Italian Wedding Pasta

For those of you familiar with Italian Wedding Soup (commonly consists of meatballs, pasta and spinach), here is a variation by delish.com called Italian Wedding Pasta. And friends - prepare to fall in love.

Here's the breakdown ... the biggest pain in the arse factor that you're going to find with this particular recipe is making the meatballs, but after trying one of these solo outside of the pasta, I have a feeling that I might steal the meatball portion of this recipe if I ever make spaghetti and meatballs. These meatballs would freeze really well, so if you were inclined to make a ton of them, you could stockpile them in your freezer for use in this casserole, spaghetti and meatballs, etc.

I'm a pain in the arse to assemble, but you will love me!

I also like this recipe because in addition to having two of my favorite ingredients: cheese and pasta - it also has spinach. This could be a sneaky way of incorporating veggies in my someday kids' diets - especially if they take after their father and not me.

Italian Wedding Pasta from delish.com

1 lb. ground meat (recipe suggests turkey, I used ground pork because it was on sale ...)
1 1/4 c. unseasoned breadcrumbs
3 cloves garlic (you're supposed to squeeze one of them through a garlic press - I do not have that implement, so I just minced the hell out of the garlic and am pleased to report that there will be no vampire attacks in my household for the forseeable future)
1 egg
1 c. Romano cheese (I used an entire small tub of the grated stuff from Sargento)
1 box of bowtie pasta
1 T. cornstarch (didn't have ... used flour ... I'm bad)
1 1/2 c. 2% milk
1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
9 oz. fresh baby spinach

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cake pan with tin foil. Make your meatballs: Combine meat, garlic and 1/4 c. of the Romano cheese. Form into balls (1 inch - should make 36 ... I did not count), bake for 20 minutes.

While you're assembling meatballs, start boiling a large pot of water for your pasta. Once water is boiling, add a little salt and the pasta - cooking for two minutes less than the package dictates. (That's about 8 minutes - keep in mind that you're going to be throwing this in the oven - your pasta will continue to cook as it absorbs the chicken broth, etc.)

Whisk together your milk and the cornstarch (or flour if your pantry's a mess like mine and Argo goes missing). Once the pasta's done, drain and add the milk mixture and chicken broth back in with the cooked pasta. Heat to a boil and boil for one minute to thicken the sauce. Stir in spinach, 3/4 c. of Romano and your baked meatballs (again, they might be not entirely done - they will keep baking in the oven). Top the pasta with the rest of the Romano cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

Verdict: I'm in love with this dish. I have some in the freezer right now to check out its leftover quotient. If it freezes beautifully, I think I might weep with joy. (Update: 11/1/08 - It freezes beautifully. I love you pasta!)

A love letter to Ina

For those of you who aren’t freaks and don’t know the traveling schedules of your favorite Food Network celebrities, my beloved Barefoot Contessa – real name: Ina Garten – signed copies of her new cookbook on Nov. 12, at Williams Sonoma in Edina. Since I have a side project working for my buddy Chuck (whose business is in Wayzata), I figured that I would mix business and pleasure and take an afternoon to drive up to the Twin Cities on Wednesday. And I would probably embarrass myself whilst walking into Williams Sonoma and drool on Ina Garten. (She’s very awesome – you need to check her out. I could only be that cool when I grow up.)

But as my luck would have it, it is a very foggy day in Minnesota this morning and I have responsibilities at my real job that I need to take care of. So Ina, my apologies for standing you up and please know that you should really travel to Minnesota in the fall or summer. If you do, you can help yourself to some of the bounty of produce that our local farmers harvest and enjoy balmy weather – not this icy shit that we are currently experiencing.

I watched the Steakhouse Classics Revisited last night and will make the filet mignon soon. I won’t even flinch if Ryan decides to put ketchup on it.

Love,
SK

A preview

Next week's Monday Madness will feature one of my favorite chefs of all-time and a recent meal he made for my urban family. The secret ingredient in every single recipe that Erin made? Alcohol.

This isn't Erin, this is my buddy Anne, sporting her contribution to the cause. And ignore the crappy quality of the photo. I was experimenting with my new career of shooting pictures of food and I forgot to turn the flash back on.

No-Roll Pie Crust

Since I showed you the lazy person's version of a pie crust, I figured I'd seal my reputation with this one as well ... just like Ms. Saint's apple pie crust, this one is also no roll!

This recipe served me well when I was living in Malta, partly because I didn't have a rolling pin and mostly because that even if I would have had one, I still wouldn't roll out pie crust. (I'm not good with rolling pins, just ask my mom.)


This one is from the "new" Rossville cookbook and was submitted by Clara Leas. I don't think I ever met Clara, but love this pie crust.


No-Roll Pie Crust

2 c. flour
2/3 c. cooking oil
3 tsp. sugar
3 tsp. milk
1/2 tsp. salt


Mix all ingredients into a bowl, stir with a fork. Form into a large ball with hands; divide in half for 2 crusts. Pat into pie pan. If you need a double pie crust, pat half on waxed paper.


I used this one to make apple pie. I'd just slice up my apples, dot them with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Then I'd bake for about 20 minutes, or until the apples were tender and the crust was nicely browned. (Actually, I could never see the crust - it was under too many apples. Tender apples ... best bet to guess if pie is done.)

Eva Marie Saint's Apple Pie

One of the best things to come out of my subscription to Bon Appetit magazine is this recipe for Eva Marie Saint's apple pie. If you don't want the hassle of rolling out a crust, like shortbread and just like pie in general - this is the pie for you. My buddy Zach can eat the whole pie.

Eva Marie Saint's Apple Pie
from Bon Appetit - 2005

1 1/2 lb. apples (that's about three apples - use tart ones like Granny Smith or Cortland), peeled and sliced very thinly
1 c. cold water
3 T. fresh lemon juice (I use the concentrate stuff)

1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter, softened (that's a stick y'all)
1 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon (just eyeball it ...)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel and slice the apples, soaking them for about 30 minutes in cold water with lemon juice. (I've heard that people have skipped this step and it's fine ...) Combine the dry ingredients with the butter and use a pastry cutter or a fork to incorporate the "dough." Reserve 1/4 c. of the crumbs and pat the rest into a 9-inch pie pan. Arrange the apple slices around the pan, sprinkle with cinnamon, top with the rest of the dough and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Click on this link

And chuckle at the drawing. And don't be afraid of beets, borscht is good - I can't make it, but it's very damn good.

Thoughts on sweet potatoes

Let me preface this blog entry by saying this: I think I hate sweet potatoes. This hatred stems from an incident when I accidentally horked up my sweet potatoes over lunch and my mean kindergarten teacher yelled at me and told me that I had made myself sick. (Yeah - I really hated kindergarten. I mean, really ... just ask my mom about the couch I ruined because I would get home, sit down, feel like I was in my comfort zone and hork all over the arm of the couch because I was so relieved to be home. It didn't happen just once - that's why we got rid of the couch.)

Now that I've told you what a neurotic kid I was, I'm now appealing to you from the depths of cyberspace. I think I hate sweet potatoes, but I think I want to make sweet potato fries because if you bake them, they are better than regular potato fries that you bake (something about less carbs, more complicated carbs ... I'm not sure, I've just read the buzz - sweet potato fries are the way to go.)

Anyone got any sweet potato musings they'd like to share with me? How about squash recipes? That's another fall favorite that scares the crap out of me.

Love,
SK