted the rice and beans recipe from Epicurious. The original recipe used red beans and bell peppers, none of which I had in my fridge. The result was still full of flavor and quite easy to make.

 

Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup black beans soaked over night in water

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice, properly rinsed in cold water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

 

Method:

In a large pot, bring black beans to a boil in salted water. Let cook until tender, about 45 minutes. Drain beans and set aside, but reserve 2 1/2 cups of bean water. 

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, cilantro, cumin and oregano and sauté until onions are beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and reserve.

In a large pot, bring bean water to a boil. Add rice and cook till all water has been absorbed and rice is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Turn heat on to medium under the large skillet and add rice and beans to onion mixture. Incorporate ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Cook till heated through, about 5 minutes. 

Serve with pork chops. 

Happy cooking! 

 

Sunday, Stews and Sweatpants

Day: Sunday

Time: 1:00 a.m.

Music: Pandora's The Monkees station (playing The Monkees, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Mamas and the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel and The Rollings Stones)

I had been looking forward all week for today. Sunday was cooking day. I had researched several soup and stew recipes. I wanted to make new things, stuff I had never tried before. I finally narrowed down my list to one soup, one stew and one pasta sauce. I woke up early, made a shopping list, bought all the groceries and even had time to clean up the apartment while I waited for the groceries to be delivered. Once the groceries arrived I was ready to spend the next few hours cooking. Sunday was all about stews, simmering and sweatpants, the sweatpants being my uniform of choice when I am home. With sixties music playing in the background, I began chopping away.

I came across the recipe for spicy chickpea and sausage soup on thekitchn.com. Reading through the list of ingredients I knew this was the type of stew that makes me drool, bold flavors and chickpeas! I adapted the recipe to suit my taste and what was available at the grocery store. A big pot of simmering soup and a lazy Sunday recharged my batteries for the week.

 

Spicy Chickpea and Sausage Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage (or chorizo)
1 large white onion, chopped and thinly sliced
4 stalks of celery, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
5 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method: 

Chop or crumble the sausage into small pieces. Coat the bottom of a pot with a bit of olive oil and heat on medium-high. Brown the sausage. Remove from pot and set aside.

Pour the rest of the olive oil into the pan and turn down the heat to medium. Add the onions and celery and cook until soft. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another couple minutes, or until golden and fragrant. Add the sausage back in, along with the chickpeas and parsley. Cook all together for a few minutes and season with salt and pepper.

Add the broth and bring to a boil. Let simmer for an hour to an hour and a half, even longer if you want. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Happy cooking!