Spaghetti with Meatballs

As I have written before, my mom was famous for saying, "We could make this!" after trying a restaurant dish that she admired.  Usually her attempts were still very good, albeit off, from the original.  I, though, am far less adventurous although I am getting better, making attempts at crazy things such as you know, salad recreations or copying a cheese plate from a restaurant, but clearly still have a long way to go to get to my mom's optimistic and adventurous approach.

So I bet after that you are now waiting for me to debut this adventurous, optimistic side that I supposedly should have learned from my mother?  Nope.  I'm not there yet, besides the aforementioned territories of salads and cheese plates.  However, I am good at taking a recipe from a magazine that in it recreates a fabulous dish from one of my favorite restaurants.  That I am good at.

Food & Wine debuted an article with the famed recipe from "Meatball Monday's" at A16, where this recipe comes from.  I had the great pleasure of meeting A16's wine director/owner, Shelley Lindgren, when I took a cooking class in San Francisco titled "Food and Wine of California" at the adorable cooking school, Tante Marie.  I was just (sob) about to leave San Francisco and wanted to absorb all I could.  She led the wine section of the class and was delightful.  She is the coauthor of their beautiful cookbook, which after taking the class and reading the Food & Wine Article, I absolutely had to have the cookbook.  (Well that one and about 50 others, but trust me, it's a good one.)  So I then had two copies of the recipe, was leaving San Francisco and could no longer go to Meatball Mondays.  It was time to make the meatballs.

My original theory about meatballs was, "Meatballs, how good can they be?"  It's just a meatball and there are good ones, but not truly 'great' ones although my husband vehemently disagrees, even pre-A16 meatballs.  My point of view was of course before I tried these.  I quickly then became a convert to my husbands perspective.  These are so much more flavorful than any other meatball.  And so light and moist!  After making them several times, I know the secret is the ricotta cheese and fresh breadcrumbs.  My mom always made meatballs with ground beef, but this also has prosciutto and ground pork, which I think adds a lot of flavor.  And there is no complicated sauce to cloud the flavor of the meatballs, just delicious San Marzanos, which if you haven't yet tried, after one taste you will for sure be a convert from regular old canned tomatoes.  This isn't your sloppy spaghetti meatballs for kids.  This is entertaining fare.  Once you try these, you'll be a convert too.

 So, one restaurant dish recreated... check!  Yes, I had the recipe, but I did make a couple of substitutions, that puts me in the adventurous category, right?

Trish's Tips:  This recipe calls for freshly made breadcrumbs.  Every time I buy a baguette I end up not eating it all and it turns rock hard and ends up getting thrown out.  My new strategy is to freeze the leftover baguette then just pull it out of the freezer 30 minutes or so before I need to make breadcrumbs so that it can defrost.  Just cut into cubes and put in your food processor.  These meatballs freeze great and can be made in advance.  To do so, roast the meatballs and freeze them.  Before braising, defrost completely then braise as directed in the recipe.  Through this recipe I learned that if you can't find the right meat ground, buy it unground, cut into cubes and put in your food processor.  You won't know the difference.  This time I was able to find it ground, but another time I just ground the pork myself.  I always end up grinding the prosciutto and bread crumbs myself.  If you are doing the same then do the bread crumbs and prosciutto before the other messy meats.

Monday Meatballs

Adapted from A16 Food & Wine Cookbook

Makes about 24 meatballs

Ingredients:

10 oz boneless pork shoulder (Either pre-ground from your butcher or cut up in cubes and finely chopped in a food processor)

10 oz beef chuck (Either ground or cut up in cubes and finely chopped in food processor)

6 oz. day old good baguette, ciabatta or country bread, cut into cubes and finely chopped in food processor

4 oz prosciutto, cut into slices and ground in food processor

1 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped

1 TBL plus 2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp dried oregano

1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp dried chile flakes

1/3 cup ricotta cheese

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 TBL milk

2 - 28 oz cans San Marzano Tomatoes with juices

handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

block of parmesan cheese for grating

Extra virgin olive oil for finishing

Spaghetti to serve with

Preheat the oven to 400.  Coat 2 rimmed baking sheets with olive oil.  In a large bowl, combine the pork, beef, bread, prosciutto, parsley, 1 TBL of the salt, oregano, fennel seeds and chile flakes and mix with your hands until the ingredients are evenly distributed.  Set aside.  

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs.  Add the ricotta and milk.  Add the ricotta mixture to the ground meat mixture and mix lightly with your hands until just incorporated.  The mixture should feel wet and tacky.  

If desired, you can test your meatball at this stage by taking a spoonful of it, flattening into a disk and sauteeing in olive oil.  Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.  

Form the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls about 2 oz. each and place on the prepared baking sheets.  You should have about 24 meatballs.  

Bake, rotating the sheets once from front to back, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are browned.  Remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 300.  

Sprinkle the tomatoes with the remaining 2 tsp of salt and squeeze the tomatoes with your hands into small pieces.  

Pack the meatballs into 1 large roasting pan.   Pour the tomato sauce over the meatballs, cover tightly with aluminum foil and braise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meatballs are tender and have absorbed some of the tomato sauce.  

Meanwhile cook spaghetti according to package directions.  Pull the pans out of the oven and uncover.  Top the pasta with the sauce, then meatballs, torn basil leaves and drizzle with olive oil.  Top with shredded parmesan.  

Road Trip!

I've been a bit MIA, I know. I was on a weeklong cross-country road trip with my sister who moved to Portland. It was a ton of fun, but now I am so anxious to get home and get cooking! Although I did do a quite a bit of cooking before I left.  I made loads of road trip snacks.  I knew our trip would mean lots of greasy foods like burgers and fries, which we did have and thoroughly enjoyed, but also knew that we would feel much better if we had a pack of healthy snacks so as to prevent a panicked gas station snack stop that inevitably would have ended up with a bag of premade cheddar chex mix followed by what I like to call 'junk food stomach'.

I'm no stranger to road trips. Being in a family of five children, we did a lot of traveling by car. I think the idea of buying 7 plane tickets put my parents over the edge, so most trips were in the family Suburban and there was always a cooler in the back with sandwich fixings and snacks and homemade cookies. I think my mom couldn't stand the idea of stopping every time one of us was hungry and my dad couldn't stand the idea of going out for every meal. Growing up in the 'great lakes state', most of our trips involved us never being far from the lake so my mom always packed us a picnic. With 5 picky eaters she just let us make our own sandwiches and would pack several kids of meats, mayo, mustard, chips, sweets and even some candy. I think as a kid I always wished we could stop for the McDonald's happy meal or whatever that now makes me wince.

So with that on my mind I packed sandwiches for our first day.  There was no notable stops/cities on our first day anyway, so I figured starting out with a homemade lunch would be better.  I've made this one a few times now, and it always hits the spot.  With the skin off and the addition of yogurt to make it creamy, this really is a pretty healthy lunch.  The aioli is DELICIOUS and also great on other things. There was a bit leftover that Johnny used to make a quick salad dressing.  Just add some white wine vinegar and olive oil and put over salad.  The aioli also has an anchovy in it but please don't let that scare you.  In fact, Johnny couldn't believe when I told him that it was in there.  Did you know that almost all caesar salad dressing have it?  It certainly doesn't taste fishy, just adds another flavor dimension.  If you are a total wimp, feel free to leave out ;)  Oh and don't throw the rest of the can out when you just use one itty-bitty half of an anchovy.  I put the rest in a small jar and throw it in the freezer until I need them again.  As my mom would say, "It is a sin to waste", and I therefore cannot STAND to waste.  I do the same trick with chipotle chiles in adobo and tomato paste.  I mean how often do you really use a whole can of tomato paste? I digress...

I probably should have taken pictures of this sandwich before I left, along with all the snacks that I made, but I'm sure you can relate to the chaos that ensues right before going on vacation.  The laundry, packing, planning and for me grocery shopping and cooking was too much for me to stop to take pictures at each stage.  So I recreated the sandwich when I got back.  I'm not going to recreate everything, at least right now, so I thought I would share links to the rest. For your next road trip!

1. My friend Patty's granola.  Delicious and about a million ways to mix and match to make it how you like it. This time I used almonds and coconut and dried cherries. In the past I've done blueberries, pecans and vanilla.
2. Granola Bars.  Oh so healthy, from the Mayo Clinic Cookbook.
3. Spiced Pepitas.  I knew that all of those sweets would make me crave something salty. This hit the spot.
4. Trail Mix. There really is no recipe for this, just mix whatever you like best. I mixed 1 cup of almonds, 1 cup of walnuts and 1 cup of dried cranberries, then just scooped it by the 1/3 cupfuls into snack bags. Use whatever nuts you like, these are great to have on hand.  Hopefully this leaves you craving not only a sandwich but also a road trip! Loads of fun!

Trish's Tips: The original recipe calls for arugula, parsley and chives, but I just used what I had which was basil, parsley and spinach.  Don't make the mistake that I made (especially if this is to go) and forget to check the seasonings after you mixed in the chicken.  My sister and I were both wishing it was more salty because I seasoned the aioli but didn't check it when I added the chicken.  The original recipe calls for a whole-wheat tortilla, which I have used before and liked, but this time I had a whole loaf of bread I was trying to get rid of so used that instead.  Use what you like.

Chicken Sandwich with Spinach and Basil Aioli
Adapted from Giada de Laurentiis
Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients:
Aioli:
1/3 cup lightly packed spinach leaves
1/4 cup lightly packed flat-leaf parsley
8-10 basil leaves
1/2 anchovy fillet
1 small garlic clove
1/4 cup lowfat greek style plain yogurt
1 tsp white whine vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
salt and freshly ground pepper
Sandwich:
1 - Bone in, skin on chicken breast (Between .75 & 1 lb)
1 TBL Olive Oil
salt and pepper
4 slices bread (I like Ezekial)
1/2 C spinach leaves

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350. Put chicken in pan and pour 1 TBL of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Rub to coat all sides.  Put in oven and roast for 35-40 minutes.  While chicken is roasting, make aioli.  Put garlic in mini food processor.  Pulse until it is minced.  Add anchovy and do the same.  Add the rest of ingredients and blend until mixture is smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

When chicken is done and cool enough to handle, remove skin (if desired) and shred with 2 forks.  Add enough aioli to moisten.  Taste for seasoning, you may need more salt and pepper.  You may have some leftover aioli.  Assemble sandwiches.  Put spinach on one side of bread, then spoon chicken mixture on top and top with other slice of bread.

If you are taking this to go: Put spinach on both sides of the bread so that the aioli doesn't absorb in the bread and make it soggy.  Make sure the chicken mixture is extra wet, it will absorb and be drier by the time you eat it.  Slice sandwich and wrap first in wax paper then in tinfoil.  Make sure to pack napkins!

White Bean Dip

I had a fabulous weekend doing what I love: cooking.  My friend, Marcie, and I hosted a baby shower this Saturday along with a few other girls, and we were in charge of food.  We scoured through cookbooks for menu planning, did some strategic list making, hit three grocery stores and spent two days cooking.  We had a ton of fun doing it and it all ended up pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I kind of felt like my mom this weekend in the party planning zone, three recipes going at once.  What can I say, I learned from the best.

We made a pretty good mix of tried and true favorites, such as the tomato soup recipe I have posted here previously, and a few newbies as well.  I had several advertisers of my blog (slash followers of my blog telling others about it) at the party, so hopefully some of you have found me.  Sorry, but not all of the recipes will be posted because the added stress of taking photos of each recipe at each stage of cooking/chopping would have potentially put me over the edge.  But who knows, some of the recipes may just make an appearance here eventually.  For those of you interested, here was our menu:  Tomato soup in mini cups with grilled cheeses made with sharp white cheddar to dip in the soup.  We also served mini mac n cheese servings that we baked in a muffin tin and a spinach salad with hazelnuts and blood oranges.  For appetizers we served stuffed mushrooms filled with pecorino and turkey sausage, walnut pesto crostinis and..... White Bean Dip with crudites.

The White Bean Dip was definitely one that fell in the 'tried and true' category and is one that's been around in my family for a while.  My mom, sisters and I are all fans of Giada, whom this recipe comes from.  And I'm pretty sure we all had the cookbook that this comes from within the first few months of it being out.  In fact, I think this was one of the last things that my mom made for me because she knew it was one of my favorites.  I'm a hummus lover as you know, and this is a twist on hummus using white beans instead of chickpeas.  The original recipe calls for parsley and I made it that way for a couple of years, but one time as I went to make it, realized that I didn't have any parsley, but did have a huge bunch of basil from the farmers market.  I tried that instead and have yet to go back to making it the original way.

I often serve it with the pita chips as Giada calls for here, but don't have photos of it, as our menu for the shower was carb heavy enough so we served it with crudites.  Maybe try a mix of both, or depending on your mood or just pick one.  I love recipes like this because as long as you have a food processor it's pretty simple.  These are all ingredients that I generally have on hand, so this can be your go to recipe when you have unexpected hungry guests.  Or maybe even 18 or so expected guests and a pregnant guest of honor.  This will work for that too.  

Trish's Tips:  I have adjusted this recipe to be how I like it, but add more citrus, more oil, more salt and pepper if you like.  Or less, of course.  Make it your own.  Try it with parsley and basil and let me know which one you like better.  The hummus will keep in the fridge, but I think is best at room temperature.  I made it the night before the shower, but made sure to bring to room temperature.  The pita chips won't be the right consistency if made the day before; they tend to get a bit chewy.

White Bean Dip
Adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

Ingredients:

Pita Chips:
4 pita breads, split horizontally in half
2 TBL olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Dip:
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 (15 - ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh basil leaves (or parsley)
2 TBL fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove

Directions:
To make the pita chips:  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Cut each pita half into 8 wedges.  Arrange the pita wedges evenly over a baking sheet.  Brush the pita wedges with the oil, then sprinkle with the oregano and salt and pepper.  Bake for 8 minutes, then turn the pita wedges over and bake until they are crisp and golden, about 8 minutes longer.

To make the dip:  In the bowl of a food processor, put in garlic clove.  Turn processor on until garlic clove is sufficiently minced.  Add beans, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Turn on until the ingredients are well mixed.  Add basil.  Slowly add olive oil until the mixture is creamy, adding more olive oil or water to get to desired consistency.  Taste and add salt as needed.  Serve with pita chips or crudites.

Chicken Enchiladas

My mom was famous for throwing enormous parties.  Our graduation parties never had less than 100 people.  My mom couldn't stand to not include everyone and between church and her Yahtzee and birthday clubs she had many friends.  Plus I grew up in one of those neighborhoods where everyone not only knows each other but also likes each other.  Regardless of the guest count she never, ever had her parties catered.  She would just plan ahead and serve the food buffet style and our dining room table would be filled with all of her specialties.  Since I have four siblings that is a lot of graduation parties and when you start to throw in college graduations and bridal showers she definitely had it down to a tee.  Our shower was no different.

My husband and I got married in San Francisco, where we lived at the time, so my parents threw a couple's shower as sort of a bridal shower/reception at home.  Since she had done so many parties she wanted to do it a bit different than all of the others.  She had done a brunch for my brother's graduation, an Italian theme for one of my sister's and several with numerous pasta salads and sandwich options.  So we decided on a Mexican theme.  We talked about what would be the best options to serve the 80 or so guests and enchiladas seemed like a good choice.  For one they were my personal favorite and since they could also be made in advance it seemed like the perfect option.  We must have made 500 of these.  I think we grossly overestimated how many people would consume, I'm sure my terrible estimation skills were at fault.  My family was eating leftover pans of these for months.  In fact a year later my mom claimed she was still sick of enchiladas, although they were a hit.

So if you are planning an enormous meal for 80 guests then this will definitely work.  But if you are just planning dinner for your family it is a good option as well.  In a sense it is a bit involved because you cook three separate things then assemble, but most of the prepping is pretty easy and can be done in advance.  See the note at the bottom.  Also you could dumb this down if you wanted to save time.  You could buy one of those rotisserie chickens and just use the meat you need, omit the onion mixture completely, or buy bottled enchilada sauce.   This goes great with Guacamole Salad.

I remember flying in a couple of days or so before the shower to help with all of the preparations that entail throwing a party that size and walking in the door to see sombreros and Mexican blankets everywhere.  My mom had done such a great job of planning it all and had thought of every detail.  There were sombreros that she had hung up as a decoration, she had collected Mexican blankets from friends to use as tablecloths and had a chip and dip bowl shaped like a hat.  I am laughing right now as I write this because this is what my mom lived for, to pull out all of these things that she had collected and put them to use.  We served margaritas, chips and salsa, guacamole, enchiladas and a Marquette favorite, taco dip.  Everyone raved about the food and couldn't believe we had made it ourselves.  My mom was a fabulous hostess and one of the many things she taught me to do is entertain.  I only hope my next party will be as much as a hit!

Trish's Tips:  Have all of your ingredients ready for the sauce because I was busy measuring while my chicken stock was boiling away.  I ended up adding another cup or two to thin out so I have modified the recipe here to have extra on hand if needed.  This is the absolute best way to cook chicken.  You could use boneless, skinless, but you will never eat more moist chicken unless you cook it this way.  I've been doing it for several years now ever since Ina Garten taught me, you know, through the tv.

Easy Enchilada Sauce
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients:
6 TBL Canola Oil
2 TBL flour
1/2 C chili powder
4-6 Cups Chicken Stock
20 oz. tomato paste
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt

Directions:
In a medium saucepan heat oil, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a whisk.  Cook for 1 minute.  Add 4 C of chicken stock, tomato paste, oregano, cumin and salt.  Whisk to combine.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let thicken slightly.  If needed add remaining 2C of chicken stock to thin out if sauce gets too thick.  

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1 lb Chicken Breast, bone-in, skin on
3-4 TBL Olive Oil
2 Medium Sized onions, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
10 corn tortillas
12 oz cheddar cheese or mexican blend cheese, grated
sour cream for garnish
scallions for garnish

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.  Put chicken on sheet pan and coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and rub to coat all sides.  Roast for 35-40 minutes.  Let chicken cool, remove skin (or leave on if you wish) and shred with two forks.  Set aside.

While chicken is cooking, heat pan to medium-high heat.  Heat 1 TBL olive oil and add onions.  Cook until browned and softened, but not completely broken down.  Add oregano, cumin and salt.  Set aside.

Preheat Oven to 350.  Pour a ladle full of enchilada sauce in to 8x10 or 9x12 glass baking dish.  Set up an area, your hands will get messy when you start.   Put enchilada sauce in shallow, wide bowl.  Dip tortillas with thongs in enchilada sauce to coat both sides.  If you don't do this, they will tear.  Put tortilla on plate and put spoonful of onion mixture, spoonful of chicken and sprinkling of cheese onto each tortilla remembering to leave some remaining cheese for the top.  Don't fill too much or the filling will spill out.  Roll up making sure that tortilla ends overlap and place seam side down in baking dish.  Repeat until finished and pour remaining enchilada sauce over top.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes.  To serve, top with sour cream and scallions.

Do Ahead:  You can make the sauce, onions and chicken ahead of time, then just assemble the day of.  Or think of as lasagna, assemble the night before and just put in the oven the day of.  If you do this make sure to be very generous with enchilada sauce (potentially make more) as the tops of the tortillas could dry out and crack.  This recipe will make one 9x12 pan or two 8x8 pans eat one tonight and freeze one for later!

Swiss Fondue

The pressure of a New Years Eve Dinner Menu is enough to put even me over the edge.  Although I love getting all of my cookbooks out and menu planning I was pretty pooped from all of the Christmas cooking and planning and even I was almost sick of thinking about food.  I was just out of ideas, or out of good ideas at least.  I consulted with a good friend of mine and fellow foodie on menu suggestions and she suggested a fondue menu.  It was simple and didn't mean all the perfect timing required with the other elaborate options that I was pondering.

We served this fondue with bread cubes (of course), baby red skinned potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and also had another fondue pot with oil.  With that we served even more veggies, cubed steak and several dipping sauces.  And what fondue party is not complete without chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was a really fun, interactive menu but does take a considerable more time than a normal meal.  Which I don't think is such a bad thing.  Sometimes I feel like we spend so much time making a meal only to have it consumed in twenty or thirty minutes and then on to the task of dishes or whatever.  In fact this took so long that we missed the party we were supposed to head to, so I would caution you to plan accordingly if you do the whole menu.  But definitely do it.  It is so much fun and then when the guests arrive the hostess can have fun too.

Part of the reason I initially wanted to make this fondue was because it made me think back to another year that we had fondue on the menu for New Years Eve.   As we toasted the New Year of 2005 we made this same fondue recipe at my parent's house.  Johnny and I haven't spent many New Years Eves at my parents, but for whatever reason that year it worked out for us to.  I think most of my siblings decided to stay in that night and we made Fondue.  Not the whole menu that I did this year, but for a cheese lover like myself this is the one I like best anyway.  I remember sitting in the living room at my parents house over a fondue pot that I think my sister got for Christmas, or maybe it was mine.  Either way we all wished one another a Happy New Year over champagne and ooey gooey cheese.  And it was a damn good year, 2005.  It was the year I got engaged and the year I was promoted at work.  So for superstitious sake this was another good reason to ring in the new year with this recipe.  Its only day two, but I'm pretty sure the fondue is the clincher that is going to make my year.  Hoping 2010 is one of your best years yet.  Happy New Year to you and your family!

Trish's Tips:  We learned the hard way, but do NOT put the flame on an empty fondue pot.  Only put the flame under it after the cheese (or whatever liquid) is in the ceramic pot.  It will crack and you will be fondue-less.  Any cheese fondue takes somewhat of a careful moderation of temperature.  I usually use my electric pot (which is a great investment in my opinion) but we used that for the oil fondue so I used a small ceramic pot instead and the little tea light could only do so much.  Once the cheese gets really stringy it needs to be warmed up.  If you have leftoers, don't pitch, they will reheat easily in the microwave.

Swiss Fondue

Ingredients:
1.25 lb Gruyere Cheese
.65 lb Emmentaler Cheese
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 TBL plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 C white wine
2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 TBL kirsch, optional
pepper
nutmeg

Directions:

Cut off rind from cheeses.  You should be left with about 1 lb. of gruyere and 1/2 lb of Emmentaler.  Shred cheeses on a box grater or food processor.  Put aside.  Dissolve cornstarch in wine.  Heat saucepan over medium-low heat.  Rub smashed garlic clove on inside of pan until fragrant.  Heat wine/cornstarch mixture and lemon juice over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Stir cheese in graduatlly stirring until combined and no longer stringy.  Stir in the kirsch if using and sprinkle with pepper and ground nutmeg.  Transfer to a fondue stand immediately and serve with cut up bread cubes.