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May2

The closest recipe to my Mother’s Sicilian Meatballs

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Well I finally hit on my mother’s meatballs, that is getting close to making them as she did, and tasting pretty dam close too!!!

I think the trick was in the frying of the meatballs, rather than in the ingredients.  Now there are a lot discussions about how exactly to fry the meatballs.  My mother fried hers until they were brown, and to me that was the best, so good we started eating them like that until we had to leave some for the sauce.  Other mamas  fried them lightly and put them in the sauce right away, and still others threw them in the sauce uncooked!  So it’s all about what you are used to, what skills you have, what your tastes are and simply what you are in the mood for.  But if you have been to my house while my mom was alive and you had her meatballs and that’s what you want to know about, then you have to fry them – brown!

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DRY ingredients:

4-5 cloves of chopped fresh garlic, or however more you can endure,  (ok so if you use powdered garlic that’s your problem, but it won’t be like my Mama’s!)
5-6 tablespoons of chopped Italian parsley, (so you wanna pick the leaves off one by one, fine, I do that too, but next time I’m just chopping it all up starting from the top of the bunch, leaves and stems because it all has that strong parsley flavor, feel free to use more parsley!
1 cup of plain Italian breadcrumbs (don’t be cheeky and go for the seasoned,  WE ARE seasoning with FRESH ingredients!)
1 cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese  (or until you can smell the cheese after mixing up the dry ingredients, stick your face close into that bowl like a good Sicilian and smell!!!)
Salt and pepper to your taste  (Check out the salt in your cheese, and use your testa to know how much, try to use the best pepper too, that tellicherry is my favorite)

WET ingredients:

3 eggs,

3 pounds of chopped meat, room temperature, in the following ratio of: 1/3 beef, 1/3 pork, 1/3 veal,  (so 1 pound each for this total amount) that should do it or make up your own combination.
Milk?  To tell the truth I do NOT remember my mom putting milk in the meatball mixture, however there are some who say it helps keep moisture, like adding wet slices of bread, which Mama Lina never did either.  So don’t do it,  then the next time you can try it and compare.  what does everybody here think?  Thank you.

Olive oil (or canola, corn, etc) to cover the bottom of the frying pan but enough to cook the meatballs in, a little up the side of the meatball please!

  • In a medium stainless steel bowl add all the dry ingredients plus the eggs.  Mix and blend well.
  • Next add the chopped meat which has been brought to room temperature.  Combine all, gently folding and mixing.  There is a belief that if you over-mix the chop meat your meatballs will be harder, or denser, drier, less moist, etc.
  • Start making your meatballs (about the size of an ice cream scoop), and set them where you will have them ready to place in the heated fry pan.
  •  Get your medium to big fry pan ready by adding a good amount of oil, I use regular oil and some olive oil.  Over a medium flame burner suitable to the size of your fry pan heat up the oil,  you will be able to smell the olive oil as it warms up….that’s heaven.
  • Now your meatballs are all formed sitting on a plate and your pan is hot with oil!
  • Place your meatballs in the pan starting in the center and going around in circular pattern being sure NOT to crowd them in, until the pan is filled.
  • Is the oil crackling and spattering?  Good, get your splatter screen over them before you burn yourself in the eye.
  • DO NOT MOVE the meatballs until you see them browning!!!  Then you can turn them over to brown the other side, but don’t move them once you turn them over.
  • When your meatballs are browned, place them on paper towels on a paper plate to absorb excess oil, layering them with the paper towels.
  • Now you can add them to your sauce or just pop them right into your mouth, like I used to every Sunday morning while watching Julia Child on Channel 13….. the original Food Channel!  Thank you very much!
Apr22

Becco Figo

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Becca figo or becca figo, either way it’s a popular Sicilian dish especially during Easter. These are egg patties made with bread crumbs and eggs. The bread crumbs are seasoned with freshly chopped garlic, parsely, romano cheese, salt and pepper. Add eggs to the bread crumbs enough to form a patty. Into the patty you place a fresh sardine and fold over the misture so the sardine is nestled in it. The patties a fried in a pan, drained and then thrown into the sauce to cook some more. The egg patty absorbs the tomato sauce and that makes them sooo delicious. Serve a macaroni with the sauce and the becco figos. Delicious!

Feb13

Aunt Rosie “Just throw them in the sauce!”

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Here is our Beloved Aunt Rosie in her very rosie dress, I tested her method for cooking the meatballs in the sauce. I am posting my Mother’s Sicilian Meatball recipe above for you to try, good luck and enjoy!

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Cover all the meatballs with the sauce. Be sure to make a lot of sauce. Did I mention how to make the meatballs and the sauce?

Here are 3 pounds of uncooked meatballs that I threw into the sauce. OK I added a lot of parsely.

Here are 3 pounds of uncooked meatballs that I threw into the sauce. I used 4 large cans of tomato, (2 crushed, 2 puree). OK I added a lot of parsley to the meat.

 

Make sure the sauce is boiling and then to cover all the meatballs with the sauce. I made too many meatballs so I had to take some out. The meatballs should be floating freely in the sauce so they can cook thoroughly. Simmer the sauce for at least an hour and a half. If you make too many meatballs, you can take them out and bake them in some sauce as I did. I used my extra large toaster oven at 350. I laid the extra meatballs into a pan and covered them completely with the sauce. I covered the baking pan and baked them for over an hour. All the meatballs were cooked, including the batch I cooked in the big pot of sauce.

 

 

So I would say, Yes to Aunt Rosie, you CAN throw them in the sauce! And I did! God Bless her!

Feb3

“Just throw them in the sauce!” Debbie’s Aunt Rosie, Bushwick NY

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Dear Aunt Rosie, we will miss you and your Brooklyn stories, and even more we will miss your Sicilian cooking!  So today in your honor, I’m telling the world that it’s ok to “Just throw then in the sauce!”  That would be meatballs without frying them first.  “They’ll cook don’t worry”  she continued… and they do, and are especially juicy and soft…absolutely delicious…be careful though they go down easy because they are so delicious and succulent – so make extra meatballs and raise a toast to my old Bushwick friend Debbie’s Aunt Rosie!!!  Cent Anni!!!

Aunt Rosie Feb 1, 2013

May21

Pasta e Piselli

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Pasta e Piselli

Here is a very common, simple and delicious pasta dish that my mom made regularly, macaroni with peas. It’s usually made with a small shaped macaroni, but I always remember my mother breaking the spaghetti up into little pieces about 1-2 inches long, it was a skill she had and very effective when served with the peas swimming around the liquid in the bowl.

Equipment: One large pasta pot (8-quart) for sauteeing and mixing it all together in, on one burner.  Another large pot for boiling the water and cooking the pasta in, on the side burner to the other pot.  Flat edge wooden utensil for stirring the onions around.  A ladle for scooping the cooked pasta into the pot of cooked peas and sauteed onions.  And finally, you will also use the ladle to add the pasta water to the peas, onions and pasta in the pot.

This is a five ingredient recipe.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil  (1-1.5 cup)  to cover the bottom of the pot, probably a little more that a cup.

1 medium to large onion,  I like to use a Vidalia onion because it’s sweeter, but of course my mother used a regular onion.

1 pound of fresh or frozen fresh peas.  I seem to remember my mom using frozen peas, I’m sure using fresh peas will add to the flavor.

1lb box of tubettini macaroni or spaghetti broken into one inch pieces.  My mother was really good and breaking up the spaghetti to the perfect size, I remember she always placed the pasta she was going to cook in a pasta dish on the counter next to the stove.  When the water was boiling, the pasta slipped so easily out of the dish and into the boiling water.

Water from the pot you boiled the macaroni in.  Reserve this water, it is the final main ingredient.

Sea salt.

Freshly ground Pepper.

5CookedOnionsPot

Saute one medium to large onion in a layer of olive oil, in a pasta pot.

Add peas to sauteed onions
When the onions are sauteed enough, that is they are soft and glossy, add the  one pound of fresh or frozen peas. Stir it up, and let it cook for about 20 minutes, stirring, and continuing this way until the peas are no longer frozen. Whether you use fresh or frozen peas, you are cooking the peas with the onions until the peas are cooked. At this point, season the peas and onion with some good sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

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When the macaroni is al dente, begin ladling it into the pot of cooked peas and onion, which are still on heat.  Note that the peas and onions are still simmering in their pot.  RESERVE this pasta water, do NOT drain the macaroni from this pot.  The water is part of the recipe.

Adding macaroni to peas and onions

Continue adding macaroni to peas and onions.  Add the entire pound of cooked macaroni to the pot of peas and onions.  Be sure to reserve the pasta water which you will need to add to the pot as well, this water is part of the recipe!  Do NOT drain the pasta from the pot.  Have I told you this enough times?

13CombinedMacaroniPeasOnions

Now you have all the macaroni in the same pot with the peas and onions. Mix it up so it is combined well.

11MixedPasta

Start ladling the pasta water from the pot you cooked the macaroni in, into the pot of peas, onion and macaroni.  Remember, I told you to reserve this water, it is part of the recipe.  Keep adding this water until it reaches the top of the pot.

10AddWaterPepper

Add some salt and and little more pepper to the pot and mix. The salt and pepper really enhances this 5 ingredient dish. I like to use a good sea salt and a lot of fresh ground Tellicherry pepper.

12CoveringPot

At this point, shut off the burner. Stir up the pasta again and put the lid on for 10 minutes and serve it by ladling it into pasta dishes. The pasta should be watery in the dish.

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This is your dish of Pasta e Piselli with more pepper if you like, and grated cheese like Romano or Parmegianno. You can even add more pasta water to each dish if there is not enough, you should see the extra water in the dish.

Jan15
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Pasta con La Sarsa Lorda (Pasta with dirty sauce)

Pasta con La Sarsa Lorda

Do I have your attention? Dirty sauce??? Hmmm. A friend of mine at times makes her own tomato sauce by simply sauteing roughly chopped tomatoes. When I told my mother about this, she said “yes, that’s called pasta con la sarsa lorda”. Literally, that means pasta with dirty sauce, because the tomatoes are not skinned and seeded, only the green stem end is cut out, hence dirty. My mom went on to tell me that traditionally Pasta Con La Sarsa Lorda is served with the Perciatelli pasta or any other tubular spaghetti like bucatini, or maccheroncelli. You can also use a tubular macaroni of the penne variety, mostacciolli, pasta al ceppo, etc. This is not a reduced sauce, so to soak up the liquid of this fresh tomato sauce we use tubular pastas. So here is my mom’s recipe.

Pasta Con La Sarsa Lorda – Ingredients – Serves 4

3-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, enough to cover the bottom of a large skillet

1/2 chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion

3 cloves minced garlic

2-3 pounds of chopped plum tomatoes (stems removed)

3-5 fresh basil leaves

sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

1 pound box of Perciatelli pasta, boiled in well salted water

Grated Parmeggiano Reggiano

Directions –

Cover the bottom of a very large skillet with extra virgin olive oil over a medium heat.

Add the 1/2 Vidalia chopped onion and saute to a caramel brown color to make the sauce sweet and flavorful.

Add the minced garlic and continue sauteing for about 4 more minutes, but don’t let the garlic get brown.

Add the chopped tomatoes to the skillet and stir it up to combine well.

Simmer the Sarsa Lorda, stirring regularly to cook down the tomatoes so they aren’t too watery. Add salt and pepper to your taste and the basil leaves, and stir.

Simmer the tomatoes on a low-medium flame.

Boil the water for the Perciatelli in the meantime.

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce in the skillet and mix.

Serve adding fresh cracked pepper and/or cheese if you like.

Adjust the onions and garlic according to your taste. I love bringing the onions to a good brown color. I also like using yellow or orange tomatoes, and combining whatever tomatoes I have around, but the plum tomatoes are the best because they have a thinner skin. Mmmmmmmm…enjoy and have fun putting your slant on this, after all, it is just the fresh chopped tomatoes that serve as the base for this recipe.

Pasta con La Sarsa Lorda (Pasta with dirty sauce)