off the (meat)hook » Pork + Bacon Recipes

{recipe} Momofuku-Inspired Bo Ssam, aka Korean Slow-Roasted Pork, with Ginger Scallion Sauce

Karen — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:21:48 +0000

Can we talk about David Chang for a minute? He kind of seems like a loose cannon, or maybe even a huge jerk, even, but the recipes he magnanimously shares with the public almost always turn out to be among my favorites. For example, his short ribs easily beat Thomas Keller’s. So when I saw his Bo Ssam recipe in the New York Times this week, I knew I had to try it immediately. I was dying to taste this sweet and salty, crackly, crispy, falling apart pork roast. Since I wanted to make it for lunch and it takes 6 hours in the oven, that meant setting an alarm for 5:30 AM to put it in the oven, then going back to bed. But I knew that David wouldn’t let me down–and he didn’t.

Of course, the original recipe was a little bit too fussy for me, so I have simplified for all of our sake’s. There’s not much to it, but damn, this thing is irresistible. If you have the time to marinate the night before then sit around waiting for this thing to cook, you can easily make it without too much fuss. He recommends it as the filling for a lettuce wrap, but I served it with rice, his recommended scallion-ginger sauce, kimchi, sambal oelek, and a kale and cabbage salad with miso dressing. And for the record, I don’t make my own kimchi, but I am extremely impressed by people who do, mostly because it makes your fridge stink so much, so if that kind of thing interests you maybe David Lebovitz or Jaden Hair can give you an idea of what you’re in for.

Despite his personal issues and lack of respect for my hometown, I remain, as ever, an unabashed devotee of the Chang-inspired recipe.

Oh, and if you think David Chang’s original recipe with all of its bells and whistles will be better than my version, well you are probably right, so you should totally try it.

Recipe: Momofuku Inspired Bo Ssam, aka Korean Slow-Roasted Pork

INGREDIENTS:

1 whole boneless pork shoulder, about 8-10 lbs
1 cup sugar
1 cup + 1 Tblsp kosher salt
7 Tblsp brown sugar

METHOD:

Put pork in a bowl. Mix white sugar with 1 cup kosher salt well. Rub sugar/salt mixture all over the pork and into the cavities as much as possible. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 300. Remove pork from bowl and discard juices and excess sugar/salt mixture. Put pork, fat side up, in a roasting pan with a rack. Cook at 300 for about 3-4 hours, basting every hour with juices.
Lower heat to 250. Flip the roast over so the fat side is down and cook 2-3 more hours, for a total of 6 hours cooking time. Turn oven off without opening it and let pork sit for 30-60 minutes.
In a bowl, combine remaining tablespoon of salt with the brown sugar. Rub all over outside of pork. (It should be cool enough to do this with your hands by this point.) Turn heat to 500 and cook until a crackly crust forms, about 10-15 minutes.
Serve immediately with rice, kimchi, sambal oelek, lettuce or salad, and ginger scallion sauce (recipe follows.)

Recipe: Ginger-Scallion Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

2 bunches scallions, cleaned and chopped (white part and most of green part)
1/4 to 1/3 cup grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp any kind of vinegar – I used white wine vinegar
large pinch salt

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients together a few hours before serving, so the flavors can meld together. Serve alongside pork roast.

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{recipe} Pork and Prune Stew

Karen — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:20:40 +0000

I know the words “stew” and “prunes” are not the two sexiest food words, especially in combination, but damn–prunes and pork together, slow-cooked until they’re rich and saucy–I have to tell you, it’s an excellent combination, especially on a cold winter night.

This is one of my favorite types of recipes: the kind where you use a small number of simple ingredients and take advantage of time and temperature to meld them together into something much greater than the sum of their parts. The recipe is really easy from a technique standpoint, but you’ll need about an hour and a half to two hours of cooking time to get it from start to finish. I recommend using a lean pork, because with fatty pork the sauce can get oily and you’ll have to skim off the fat, which adds an extra step. Of course, this tastes very good (better?) reheated a day or two later, so you could also make it in advance, chill it in the fridge overnight, skim off the fat, and reheat it.

I adapted this from a recipe I saw in Real Simple magazine, but ironically I found their recipe to be not actually all that simple. I simplified it by cutting out several unnecessary steps and a few ingredients.

Recipe: Pork and Prune Stew
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

4 lbs. lean pork stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 Tblsp butter
1 Tblsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups red wine
12 oz. prunes
2 bay leaves
4 cups chicken broth
2 Tblsp brandy
2 Tblsp heavy cream

METHOD:

Season pork liberally with salt and pepper.
Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy pot. Add pork and cook, turning and stirring to brown on all sides, about 10 minutes total.
Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add wine, prunes, bay leaves, and chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, until pork is tender. If there is a lot of fat on top of the liquid, skim it off and discard it.
Remove cover and raise heat to boil and reduce a bit, about 5 or 10 minutes.
Turn off heat and stir in brandy and cream. Serve with crusty bread or over noodles.

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{recipes} Southeast Asian Potstickers and Duck a l’Orange Potstickers

Karen — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:06:37 +0000

(Note: This happened several months ago, but I couldn’t find the recipes I wrote down, so I hadn’t posted about it. I found them wadded up in the bottom of a drawer recently, so here goes.)

My Dad and I have birthdays a week apart, and often do things together to celebrate. When I turned 6 and he turned 40, I asked my parents if we could eat at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center. (We lived in New York at that time.) I guess at that point my parents realized they had a strangely fancy food-obsessed kid on their hands. I don’t remember much about the food, but I do recall going to the bathroom with my sister, who was 10, and being thoroughly confused by the presence of a restroom attendant. When I turned 16 and he 50, we donned our tuxes and prom dresses and got the best seat at Julius’ Castle, a venerated old dining institution with views of San Francisco Bay. Of course neither of those places is still in business, sadly, but we still try to do food-related birthdays together.

This year I was a little surprised when he told me that for his birthday, he wanted to have a potsticker competition. (OK, not that surprised, considering our past food competitions.) Maybe at this time you’re thinking “what does an old white guy know about making potstickers?” But in fact, as a retired professor, my dear old Dad has had the pleasure of working with scores of visiting Chinese postdoctoral students–and while he edited their neuroscience papers, they shared their dumpling-making secrets. So he has been making excellent potstickers for a couple of decades, at least, and they are better than the ones you get in most restaurants. It also doesn’t hurt that he has traveled to China dozens of times to do lots of taste-testing.

Back to the fierce competition: there were 4 competitors, me, my Dad, and two of his friends. There were also several extremely partisan judges to taste-test the total of seven varieties that were on offer. I am happy to say that I totally kicked a$$ by winning with my Southeast Asian-inspired potstickers. The non-traditional filling includes mint, cilantro, chopped cashews, and lime, along with the more standard potsticker filling items like ground pork and cabbage.

I kind of cheated though, because I had two entries. Although it came in 4th place, I actually preferred my other entrant, a duck a l’orange potsticker, which involved duck confit and orange zest. So I’ve decided to share both recipes with you.

If I’m making 2 kinds, I like to fold them differently so it’s easy to tell which is which. I’ve included directions for both square and round wrappers, so if you’re making multiple varieties, you might want to make one type with square wrappers and one type with circular wrappers.

It’s more fun (read: easier) if more people help out, like an assembly line.

A caveat: we don’t make our own dough, which some people might think is lame. (I’m happy to see that the inimitable Jaden Hair agrees it’s not really worth it. However, the unparalleled Andrea Nguyen would probably disagree.) Baby steps, people. It took us 25 years to get this good at the other aspects of potstickery. We’ve got big plans to attempt a reverse engineering of Shanghai’s finest Yang’s crispy dumplings, dough included, in the near future. I favor Japanese gyoza skins for my potstickers, because they are a little bit thinner. You can buy Japanese gyoza wrappers or Chinese potsticker skins in the refrigerated section of an Asian market.

Southeast Asian Potstickers

Makes a lot. Serve alongside small empty bowls and some soy sauce, black or rice vinegar, and hot chili flakes or hot sauce like sriracha or sambal oelek – so people can make their own dipping sauce to their liking. Or, mix 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part vinegar, and a dash of hot sauce to make sauce for everyone.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ground pork
1 egg
1/4 cup finely chopped mint leaves
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves
3-4 cloves finely chopped garlic
2 Tblsp grated ginger
1/3 head chopped cabbage, lightly sauteed in a teaspoon of sesame oil and dried on paper towels
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped cashews
2 Tblsp soy sauce
1 Tblsp sesame oil
zest of 1 lime
sambal oelek or sriracha to taste
1-2 packages gyoza or potsticker wrappers
vegetable oil for cooking

METHOD:

Combine everything (except the wrappers and the cooking oil) in a bowl with a spoon or your (clean) hands. Make sure it’s very well mixed together.
Get a small bowl of water, the wrappers, and a sheet pan covered with parchment or foil out so you can fill the potstickers and set them aside.
If you’re using round wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the rim of the wrapper halfway, to make it stick together. Fold the wet half and the dry half together and clamp tightly so no filling falls out. (If you would prefer to make fancy pleats, I recommend this tutorial from Steamy Kitchen.)
If you’re using square wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the entire rim of the wrapper, to make it stick together. Fold the corners in to make a little pyramidal purse-like shape, and make sure it’s clamped together well so no filling falls out.
Once you’ve finished you’re wrapping, get out a large saute pan (note: you need a pan with a lid.) Put about 1 tablespoon oil in the pan and heat over high heat to very hot.
Add the potstickers to the pan, flat side down, close but not touching. Cook over high heat until browned. Pour about 1/4 cup water into the pan and cover quickly with a lid. Steam for 3-4 minutes with the lid tightly closed. Remove lid and continue cooking until all the water evaporates and the potstickers crisp up.
Remove to a plate layered with paper towels and set aside. For remaining batches, clean the pan out with paper towels and start over with new oil.
Serve over cilantro and mint leaves, alongside small empty bowls and some soy sauce, black or rice vinegar, and hot chili flakes – so people can make their own dipping sauce to their liking.

Duck A L’Orange Potstickers

Makes a lot. Serve with a little bottled plum sauce or hoisin sauce on the side, like you do with Peking Duck.

INGREDIENTS:

meat from 4 legs of ghetto duck confit - no skin (just eat it.)
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
1 bunch of scallions, slivered and cut into 1 inch pieces
large handful of blanched, squeezed purple cabbage
2 tsp grated ginger
finely chopped zest of 2 oranges
1-2 packages gyoza or potsticker wrappers
duck fat for cooking (reserved fat from confit)

METHOD:

Shred the duck meat and combine everything (except the wrappers and the duck fat) in a bowl with a spoon or your (clean) hands. Make sure it’s very well mixed together.
Get a small bowl of water, the wrappers, and a sheet pan covered with parchment or foil out so you can fill the potstickers and set them aside.
If you’re using round wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the rim of the wrapper halfway, to make it stick together. Fold the wet half and the dry half together and clamp tightly so no filling falls out. (If you would prefer to make fancy pleats, I recommend this tutorial from Steamy Kitchen.)
If you’re using square wrappers: Put 1-2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and draw it around the entire rim of the wrapper, to make it stick together. Fold the corners in to make a little pyramidal purse-like shape, and make sure it’s clamped together well so no filling falls out.
Once you’ve finished you’re wrapping, get out a large saute pan (note: you need a pan with a lid.) Put about 1 tablespoon duck fat in the pan and heat over high heat to very hot.
Add the potstickers to the pan, flat side down, close but not touching. Cook over high heat until browned. Pour about 1/4 cup water into the pan and cover quickly with a lid. Steam for 3-4 minutes with the lid tightly closed. Remove lid and continue cooking until all the water evaporates and the potstickers crisp up.
Remove to a plate layered with paper towels and set aside. For remaining batches, clean the pan out with paper towels and start over with new oil.
Serve alongside hoisin sauce or plum sauce, on a bed of purple cabbage if you want to look fancy.

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{recipe} Bucatini with Pancetta and Pumpkin-Parmesan Sauce

Karen — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:07:56 +0000

I’ve been having some serious pumpkin cravings lately, so I thought I would try to work some into my dinner. This is an excellent way to use up any canned pumpkin you may have left over from your fall dessert attempts (I’ve been trying to perfect pumpkin fudge so I have a lot of the stuff around!)

Not everyone is a big fan of marjoram, and it’s not always the easiest herb to find in a store. I think the slightly floral nature goes perfectly with the pumpkin, but you can certainly substitute thyme or sage and still get excellent results.

This could easily be made vegetarian if you just don’t use the pancetta; just use a little extra butter instead to make up for the missing grease.

Bucatini with Pancetta and Pumpkin-Parmesan Sauce
serves 2-4

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. bucatini (or other pasta shape of your choice)
4 oz. pancetta, cubed
2 tsp. butter
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 tsp. fresh marjoram, chopped, divided
1 clove garlic, crushed
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup grated or shredded parmesan
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper (or more to taste)

METHOD:

Cook pasta according to instructions. Drain, reserving one cup of the pasta water.
Meanwhile, cook pancetta in a large saute pan over medium heat until browned and crispy. Remove onto paper towels and set aside.
Remove all but 2 tsp pancetta grease from the pan. Add butter. Add onions and 1 tsp. marjoram and cook 3-5 minutes, until onions are softened. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add lemon juice and cook until dry.
Whisk together pumpkin and cream. Add mixture to pan with 1 cup of reserved pasta water. Bring to a boil and add pasta, parmesan, and black pepper. Season with salt to taste.
Toss with tongs over high heat for about 3-4 minutes, until pasta is coated and sauce has reduced and thickened. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Remove to bowls and garnish with remaining marjoram and reserved pancetta.

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{recipe} Chilaquiles Verdes

Karen — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:31:00 +0000

One of the most searched and clicked recipes on this site is Robert’s Chilaquiles. That means that a lot of people have had the benefit of my friend Robert’s wonderful recipe for chilaquiles, which makes me ¡muy feliz! Robert’s recipe for this Mexican breakfast treat involves layers of fried tortilla triangles, scrambled eggs, chorizo, cheese, and a spiced tomato sauce. However, after spending a long weekend in the neighboring Mexican towns of Puebla and Cholula, we kind of got hooked on chilaquiles verdes–made with a green tomatillo sauce in place of the red.

A little research and some experimentation led to this recipe. Typically chilaquiles verdes are made with chicken, but I prefer chorizo. For those who requested it, I fried an egg and laid it on top of their plates.

I am extremely lucky to live nearby some wonderful Mexican grocery stores, so it was easy for me to find everything I needed. (SF locals: In case you are curious, all of the ingredients were purchased at La Palma Mexicatessen and Casa Lucas.) I am, however, not lucky because it took me about 20 minutes to find a parking place near these great stores on a Sunday morning. Normally I fry tortillas to use for chilaquiles, but since I was running late and since I had never seen these before, I had to buy them!

They translate to “little hard ones for chilaquiles”–a chip specially formulated to embody the structural integrity needed to withstand the bath of sauce, cheese, and meat. What will they think of next?? Also, is this where they got the name “Doritos”?

I think it might be. Some people claim that the word doritos means “little pieces of gold” because gold in Spanish is oro. I don’t agree. A closer match for “little golden things” would be doraditos as opposed to doritos. I posit that duritos is a closer match for doritos. Anyway, have you tasted Doritos lately? They are not as good as I remembered. In fact, they are pretty gross. I’m going to stick with chilaquiles and stop talking about Doritos.

Chilaquiles Verdes

serves 6

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. tortilla chips, duritos, or tortillas
1 1/2 lbs fresh tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed
1-2 jalapeños, stem and seeds removed (if you like spicy things, you can leave some seeds in)
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
3-4 scallions, white part and up to medium green part
1 lb. Mexican chorizo
1 cup crumbled cotija or queso fresco cheese
scallions and cilantro for garnish

Method:

If making your own chips: cut tortillas into chip-sized wedges. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a large saute pan. Fry chips in batches until golden on both sides, removing to drain on paper towels.
Meanwhile, place whole tomatillos, jalapeños, and garlic cloves in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook 5-7 minutes, until tomatillos are turning brown and vegetables are soft.
Put tomatillos, jalapeños, and garlic cloves in a blender or food processor with a cup of the hot liquid, the cilantro, scallions, and a large pinch of salt. Blend until smooth and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350.
Remove chorizo’s outer skin and break into pieces with your hands into a saute pan. Cook chorizo, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until browned.
Pour a thin layer of sauce into a non-metal (ceramic or glass) 9×13 baking dish. Add a third of the chips and spread them out. Pour more sauce over, then sprinkle with one quarter of the cheese. Add half the chorizo and spread it on top.
Add another third of chips, more sauce, more cheese, and the remaining chorizo. Add the remaining chips, then cheese, sauce, and top with cheese. By this point you should have used most or all of the sauce.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until cheese is just starting to get a little brown. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro. Serve with refried beans, avocadoes, and Mexican crema or sour cream.

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{cuckoo for crocker balls} Betty Crocker’s Bisquick-Dependent Sausage Cheese Balls

Karen — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:23:25 +0000

And now I present an old-fashioned recipe from the inimitable Miz Crocker that manages to combine sausage, cheese, and Bisquick in a pretty delicious (yet a tiny bit disgusting) way – a BALL.

I attended a family wedding in Oregon this summer, which is where I first encountered the aforementioned balls. My mom assured me that this unholy conglomeration of meat, cheese, and dough was a tried and true Betty Crocker classic. (Are you listening Mad Men writers? I can totally see Betty Draper Francis making these.) Using the magical powers of the Googles I was able to triangulate on the recipe and give it a go. Basically you mix 2 kinds of cheese, something called “bulk” sausage, some Bisquick, and a couple other things together in a bowl, roll the mess into balls, and bake them in the oven. Hey, at least they’re not fried! Serve with BBQ sauce and voila. It’s like eating a ball made out of the 1950s. Except without the hairspray, asbestos, or racism.

Hot out of the oven, they’re pretty darn tasty. So go ahead– get all retro up in your mouth and Betty up some balls, at least once. You know you’re curious!

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{white on rice on sprouts} Bacony Brussels Sprouts from White On Rice Couple

Karen — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 19:44:27 +0000

I make brussels sprouts a lot but I never use a recipe. Sometimes they come out delicious! Other times, a bit lackluster. I decided to bring some discipline into my life and actually follow a recipe from White on Rice Couple because these guys never disappoint. Hey, whaddaya know? That turned out to be an excellent idea. This is now my go-to brussels sprouts recipe. When I serve it to friends, they always ask for the recipe.

A few notes: my stove is very hot, so the braising time may be as little as 8-10 minutes for me. After the sprouts are braised, I usually take the lid off and continue cooking to boil off the excess liquid. Also, sometimes I double the bacon amount. So sue me.

If you would like Todd and Diane show you the way to brussels sprouts success every time, get their recipe (and some gorgeous pictures to get your mouth watering.) Of course, first I’ll have to find time to try some of their other recipes for brussels sprouts too… I’ve got my eye on this one in particular. Luckily it’s brussels sprout season so I’ve got lots of chances! Thanks, guys!

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{recipe} BLT Baked Eggs

Karen — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 14:42:21 +0000

What could be a better breakfast than a perfectly textured and seasoned egg wedded with the best parts of a BLT? Arugula, tomatoes, and crispy bacon make a bed for the egg. A tiny splash of cream before baking gives the egg a luscious, almost cheesy texture.

I had planned to serve the BLT eggs in the ramekins with a toasted English muffin, imagining people delicately scooping and sopping up bits from the bottom and sides of the dish. However, one of my guests unexpectedly wowed my by running his knife around the edge of the ramekin, placing the nook/cranny side of his English muffin on top of the ramekin, and flipping it out on top like a mini souffle! This small but ingenious gesture makes this already somewhat impressive breakfast dish cuter, more interactive, and yes, more delicious. Because things that come out in a molded shape upside down totally taste better than normal things. Trust me on this one!

The bacon/vegetable part of this recipe could be prepared ahead, placed in the ramekins, and left overnight in the fridge. In the morning you would just have to preheat the oven and add the eggs and cream to each ramekin before baking. Because they cook in the oven, it’s a terrific choice for a larger group. Don’t worry if you don’t own ramekins–any small oven-proof vessel, like a ceramic coffee cup or pyrex prep bowl, will do just fine.

BLT Baked Eggs
makes 6

Ingredients:

9-10 slices bacon
5-6 cups baby arugula leaves
3/4 cup tomatoes, chopped, or cherry tomatoes cut in half
leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
6 eggs
3 Tblsp heavy cream, divided
coarse sea salt or fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper
toasted English muffins to serve

Method:

Cook bacon in a large saute pan until crispy. Move to paper towels. Pour bacon grease into a bowl and reserve it.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Heat bacon pan over medium heat. Add arugula leaves, tomatoes, thyme, and a few grinds of pepper to the pan. Cook, flipping with tongs, until arugula is just wilted. Put vegetables into a strainer over a bowl to release some of the liquid.
Brush 6 ramekins with bacon grease all over bottom and sides. Put the ramekins onto a sheet pan or 9×13 pan.
Evenly distribute arugula mixture into the bottom of the ramekins. Crumble about 1 1/2 pieces of bacon into each ramekin on top of the arugula.
Gently crack an egg into each ramekin, trying not to break the yolk. (Full disclosure: I broke 1 out of 6.) Drizzle about 2 teaspoons of cream over each egg. Sprinkle with a few grains of coarse salt.
Bake the eggs until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny, about 15-18 minutes.
Serve each with an English muffin and show your guests how to suavely unmold them at the table.

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{recycling?} How To: Turn Dinner Leftovers Into Breakfast Gold

Karen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:25:36 +0000

Got leftover steaks and baked potatoes from last night’s dinner? Turn them into breakfast GOLD by making an easy, delicious hash.

Here’s the how to: Chop potatoes and steak (or chicken, pork chop, meat loaf, whatev) into roughly equal size cubes (1/2 inch-ish). Chop a couple shallots or onions finely. If you’re like me, then for some odd reason your leftovers also fortuitously include a ziploc containing 5 cooked bacon slices and you should definitely chop those up as well. If you’re lucky enough to own a vegetable, like a bell pepper or broccoli or something, well then your fridge is better stocked than mine. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back, then give that the chop chop as well.

Heat some butter (or lard, duck fat, olive oil, whatev) in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the potatoes- those should get crispy so they need to cook the longest. If you have some hard vegetable like broccoli then throw that in with the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Toss or stir to brown the potatoes on multiple sides. When you’ve got some nice browning on at least a couple of sides, add the shallots (and your softer vegetable if you’re using one: I’m talking bell pepper or zucchini-type stuff) and cook another couple minutes until the shallots soften but not so long that they brown. Add the meat(s) and cook just until heated through, tossing or stirring, a couple minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust. If you really want to clog your family’s arteries, fry some eggs and put ‘em over the top. What the hell. You only live once.

I like to eat this with some Greek yogurt mixed in, but then again, I’m weird like that.

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{recipe} Old-Fashioned Spaghetti and Meatballs

Karen — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:20:15 +0000

I was bizarrely having a spaghetti and meatballs craving, which is probably, oh, the first time EVER that I have had one (and no, I am not secretly pregnant.) So without further ado, I present an extremely satisfying down-home meal that will compel your guests to ask if you learned all your secrets from a fabled Italian nonna. Although to be fair, it helps if you ply your guests with a couple bottles of wine and maybe a few shots of tequila before sitting down for dinner, which may or may not have happened before I served this meal. I’m just sayin’.

I used my new favorite thing, quinoa spaghetti from Whole Foods. It tastes almost exactly like regular spaghetti but imparts the nutritiousness of my favorite pseudocereal. One more note: the recipe combines many meats (3 to be exact) but you could just use all beef if you like. Although secretly, I would judge you from afar if you did that. Not really. OK maybe a little.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
This will serve 4-6 easily.

Ingredients:

for the meatballs:

1/3 cup milk
2 slices bread (any kind) crust removed, torn into pieces
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 Tblsp roughly chopped Italian parsley leaves
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground veal
1 egg
1/4 cup parmigiano-reggiano
salt and pepper
vegetable oil

for the sauce:

1/3 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped finely
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 20 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
salt and pepper

Method:

Make the sauce:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook a couple minutes, until soft and opaque.
Using your hands, pull the tomatoes out of the liquid in the can and crush them up with your hands a bit before adding them to the pot. Add about a cup of the liquid from the tomato can. Season with salt and pepper and cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes, at which point the sauce should get thicker.
Reduce heat to lowest possible setting and cook another 20-30 minutes. Taste sauce and add more salt and pepper if necessary. If desired, add in some chopped fresh basil or oregano at the end and stir in.

While sauce is cooking, make the meatballs:

Put milk in a large bowl and add torn bread pieces to soak. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and parsley and cook until soft and opaque, about 8-10 minutes.
Add onion mixture and all meats into the large bowl with the bread and milk, along with the egg, parmigiano, and some salt and pepper, and mix with your hands until mixed together. (Reserve the onion pan for cooking the meatballs.)
Preheat the oven to 350.
Heat about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in the onion pan over medium high heat. Form meatballs that are between the size of a baseball and a golf ball. Brown them on all sides, about 15 minutes total.
Put about 1/4 of the sauce in a 9×13 pan. Add meatballs. Put another 1/4 of the sauce over the meatballs. Put into the oven and cook for about 15-30 minutes, until they are cooked through.
Meanwhile, cook your noodles as directed.
When the meatballs are done, mix the drained noodles with the remaining 1/2 of the sauce. Spoon the meatballs on top of the noodles and sprinkle with extra parmigiano if desired.

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