Extra Schmaltz!

For various reasons, Melanie likes ground turkey more than ground beef, and so I've been making turkey meatballs a lot. Obviously the problem with turkey is that it can be really dry since it's so lean, but one day we made a random hippy turkey burger recipe and it taught us the he secret to making ground turkey not be gross: ground mushrooms!  If you grind up the mushrooms and mix them in, they kind of cook away but keep whatever you're cooking moist and give that umami flavor that's also missing from turkey. People who don't like mushrooms won't notice their presence at all unless they're specifically looking for them. This recipe is also designed to cook up really really quickly - you can have these done in the time it takes you to boil the water for the noodles. The spices are loosely based on Lillian's meatball recipe but only use dry spices for convenience. They still come out a little dry, but especially with a wetter sauce (marinara, vodka, etc....

For Christmas, I got Melanie a copy of a cookbook by her favorite author, Martha Rose Shulman, entitled Ready When You Are: A compendium of one-dish meals since I tend to prefer one dish meals anyway. We've been in a bit of a cooking rut, and so it's nice to have some new inspiration. This dish is originally written for dried beans, and I've simplified it a bit too, so I don't feel too bad reposting it. It's super delicious - we had some leftover ziti that it went perfectly on, but I also think it could be awesome with garlic bread.  It's also nice because it's a good way to use sage - we have an extremely robust sage plant in our garden, so I even had some fresh(ish) sage as the recipe called for. It doesn't taste too sage-tacular though, it's really subtle and just part of the deliciousness. The sausage will make difference in the flavor here, we use Hillshire Farm Turkish kielbasa because Melanie really likes it, but a good porky Italian sausage ...

This recipe based upon one from the grand tome "A Mediterranean Feast". It is the rarest of the rare: a true half-hour meal. Great for the tired, the desperate, the hungry. The original recipe calls for a 6-7 ounce can of tuna, but the largest I found was 5 ounces, and that worked fine. You could double to 10 oz tuna if you want it more meaty. Pictured with a simple salad of arugula + spinach, tomato, tossed with salt, olive oil, and balsamic. Recipe 1 lb. farfalle (bow tie noodles) 1 5 oz. can tuna packed in olive oil (do not drain) Handful of fresh parsley leaves, lightly chopped 1/4-1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil 1/3 c. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese Freshly ground black pepper Salt to taste Salt the pasta water generously, and bring to a boil. Boil for the time listed on the box. Drain. Empty the tuna, including the olive oil it was packed in, into a large bowl. Add the parsley leaves. Dump in the noodles and toss. Add olive oil to your liking,...

This is a simple and hearty meal; basically a stovetop version of mac'n'cheese, but with a northern Italian style. Keep this one in mind for summer when you have zucchini to use up! 1 lb penne rigate Generous salt for pasta water 3 small zucchini, sliced into thin strips (about 3 c.) 1 clove garlic,* 5 oz sharp provolone, grated 2 c. milk 4 Tbps. butter, divided 1 Tbsp. flour *The garlic step is optional, and a little bit fussy, but gives you more flavor Slice the zucchini into strips about 2" long and 1/4" wide. Make a roux by heating 1 Tbsp. of the butter in a small saucepan until bubbling, and adding the flour, whisking until smooth and bubbling. Add the milk and bring to a bare simmer, whisking until it thickens ~5 minutes. Stir in the cheese until melted. Set aside. Boil the pasta in generously salted water and cook until al dente . Do not drain--try to time this to coincide with finishing the zucchini. *Fussy garlic step: heat the remaining b...

Dan claims this is an original recipe, but I think it's just a variation of Pasta Fazool and Pesto Sausage Desperation . He absolutely loved it and insisted that I post it on the blog. It is indeed delicious. The basic idea is protein (could be leftover meat) + pasta + miscellaneous color/flavor agents that do not require a trip to the grocery store = dinner. 1 package pappardelle or fettuccine (long wide noodles) 1-1.5 lb chicken breast 2 medium onions 1/2 c. roasted red pepper, chopped (i.e. from a jar) 1/2 bag/block frozen spinach 3 cloves garlic, crushed 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 glugs dry vermouth 3 Tbsp. cooking oil + a dash olive oil A few sprigs of basil and parsley from the garden, chopped OR 2 tsp. pesto 2 tsp. oregano salt and pepper 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese Boil the noodles in plenty of salted water until just tender (they will cook more in the pan). Drain, reserving 1 c. of the cooking liquid. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into cubes and toss them with...

We made these for a "fictional food" themed party. This makes 10, so you may want to scale it down. Thank you to Clancey's meats for accommodating my cutlet request. The rest I based on Roman flavors and the goal of making everything as green as possible. They turned out delicious and I didn't even get punched in the face by Charlton Heston! 10 pork or veal cutlets 2 leeks 1 head escarole or other leafy green 1 can white beans, drained 1/2 c. frozen green peas 1 handful fresh parsley 1 tsp thyme 1 tbsp whole cumin seeds 1/4 c. shredded Romano cheese 1 Tbsp. fish sauce 1-2 Tbsp. verjus or white wine vinegar Salt and fresh ground black pepper Sprinkle the cutlets with salt and pepper and keep them cold in the refrigerator. Overall the rolls are easier to handle if they are kept cold. Cut the leaks lengthwise and wash each leaf under running water to remove grit. Chop coarsely. Wash the escarole and parsley and chop coarsely. Defrost the peas. ...

If your chive plant is anything like mine, you need to hack it back so it doesn't compete with the rest of the herb garden. Also, it's going to be months before we have an abundance of basil, so here's a yummy spring pesto! 1 large handful of chives 1 medium handful of parsley 1 small handful of oregano, mint, or other fresh herbs 4 cloves garlic 1/4 c. blanched almonds or pine nuts 1/4 c. olive oil 2 tsp. black pepper 2-3 tsp. Kosher salt 1/4 c. grated Pecorino Romano cheese Wash all herbs thoroughly and remove the thickest stems. Use kitchen scissors to cut them into manageable pieces. Lightly toast the nuts in a dry pan. Remove the nuts and then lightly toast the whole garlic cloves to remove some of their pungency. When the nuts are cool, add them to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the herbs a small handful at a time until well chopped. Add the black pepper and salt and pulse. With the food processor running, drizzle in the o...

This is the perfect, quick one-dish meal. You don't even need to add meat (it's good though)! It's great for using spring vegetables and cupboard staples. You could probably eat this for every meal for the rest of your life and not experience any nutritional deficiencies. 1 lb. loose Italian sausage 1 can cannellini beans 1/2 box chunky pasta 1 bunch broccoli raab (rapini) 1 onion, sliced 1 clove garlic, crushed 1/4 c. grated hard cheese 3 Tbsp. Italian parsley, chopped Salt and fresh ground black pepper Cook up the sausage in a large frying pan. Meanwhile boil a large pot of well-salted water. Immerse the raab in the water for 1-2 minutes until it is bright green and tender. Remove with tongs and immerse in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain well and chop. Using the same water, boil the pasta until cooked and drain. Add the onion to the sausage and cook until it starts to become tender. Add the beans, chopped raab, crushed garlic, and parsley and stir unt...

I tried to write this as a comment to Lillian's post on mayonnaise sandwiches or something, but then it was way too long. So here is a good start on what you need to know about making aioli, though there is plenty left un-said. This is a base-line aioli recipe that I have used in restaurants: 1 egg yolk ~1/2 clove garlic 1 cup oil pinch salt squeeze lemon ~1TB water On emulsification : There are a few different kinds of emulsification, achieved via different emulsifiers. The compounds in egg yolks are what we would consider true, or chemical emulsifiers, as they actually bond to fat molecules, keeping them separate from one another in a matrix of water. When the fat in your mixture does all run together, it is "broken," meaning that you have a puddle of liquid with a big oil slick on top; not aioli. As oil exhibits cohesive properties, it does not want to be parted from itself once it has been allowing to join together, so the key, and the purpose of the slow additi...

Is this the true alfredo sauce? I have no idea, as I have not been to Italy. (Answer is: No, a true alfredo is just butter and parm. I wanted to make something with reduced cream, though.) This is, however, amazingly decadent and delicious and is made with simple ingredients. It also kicks the pants off of any pre-made alfredo sauce. A meal that could possibly make vegetarianism bearable (hah!). 3/4 lb. fettuccine noodles* 1 pint heavy cream 3/4 stick butter 1/3 c. grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano 1/3 c. grated Pecorino Romano Salt for noodle water Lots of freshly ground black pepper Place the cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer until it reduces by half (about 25 minutes). Whisk in 4-5 tablespoons cold butter, alternating with the cheese. Boil the the noodles in well-salted water until firm al dente (10 minutes). Reserve one cup of the cooking water and drain the noodles. In the pan that you used to cook the noodles, heat the remaining table...

Call it chicken parmesan, parmigiana, or parm, most of the time this winds up being a soggy, insipid dish. BUT--never fear, dear readers, I have improved it! The trick is to put the chicken (or veal) cutlets on top of the sauce, which keeps the breading from getting soft. I keep the cutlets small so that they have more crispy surface area and I use noodles instead of spaghetti, so it serves like a casserole. Overall, it helps to use high-quality ingredients for maximum flavor--the ones listed below are ideal, but you can use block mozarella, canned sauce, etc... Cutlets 1.5 lb. chicken breasts 1.5 c. flour 3 eggs, beaten 1.5 c. panko crumbs Salt and pepper Oil for frying Sauce 1 large can plum tomatoes 1 large can diced tomatoes 1/4 c. olive oil 2 tbsp. tomato paste 1 medium onion, minced 3 cloves + 2 cloves garlic 1/4 c. red wine 1 Tbsp. oregano 2 tsp. dried basil or a handful of fresh 1 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 bay leaves Salt to taste + m...

I have learned a lot about making pasta in the last 2 years or so; it is not a coincidence that this overlaps with my having very little time to contribute to the blog. I'd like to illustrate what I now know about the "true" italian approach to pasta with a dish from the menu of the restaurant where I currently work, Delfina . This dish has, approximately, 4 ingredients. It is also one of the signature dishes of a well-regarded restaurant which has served dozens of them every single day of its 12 year history, which should indicate that the devil is going to be in the details. It is officially listed on the menu as "Spaghetti with plum tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and peperoncini" Ingredients: Spaghetti: This is a dry pasta dish. Texture-wise, the sauce adds little more than mouth-feel, so everything depends on the noodle itself. The industry standard for Italian dry pasta is Rustichella d'Abruzzo . I think you can find it retail at fancy-p...

Edit: I just re-tested this recipe 9 (!) years later and made a few changes: There's a time for thick, doughy pizzas and a time for thin, crispy pizzas. This is for when you have a hankering for the latter. It takes some forethought, since the dough rises overnight in the fridge, but is well worth the patience and planning. I got the dough recipe from this site and it works great if you follow the recipe just the way it's written (makes 2 pizzas). The sauce recipe is my own. The day before: 1 lb. high protein unbleached white flour (ie bread flour) 3/4 c. warm water (or more*) 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil 1 1/2 tsp. dry yeast 1 1/2 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. salt Combine all the ingredients and mix by hand or with a stand mixer. The dough will be extremely stiff and a bit lumpy. Do not knead any more than necessary to combine the ingredients. Place the dense dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl and allow to rise for 24 hours in the refrigerator. It will not get much bigger, but ...

There's a zillion recipes for bolognese sauce, but this one worked well for me. Some people add cream at the end, but I find I don't like that as much. This one's really good if you can find hot pepper paste (usually associated with Hungary, but I have a Peruvian brand that's excellent). You can make it entirely un-spicy if you like, too. 2 large cans whole tomatoes, ideally Red Gold brand (or you can use 1 can puree and 1 can crushed if you don't have a blender) 1 lb ground beef 1 c. red wine 1/2 c. beef broth 1 onion, minced 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 tsp. oregano 1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1 tsp. fennel seeds (optional) 3 Tbsp. salt 3 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. red pepper (or tomato) paste 2 Tbsp. flour 1/2 c. water from boiling pasta 2 cloves garlic, crushed Brown the ground beef and chop it up with your stirring device so that it's finely textured. If you have a pressure cooker, add 1/2 c. red wine and the 1/2 c. beef broth and cook for 15 m...

Alternate title: Gnoccho erat demonstrandum Gnocchi, as an easy and storable potato delivery vehicle, are a staple in my household. I have never really used/made a recipe for them even though I have m ade reference to such recipe as would exist, and Lillian has written a recipe for squash gnocchi . Also, it appears there is little agreement on whether (potato) gnocchi properly contain egg, so I decided to simultaneously systematize, record, and perfect my basic spud gnocchi recipe here. Experimental procedure: 1) Boil a bunch of potatoes until soft. I have generally skinned them after cooking by just peeling off the skins; however, this is a bit messy and scaldy, so I would suggest just peeling them in advance. 2) Mash or run through a ricer. Most recipes you'll find on gnocchi say something along the lines of "optimal texture is achieved if a ricer is used." This strikes me as a load of hooey, as we're just going to mash it all up with flour and knead it into a cons...

I wind up making this slightly different each time, but apparently if you follow the recipe as I wrote it down for mom it turns out great. The trick to tender meatballs of any kind is to add pureed onion (use a food processor or blender). Using a mixture of meats helps too. I often cook mine in the pressure cooker for extra tenderness, but that's optional. Meatballs: 1/2 lb. ground beef 1/2 lb. ground pork 1 small or 1/2 large onion, pureed 1/4 c. matzo meal or breadcrumbs 1 egg yolk 1/4 c. parsley, minced 2-3 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbsp. whole fennel seeds 1 Tbsp. salt 2 tsp. black pepper 1 tsp. oregano ~1 tsp. red pepper flakes Cooking: ~ 1/4 c. oil for frying 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 1/2 c. boiling water or broth 1/4 c. red wine Combine all the ingredients thoroughly and form into 1-1.5" balls. Fry the meatballs in a generous quantity of oil in a single layer. Turn them carefully so that they are seared brown on as many sides as you have patience to fry (turn them at least onc...

This recipe was sort of implied in our previous gnocchi post , but I thought I'd post it as a stand-alone recipe because it's just so darn good. The time consuming part is making the gnocchi, but once that's done with the rest goes quickly. If you want to freeze some for future use (which you will be very thankful you did), freeze the gnocchi in a single layer after they are formed, but before they are boiled. Once they're frozen fully, place them in a ziploc bag and simply dump them in boiling water when you're ready to eat them. They can be eaten right after boiling or fried in a little oil if you want crisp edges. Use the guidelines below as a ratio, which you can increase for a larger batch. This makes enough for 2 meals for 2 people or so. Apparently true gnocchi don't even contain egg, but I haven't tried the recipe that way. If you try that and it works out, let me know. The gnocchi with lamb summer sausage and steamed brussels sprouts (I grew them!)...

My minestrone, made with potatoes, carrots, small red beans, green beans, fresh tomatoes, and sproingy noodles. All just stuff I had on hand. I just learned a great tip for making this free-form soup: add a couple spoonfuls of pesto at the end! I thought I should post the recipe (or more like, guidelines) as a reminder of this tasty dish. There are basically no rules for minestrone, so just use what you have on hand. I added a ham hock by simmering it for a long time in the broth and cutting the meat off of it to add to the finished soup, but you can use pancetta or bacon or just leave it vegetarian if you like. Rainbow of colors, get ready to turn into rainbow of flavors! several pieces pancetta or bacon (or 2 Tbsp. olive oil) mirepoix (onion, celery, and carrots, diced) red pepper flakes (optional) 3-4 c. stock or water 1 can tomato sauce a few dashes of red wine bay leaves mixed vegetables, diced: --white things like potatoes, parsnips, or celeriac --summer squash or winter squash -...

I haven't been cooking that much lately (my energies have instead been spent on pickling and preserving things), but tonight I got back into the kitchen and put together an excellent meal. Saltimbocca (literally, 'jumps in your mouth') can be made with chicken, veal, or pork cutlets, and this time I opted for boneless, skinless chicken thighs. It's wrapped in prosciutto, though I used some awesome, thin-sliced, Canadian bacon from Anoka Meats, which was surprising similar to prosciutto. The key ingredient is fresh sage, so if you don't have any just let me know and I will give you some! I have plenty in my garden. Some people add capers to the dish, some people add spinach, but I like to just keep it simple. Make it however you like. Yummy yummy! You can't see the sage, but it's underneath the outer layer of the rolls. It give the dish its characteristic flavor, which you don't taste very often. 1 - 1 1/2 lbs. chicken, veal, or pork cutlets enough thin ...

This might just be the perfect weeknight meal. Have you ever thought to yourself, "wouldn't it be awesome if there was a combination of scrambled eggs and macaroni and cheese that also contained ham and only took about half an hour to make?" Then this is the recipe for you! It's incredibly simple and deeply satisfying. Make this and a simple vegetable side and you'll be full for hours and possibly even ready to run a marathon. My version is fairly close to the original Italian style, but with more locally available ingredients. Instead of pancetta I used diced ham, and instead of romano cheese I used sharp white cheddar. Some recipes complicate things by adding peas or parsley, but really it's supposed to just be noodles, eggs, cheese, black pepper, and a little ham (you could even use leftover roast fowl instead). I'm an overachiever, so I made my pasta from scratch, but this is still totally delicious with boxed noodles. TIP: You must remember to reserv...