Let's Make. . . Meatballs

I like a nice meatball! After playing around with many a recipe, I think this one is nice. . .balanced, meaty yet tender and holds up well to a nice long braise. Meatballs are easy to make. . .it just takes time and patience to shape, dredge and brown them. The effort is worth it!

1 small yellow onion, finely diced
1 small clove garlic, chopped very fine
Olive oil
1/2 loaf Italian bread (cut off crust, shred by hand. . about two cups)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 lb. ground beef
3/4 lb. ground veal
3/4 lb. ground pork
3 eggs
1/2 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
3/4 grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (don't mess around - use the real stuff please!)
salt, pepper and a big pinch of peperoncini (red chile flakes)
Flour for dredging the meatballs

Heat the olive oil and saute the onion until it's tender and opaque, add the garlic and chile flakes and cook until the garlic is tender and fragrant - resist the urge to add more garlic. . .too much garlic throws off the balance of the meatballs. Season with salt and pepper. Set the onion mixture aside to cool.

Pour the milk over the bread pieces and let them soak. As the bread soaks up the milk, work the bread and milk together until you have a thick paste.

Combine the three meats, eggs, parsely, cheese, cooled onion mixture, and bread & milk mixture. Don't be afraid to really work the mixture but don't become overzealous as that can result in a tough meatball. Season well with salt and pepper (keeping in mind the cheese is somewhat salty).

Fry up a patty and taste (this is also knows as COOK'S BONUS!). . adjust seasoning as needed.


Portion the meatballs in to 2 oz. pieces. Roll gently between your hands to form nice, even balls. Season flour with salt & pepper and heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Dredge the meatballs with flour, shake off excess and evenly brown on all sides.


Drain well and either add to sauce for Macaroni & Gravy (as seen above) or braise in a simple sugo and serve with crusty Italian bread.

Let's Make. . . Macaroni & Gravy

This is a simple sauce. .. it takes about an hour of prep. . .then, in a perfect world, 8 hours to slowly simmer atop the stove and a night to rest in the refrigerator so the flavors meld and marry. Also known as Da' Sauce.

I learned how to make this sauce from Macario Lullo who was the father of a woman I worked for. Mac's family was from Naples and he was an old school Italian guy from Southside Chicago who drove a big ol' Cadillac and smoked smelly cigars. Not a teddy bear at all, sort of gruff and cranky. The way he showed his love for his family was through cooking. When he made this sauce, it was his way of giving us all a hug. This sauce is pretty close to the Macster's - I think a little cigar ash might be missing but I am okay with that!

Neapolitan Gravy
3 28 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 28 oz. can san marzano crushed tomatoes
tomato paste in a tube
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped
big pinch peperoncini (red pepper flakes)
olive oil

1 lb. (about three links) hot Italian sausage
2 lbs. chicken breasts or thighs
1 1/2 lb. chuck or stew meat
Meatballs*

In a large, heavy bottomed pot, heat 4 tablespoons of oil over medium heat.

Add garlic and carefully saute until it is fragrant and slightly opaque being very careful not to let it color.

Add the pepperoncini and saute until fragrant.

Add tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, a good squirt of tomato paste and Italian parsley. Bring to a simmer, lower heat and let cook. Meanwhile. . .


About five hours into the cooking time, in a large saute pan, brown the sausage until it is cooked through. Remove the sausages, set them aside. Pour out any grease.

Using about 1/4 cup of water, deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits and add the deglazing liquid to the tomato sauce.

Brown the chicken, deglaze the pan, add the liquid to the tomato sauce. Brown the chuck meat, deglaze the pan, add the liquid to the tomato sauce. Brown the meatballs*, deglaze the pan, add the liquid to the tomato sauce.

MEAT!


Add all the meat to the sauce and let everything simmer together for two 1/2 hours. If you have will of steel. . .put the sauce in the refrigerator and reheat the next day. If your will is weak, slice a piece of soft Italian bread, ladle some sauce atop the bread, sprinkle with freshly grated parmigianno reggiano (use that pre-grated junk and the ghost of Macario Lullo will torment you!) and enjoy that as a snack. Now put that sauce in the fridge because it is MUCH better the next day!

When it's time to bring on the sauce, remove any grease from the surface while it's cold. Heat gently until it's simmering and the meat is cooked through. Using tongs, separate the meat from the sauce.

Cook some penne rigate (I like deCiccio), toss some pasta with the sauce and serve that along with the platter of meat, a big bowl of grated cheese and a ladle so people can add more gravy as they like.

Make a silent toast to the Macster for a nice legacy of deliciousness.

*meatball recipe to follow soon!

Let's Make. . . Turkey Soup

There is a trade off when you deep fry a turkey. . .you lose the ability to make gravy from the drippings of a roasted turkey but what you gain is a gorgeous carcass with which to make a nice soup! By frying the turkey, all the rich gelatin and juices are sealed in the turkey and you end up with a rich, delicious turkey broth!

1 turkey carcass
2 carrots, peeled and roughly diced
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
4 ribs celery, roughly diced


Pick all the meat from the carcass and chop into uniform pieces. Combine the turkey carcass, carrots, onion and celery in a six quart stock pot, add water to cover and simmer for a minimum of two hours but no longer than four hours.

Strain. Skim the fat off the top of the stock. Bring the stock to a very low simmer.



2 roma tomatoes
2 oven-roasted roma tomatoes*
3 cloves peeled garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro, stems trimmed
1 jalapeno pepper (or to taste)
pinch of cumin
salt & pepper to taste
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
4 oz. fine egg noodles (fideo)
olive oil

Combine the both kinds of tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, cumin, salt & pepper in a blender or use a stick blender to puree the salsa.

Add a little turkey stock to make a thick, well blended puree.


Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a small sauce pan until very hot, add the salsa, careful to avoid splatters.

Cook the salsa on high, until it reduces by two-thirds and a spoon run through it leaves a trail. Add the salsa to the turkey stock. Add the diced carrots.

In a large saute pan, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it is very hot. Add the noodles.

Gently saute the noodles until they are evenly toasted - taking care not to break up the noodles.

Carefully add the noodles to the turkey stock - the stock will bubble up like sizzling rice soup so add them slowly. Simmer the soup until the noodles are tender but not mushy, about ten minutes. Add turkey meat, taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and cubes of ripe avocado.

*in the dead of winter when tomatoes have little flavor, I halve roma tomatoes, season them with salt and pepper, drizzle them with olive oil and slow roast them in a 300F oven until they are almost dry. These are great to have on hand to punch up salsas or pasta sauces.

Let's Make. . . Deep Fried Turkey

In any social situation where someone asks you what you do and you answer "chef", you somehow automatically become the expert on all things culinary. ..so I have been asked countless times how I cook my Thanksgiving turkey. When I answer that I deep fry it, I am invariably asked what kind of "rig" I have. I have no rig other than a fabulous and well loved O'Keeffe & Merritt stove that is the best stove I have ever cooked on. This is my fifth year deep frying a turkey atop my trusty stove. I have been told that I am foolish to do it in my home but I really do believe that all it takes is common sense and a healthy respect for hot oil. Here is how I do it.

15-16 lb. brined turkey
35 lb. box of Peanut Oil
60 qt. stock pot
heat/liquid resistant gloves
Thermometer


The Victim. It has been brined for 12 hours, removed from the brine and refrigerated, uncovered, for another 12 hours. Remove the turkey from the refrigerator two hours before it's hot oil bath.

The "Rig" - sixty quart stockpot atop trusty O'Keeffe & Merritt Stove.


Add one 35 lb. container of peanut oil to the pot. The pot will be 1/3 full. . it is crucial that the pot is not overfilled. Set heat to high. Keep in mind it can take up to an hour for the oil to reach the correct temperature.



Once the oil is heated to at least 340F (maximum 350F) it is ready for the turkey.



Don the gloves!

Grabbing the two legs, VERY gently lower the turkey into the oil. It will bubble up slightly. The general rule is 3 minutes per pound plus 10 extra minutes. This 16 lb turkey took 58 minutes.

This is about half way through the cooking process - notice the slight color change.

As the turkey cooks, it will come up to the surface. Notice how the legs are jutting out of the oil. Perfect to grab and pull out of the oil. It is a good idea to have an assistant help you pull the turkey out of the oil - this year I did it alone and experienced my first and only error - the leg and thigh portion separated from the breast and wing portion. I felt it start to happen so I let it. I let the breast go gently back into the oil. I pulled the leg/thigh portion with the gloves and removed the breast/wing portion with tongs. Have ready a wadded up paper bag to rest and drain the turkey on.

Let the turkey rest for half an hour before you carve. We jumped the gun an started carving before I could take a picture of the whole turkey - no do-overs here! The turkey will be juicy, skin crisp and completely non-greasy. Easy and delicious!

Let's Make. . . Dog Food

EDIT! So, Lou was having problems with um, well, poops. They were a little loose so my vet and I re-adjusted the recipe to suit LouLou's "special" needs. Reduced the veg and changed the carbs. . so now the only thing that goes into the pressure cooker is chicken, chicken gizzards & hearts, chicken livers, collard greens, white potatoes and sweet potatoes. The method still applies. I recently purchased a 40 quart pressure cooker and only have to make her food once a month which is so much easier. . but it is no joke cleaning that thing! :) She is doing very well.

Just for reference here is the basic break-down of the true BARF diet:
BY WEIGHT:
65% raw meaty bones
15% organ meats
15% vegatables
Plus a good multi-vitamin such as Canine Plus


3 lbs, 2 oz.


The most important thing I make in my kitchen is food for my dog, LouLou. I got her as a very, very young puppy and she always had digestive issues. I take her to a holistic vet who suggested the Paleolithic diet for her. She has been eating homemade food since she was two months old. My goal is to know exactly what is in her food and to have her live the longest, healthiest life possible. She did well on the food up until about 6 months ago when she stopped keeping up her weight and became thin. This happens sometimes with well muscled dogs - especially pit bulls. My vet told me to add carbohydrates to her diet in the form of oatmeal. She has bulked up nicely and has had no ill effects from adding the oatmeal. Just as you would check with you own doctor if you were radically changing your diet, please check with your vet about changing your dog's diet. Every dog is different and might need the recipe tweaked for his or her own best health. LouLou eats about a pound of food twice a day and one multi-vitamin daily.

This is what you will need to make a large batch of dog food. This batch fits into a Presto 23-quart pressure cooker.

6 4-5 pound whole chickens
2 pounds chicken gizzards/hearts
2 pounds chicken livers
2 1 pound pkg. Cut N' Clean collard greens (or mixed greens)
2 29-oz. cans Libby's Pumpkin (plain - not pie mix!)
1 18-oz canister Quaker Oats - Old-Fashioned Oats (not quick oats)
Water

Cook the collard greens with three cups of water in a separate pot. You can pack them in tightly and they will cook down.

Cook the greens until they are tender.

Meanwhile, using kitchen shears, butterfly the chicken along the backbone. I do this in the kitchen sink to make clean-up easier.

Pack the chicken in tightly.

Add the gizzards, hearts and liver, packing it in so there are no gaps.


Sprinkle in the oatmeal and the add the pumpkin, spreading it with a spatula so you have a smooth layer.

Place the greens and all the liquid from the pot on top of everything. The pot will be very full. This goes against the instructions with your pressure cooker. I have been making this food for two years and have never, ever had a problem. Of course, never leave the pot unattended - you need to stay home while the food is cooking to make sure the pressure stays stable. Add 4 cups of water and close the pressure cooker making sure all it is securely sealed. Heat should be on medium high. Once the pressure cooker gauge reaches 12 psi, adjust heat to maintain the pressure and cook for 2 1/2 hours. Turn off the heat and let the pressure settle until the gauge sets at zero and the safety valve releases.

I use an industrial sized potato masher to break down the food. You will see that the pressure has made the chicken bones soft - they will break up as you mix up the food - some large pieces may remain but they are safe for your dog to eat as they are soft and chewable.

I use 4-inch 1/3 pans to store the food in the freezer. This recipe yields enough food for approximately two weeks.


The happy and healthy girl - 52 lbs.!