Cook's Country Drop Meatballs

Never in my life have I made meatballs. Too much trouble! Always I brown ground beef and onion in a skillet and then add my spaghetti sauce. At times I've turned crushed tomatoes into pasta sauce, but frankly often use Whole Foods 365, Barilla, or another commercial brand of tomato sauce ... I'm not gonna lie!

After watching an episode of Cook's Country I'm now interested in trying its easy (Philadephia-inspired) recipes for drop meatballs and homemade tomato sauce. There's no bread to break up and no browning of the meatballs! Despite the simplification of steps, the dish is fancy enough to serve dinner guests, so I'm putting it on the blog with plans to invite friends over for a taste test!

Here's the episode and below is the recipe written out for our convenience  ...

Cook's Country Drop Meatballs and Pasta Sauce

Ingredients for the meatballs:

22 square saltines

1 cup milk
2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 cup)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Fresh chopped basil.

Directions for the meatballs:

1) Crush the saltine crackers using a rolling pin with the saltines inside a sealed plastic bag.

2) Empty into a mixing bowl and add a cup of milk. After the crackers soften mix it together into a paste.

3) Add the 2 lbs of ground meat and 2 oz of grated Parmesan cheese to the cracker-milk mixture.

4) Toss in the garlic powder, dried oregano, salt and pepper. 

 

5) With your hands combine the meatball mixture but don't over mix or the meatballs will get tough. No eggs are needed because the hot sauce will provide the structure for the meatballs to hold them together.

6) Form into 24 - 1/4 cup size meatballs.

7) Skip the browning. Instead put the meatballs in the refrigerator while making the tomato sauce.

Ingredients for the tomato sauce:

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 (28-ounce) cans of crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions for the tomato sauce:

1) Mash 10 garlic cloves and toss into E-V olive oil in an oven-safe-pot. Turn on the stovetop and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes until the garlic is golden brown on both sides. Add the red pepper flakes and cook for another 30 seconds. Next, add salt and pepper.

2) Retrieve the uncooked meatballs from the refrigerator and lay them one by one in the sauce which is still in the pot.

3) Bring to a simmer on the stovetop, then cover and place in a preheated 400-degree oven to cook for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven. Top with fresh chopped basil if you wish.

4) Meanwhile make 2 lbs of spaghetti pasta. You'll need 4 quarts of water, 1 tablespoon of salt and to boil the pasta for 7 - 8 minutes for al dante noodles. Also after draining the water, put a spoonful of tomato sauce into the pasta and mix to keep it from sticking.

Plate your food and eat! The recipe is for 2 pounds of pasta. Feel free to make one pound of pasta and freeze half the tomato sauce with drop meatballs for another day.

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Pasta e Fagioli

Photo: From America's Test Kitchen - not their recipe below, but it's what the soup resembled in the Time Inc cafeteria. It wasn't as tomato red as I sometimes see it elsewhere.

Years ago I discovered delicious Pasta e Fagioli at work in Time, Inc's cafeteria. I'd love to make it at home but never had a sure-fire recipe. Time's Pasta e Fagioli seemed to have bits of ham or Italian sausage in it, definitely not the ground beef used by a few cooks and closer to bean soup than tomato soup. Although I can't procure the exact recipe, I remember the taste and texture to this day. The following recipe comes close enough for now:

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients:

1 lb of spicy Italian sausage or Italian bacon (Ham or hot dogs work also, then spice to taste. Drop in a few red pepper flakes. Add some green Italian seasonings.)

2 medium onions, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

4 carrots, diced

1 garlic bulb, minced (or 2 teaspoons of dried garlic)

4 cups water

2 large chicken bouillon cubes (which contain salt, so don't add more until you taste it before serving.)

2-15-ounce cans of Northern white beans (Feel free to use pinto or pink beans, etc., if it's in the panty. It will taste good). 

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons dried basil

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

2 cups macaroni (or similar smallish pasta)

Sprinkles of grated Parmesan cheese - Add a sprinkle when cooking the soup, then garnish with the cheese before serving the soup.

Optional: Olive olive if you need it to grill the meat and vegetables  (see step 1 below).

Directions:

1) In a stockpot, brown the sausage, bacon, (or ham, or hotdogs) as it brings out the flavor. Toss in the onions, celery, and carrots as the sausage is browning. Towards the end, add the fresh garlic if using it. 

2) Next add the water and chicken bouillon cubes. (You can substitute chicken stock and salt to taste if you wish. I rarely buy chicken stock, so use water and bouillon.)

3) Mash one can of beans only. Add both cans of beans and diced tomatoes into the pot.

4). Follow with the dried spices.

5) Finally add your pasta and bring to a boil for about 12 minutes until the noodles are al dante.

My leftovers for the week.

Don't forget to garnish with extra shakes of parmesan cheese. This soup is a balanced meal with your meat, vegetables, and starch in a delicious sauce. I was always delighted to go down to the cafe to see it on the day's menu. Buon Appetitio!

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Bormioli Rocco Frigoverre Jugs with Hermetic Lids ... Brilliant

Come inside my refrigerator. 

See the glass beverage jugs above? I love them! Let me explain why.

I use a gallon of milk each week and always, always run out on a weekend. Fetching milk is a chore I can do without. Why it feels so vexing, I don't know exactly ... perhaps because it's so repetitive, and I don't like standing in lines to buy it. Plus, far too often I have to leave a cozy Sunday night roost to go out into the rain, cold or heat to shlep it home. 

So I decided to replace a task I don't like with one I don't mind. Now I order two big boxes of dry powdered milk from Walmart's online store. My order ships directly to my home free-of-charge. I mix a half gallon of milk at a time to keep in my refigerator. Price-wise, buying powdered milk is cheaper. I get an extra gallon of milk per box, which adds up to lots of savings over a year's time. I also discovered that the texture of baked goods and homemake yogurt is actually better using powdered milk. In my opinion, powdered milk tastes good as a beverage if you drink it cold. Glass keeps milk colder than plastic.

So that brings me back to the glass jugs. I need them to store cold ready-to-drink milk. I thought about using Mason jars before finding them. They are Frigoverre 1.2-liter glass pitchers made by Bormioli Rocco, an Italian manufacturer. I bought 4 pitchers. They are pretty! I feel like a farm girl taking a glass jug out of my refrigerator, pouring milk into coffee, or a recipe.

The handle is strong. The spout makes pouring a breeze, and the container is sleek and compact taking up only a small area of space in the refrigerator. The jugs fit in the shelves of the door, but I store them in the top center of the refrigerator so the milk is ice cold.

The jugs are a heavy duty glass and will not absorb the favors, odors or color of any foods stored inside. They also have innovative hermetic lids. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of how to lock and unlock the lids, they seal air tight with ease.  You can shake the jugs without spilling any liquid.

I may use one or two of the jugs for iced tea this summer. Perhaps Italians serve red wine in them.

Easy to wash and reuse, they are the perfect refrigerator pitchers and should last a long time provided nobody drops one. Likewise, I will avoid pouring boiling water into them because glass is tricky and will crack with heat ... and then, I will definitely cry. The jugs come is 3 sizes: 0.5L, 1.2L and 2L.

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