Spaghetti and Meat Balls

Can there be anything more American than the classic Spaghetti and Meatball dinner?

I know the style is actually Italian, but it seems so ubiquitous in American households that it appears that we've adopted it wholeheartedly.

When I was growing up, the pasta meal at our house was actually "American Chop Suey," which was some shaped pasta (my mother like seashell pasta) to which was added some tomato sauce and cooked, with meatballs as an afterthought. When my mother served actual spaghetti, she usually broke the pasta in half to have it fit better in the pot. It wasn't a gourmet meal by any stretch of the imagination.

My parents took in foster children, and a teenager named Pam introduced us (actually me) to "real" Italian cooking. I had my first good pasta and meat balls, and I watched carefully as she prepared it. After she left, I started making it on my own, refining my technique, and then another Italian teenager named Jackie gave me further insights on seasoning as well.

My wife, who had Italian ancestors, likes my sauce, but prefers her own style of meat balls. Until I had pasta at her house, I always cooked my meat balls by sauteing them in a frying pan before adding them to the sauce. Sandra's family, on the other hand, put the raw meat balls into the sauce and let the sauce cook them, and that's the way she likes them. So, for this one dish, Sandra and I share the duties; I cook the sauce while she makes the meat balls, and then we add them directly to the sauce. The only disadvantage I see to using the raw meat balls rather than cooked is that occasionally, the raw ones "disintegrate" into the sauce, making the resulting sauce meatier.

Sandra's family also turned me on to brachiole. This is a flank steak, pounded thin, to which spices, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs are added which is then rolled and fastened by toothpicks and plunged into the sauce. After cooking, the brachiole is sliced into pinwheels and served alongside the meat balls. Sandra is quite good at making this. I've had a version of this at a place in Reading, MA called Kitty's, and the big difference there is that Kitty's uses about five times as much garlic as Sandra does, resulting in a garlic flavor bomb that is out of this world. (I've tried adding more garlic to Sandra's brachiole, but she prefers the more mild-tempered version she's always made.) I've also had brachiole locally in Salem, NH at Polcari's and the Colosseum restaurants, but neither one was as good or memorable as Kitty's or Sandra's.

I make a variation of my sauce using ground beef where I saute the beef and add spices and tomato sauce--meat sauce. Sometimes, I vary that recipe using cubes of steak and occasionally add diced carrots and celery to make a faux-bolognese sauce. It's an easy and quick meal to make on workdays, and goes good with any kind of pasta, including Sandra's favorite, ravioli.

I don't measure ingredients when I make a tomato sauce. Instead, I just add judicious amounts of fried garlic, minced onions, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, and (one of my favorite spices) basil. I then let the spices mingle into the sauce, and then taste it, correcting the seasonings as necessary to get the "right" taste. For tomatoes, I tend to use 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes, some red wine and water, and a 6 oz can of tomato paste (one can of paste to one can of tomatoes). Occasionally, I will add a beef bouillon cube to the sauce for a "meatier" taste, especially when I'm making a meat sauce (bacon bits are also a nice touch, giving the resulting sauce a smokier taste).

Bon Appetit!

Filet Mignon with Roasted Yukon Gold Potatoes

It's been a rather hectic weekend extending all the way to today (Wednesday). We went to the new McKinnon's Super Butcher Shop here in Salem yesterday to explore and hopefully purchase some good food.

I'd like to state that finding Filet Mignon for $5.99 was quite a deal. (We got some other deals as well, but this one stands out in my mind). I cooked this on the grill last night, and served it with Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes.

Cooking a steak on a grill is an art in itself. If you don't take care, you can easily turn an expensive cut of meat into something resembling a fire sale at Macy's. I know—I've done so as recently as a couple of months ago. (Note to self: Don't try to fix a computer problem while you're trying to cook dinner!)

Last night, the filet came out perfect. Sandra's was the perfect shade of pinkish-red (she's a medium person), and mine was done a bit more, with just a bit of pink. For myself, I made a quick "steak sauce" by mixing (on my plate) a little bit of Sesame-Ginger teriyaki sauce, about a tablespoon of Merlot, a drop or two of Worcestershire sauce, and a couple of drops of Dijon Mustard, and then mixed the lot together to make a bit of an emulsified sauce. I served my filet over this sauce, with the potatoes on the side.

To Sandra's surprise, the potatoes also came out perfect. I have had a couple of experiences where I cut the potatoes too small (about ¼") or cooked them on too high heat, and they tended to char through in no time at all, turning a delicious side dish into charcoal in no time. Yesterday, I allowed Sandra to cut the potatoes this time, and she came up with the perfect size: about an inch dice.

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Grilled Yukon Gold Potatoes with Rosemary

Source:	Rachael Ray—30 Minute Meals—Food Network
Prep Time:	10 minutes
Cook Time:	20 minutes
Catalogued:	17-Oct-2007

This recipe comes from one of Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals, and although she roasts hers in the oven, I found that this makes a great dish on the grill. A good "vegetable grilling pan" is a must here—we have a non-stick one that is square with ⅛" holes with slanted sides that reach about six inches, which holds the potatoes nicely.

Ingredients

Yukon Gold potatoes; figure about 1 large or a couple of small pototoes per person

Non-stick aerosol spray (Pam)

Extra-virgin olive oil

1-2 Tbs dried or fresh rosemary

Garlic salt (to taste)

Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

Preheat the grill to about 400°F.

While grill is heating, dice the potatoes to about ½" to 1" pieces—bite size, but not too small.

Spray grilling pan with non-stick spray, and place the diced potatoes onto the pan. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes, and then add rosemary, salt, and pepper. Toss the potatoes in the grill pan to ensure that all the pieces are coated with oil, herbs, and seasonings, adding more as necessary.

Place potatoes on grill over burner at high heat for about ten minutes, covering the grill to allow it to bake.

Using a spoon and pot-holder, toss the potatoes again to allow them to cook on all sides, and lower the burner to medium. Re-toss the potatoes every five minutes or so, being careful not to smash them.

When potatoes are cooked on all sides, lower heat to just barely on and keep on grill to warm until your main course has finished cooking.

Sprinkle additional garlic salt and pepper, to taste, and serve with a sprig or two of fresh thyme.

Serve warm.

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Bon Appetit!