Spaghetti and Meatballs

I love spaghetti and meatballs, but only if it's homemade sauce and homemade meatballs. I don't do sauce in a jar (I've tried most of them and they are too sweet for my tastes) and I haven't found any frozen meatballs that aren't hard and tasteless yet. One night, I was talking to my friend (who is part Italian) and she told me about how wonderful her Grandma's meatballs were. After that conversation, I decided that I needed to find a recipe for meatballs! With some searching online, I found one in the New York Times and sent it to my friend. She told me that it sounded very similar to the one that her Grandma made, so I was excited to try it out.

Nathaniel LOVED them and was disappointed that there wasn't more (we did let him eat about half of them--you can imagine how much growing teenagers eat). I will admit that I ended up burning the first batch because I used a pan that I never usually use and it heated a lot quicker than my other ones (might have to start using it more often). After adjusting the heat to a very low temp, I was able to brown them to perfection. I also admit that my meatballs weren't perfectly uniform and pretty, but they tasted so good that I hope a dinner guest wouldn't complain!

The tomato sauce that I used is a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis' Marinara Sauce from her cookbook Everyday Italian. It's a great sauce that can be frozen for up to three months. We froze half of it, so that Chris would have something to eat this weekend while I am out of town. I'll probably be making this again during the cold winter, if it ever comes that is!

Meatballs

Stir-Fried Pork and Tomato

There has been some tasty looking green tomatoes at the Farmer's Market and when I came across this recipe, I was excited to make something other than fried green tomatoes! This recipe has an interesting combination of tart and savory flavors. I served it with some rice to soak up the gravy that forms in this dish.

Stir-Fried Pork and Tomato adapted from Food & Wine's Best of the Best (2001 version)

1/3 lb pork

2 to 3 long medium-hot green chiles (suck as Cubannelles, Anaheim, or Hungarian wax)

2 tbs peanut or vegetable oil

1/2 lb tomatoes, preferably mixed red and green, cut into 3/4-inch dice

3/4 teas salt or to taste

1 teas roasted seasame oil

1 teas cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tbs water

Thinly slice the pork, then cut crosswise crosswise to coarsely mince. Set aside.

Trim the stems from the chilies, then make one cut lengthwise in each to expose the seeds, strip them out and discard. Cut into chunks. Should be about 1 cup.

Place all the ingredients near your stovetop and have a serving plate ready.

Heat a work or large heavy skillet over high heat until hot, then add the oil. When oil is hot, add the pork and stir-fry, separating the meat to expose all surfaces to the heat, until it has all changed color, about 2 minutes. Add the chilies and tomatoes and stir-fry for about 3 minutes, until the chiles are beginning to soften and the tomatoes are getting tender. Add the salt and stir-fry for another minute or so, until the chiles are softened and the tomatoes are soft but still have some shape, the add the sesame oil. Stir briefly, then stir the cornstarch mixture well and add it to the wok. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until the sauce thickens, then turn out onto the serving plate and serve hot.

Cream of Tomato Soup

I made this with my fresh tomatoes from the Farmer's Market when Melanie was in town. We were talking about soup and she mentioned that she liked tomato soup. I told her to come on over for lunch and I would make some. There is nothing like homemade soup and I refuse to eat soup from a can (I will use cream of whatever soups in dishes that I make, but not to eat plain). Homemade soups take more time than opening a can, but the results are so worth it. If you love soup, do yourself a favor and make some from scratch! My picture was super blurry, so no picture--sorry!


Cream of Tomato Soup from Neiman-Marcus' No Jacket Required

4 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 teas minced garlic
3 ripe tomatoes (4 to 5 if small), coarsely chopped
3 tbs tomato paste
4 tbs flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (this is about 1 1/2 cans if using canned stock)
1/2 teas sugar
salt
1/2 teas thyme
white pepper (best to use freshly cracked)
1 cup heavy cream

Heat 2 tbs butter with olive oil in saucepan. Add onion and garlic, saute 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour and mix. Add stock, sugar, salt, thyme and white pepper. Simmer 15 minutes. Pour into blender and blend. Strain through a fine sieve. Pour in saucepan. Add cream and bring to a boil.. Reduce heat and simmer 2 to 3 minutes. When ready to serve, stir in remaining butter, bit by bit.

Tonight's Dinner

I went to TJ Maxx today and ended up finding some cute Italian plates, so that I would finally have some color for my pictures on the blog. The first course that I made tonight was one of Jayni's recipes from last night. I love this simple salad and it's a great way to enjoy your tomatoes.

Jayni's Avocado, Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

2 avocados, peeled and pitted, then cut into 1/2 inch dice
12 oz cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (I used my baby Roma tomatoes and cut them up into smaller chunks)
8 oz small fresh mozzarella balls, sliced in half (use as many as desired)
extra-virgin olive oil
1 large lemon
salt and black pepper, to taste

Divide the avocado, tomatoes and mozzarella among four large salad plates. Arrange as desired. Drizzle olive oil over each salad. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze over the salads, to taste. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

I had a 3 lb chuck roast sitting in my fridge that needed to be eaten. Not having any potatoes in the house, I decided that I needed to figure out something beside just throwing the roast in a crock pot and calling it good. I found a recipe for Italian beef on cooks.com. Italian beef sandwiches are extremely popular in Chicago (where I ate one for the first time a couple of visits before) and I love the fact that this recipe is super easy (perfect for those lazy, cold winter weekends that will be coming up). My boys love spicier food, so next time, I'll be adding some extra heat to the beef. Other than that, they loved it!

Tomatoes, Shrimp and Pasta

There hasn't been much shrimp eating in our household lately since I read an old article in Gourmet about farmed shrimp. Let's just say, I have been reading packages of shrimp to see where they are coming from and I've been very disappointed to say that I have yet to find farmed shrimp from the U.S. in any grocery stores close by. But today, I finally broke down and picked up some shrimp at the Merc (it's the local co-op grocery store for those who don't live around here) figuring that I was going to pretend that I hadn't read that article.

I have told Chris that he better be ready to eat fresh tomatoes everyday until the Farmer's Market no longer has any. After a tomato/zucchini/cheese angel hair pasta last night, I made this favorite tonight. If you like shrimp and tomatoes, this is a must-make! It's delicious!

Lake Tahoe Seafood Pasta adapted from Neiman-Marcus' Pure and Simple
serves 6

1 pound shelled shrimp (or any other seafood)
6 tbs butter
1/2 cup cognac (don't omit this--if you have to buy the smallest bottle you can find, but the recipe won't be the same without it!)
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 lbs tomatoes, cut into chunks (the recipe says to peel them, but I don't. If the skin doesn't bug you, then leave them)
3/4 cup cream
cayenne pepper to taste
1 teas Italian seasoning
salt
1 lb spaghetti, cooked and drained

Saute shrimp until pink in the melted butter, add cognac and flambe. I find that a long match or a long lighter (like the ones that you use to light the fireplace) works best for this. I can't stress enough how the flavor will change if you don't use the cognac. I went through a Hennessey with Coke drink stage, so I am lucky enough to have a big bottle at home.

Be sure not to stand too close to the flame. Wouldn't want your eyebrows to be burned off! See the flames. Actually in the picture, you can't see how high that the flames really are. I was a little worried that my microwave might melt! Add wine and cook one minute. Remove the shrimp and add the tomatoes to the sauce. Add seasonings. You'll want to adjust them later to your tastes. We like a spicier sauce, so I add more cayenne pepper. Simmer the sauce until the tomatoes are broken up about 20 minutes. While this is simmering, you'll want to start boiling your water and cook your pasta.
Lower heat and stir in cream. Adjust seasonings as needed. Add shrimp back into the sauce. Pour over pasta.
P.S. Maybe I should have wiped the bowl before taking the pic, huh?

Breakfast of Champions

Chris and I usually don't eat a lot of breakfast because I am pretty lazy in the mornings. We used to have a favorite weekend breakfast place (that served eggs benedicts with goat cheese...yummy), but New Hampshire St Bistro closed down last year and we haven't really been the same since. This has meant that I have to cook breakfasts on weekends now. I have been trying to branch out with the variety, but sometimes it's hard for me to make anything different since we really do enjoy that one potato dish that I posted awhile back. But Chris is a big fan of biscuits and gravy, so I decided to make him some. I also decided to make fried green tomatoes (a favorite of mine) since I had just picked up some at the Farmer's Market on Saturday.

I found both recipes online. Both were excellent, but I didn't completely follow the biscuits and gravy recipe. I decided to doctor the recipe a bit by not shaping the sausage into patties, but just breaking it up in the pan. I don't know if this is the reason that I didn't get a lot of grease in the pan or not. I probably only ended up with a 1 1/2 tbs of grease. I would have also made more gravy and had less sausage in it, but Chris really enjoyed it the way it was.

The fried green tomatoes were cooked in bacon grease (hence the bacon on the plate) and were pretty damn good. We don't usually eat such a big (unhealthy) meal, but I was feeling devious and why the heck not?

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/09/biscuits_and_gr/

http://southernfood.about.com/od/greentomatoes/r/bl10712b.htm

Homemade Tomato Juice

I had recently told Chris that he was no longer allowed to purchase his case of V-8 at Costco due to the extremely high sodium that was in each 12 oz can. When we picked up the flat of tomatoes the other day, I promised that I would make him some homemade tomato juice.

This is the recipe that I used:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/007310homemade_tomato_juice.php

It was pretty simple, but I did have a bit of a problem with my food mill (it's been a long time since I used it and maybe I wasn't using it right). There is no way that I would suggest using a sieve to push the juice through because you'll be there for days. The food mill is the only way to go. My tomatoes were sweeter than I thought, so I should have used less than the 1 1/2 tbs that I used but I did add some extra dashes of Tabasco since we love spicy stuff. My batch didn't make a whole quart, but it's probably because I got pretty impatient with the food mill. Definitely tasty and I'll make it again with some modifications in the future.

P.S. I still have half a flat of tomatoes left.