April24
It’s Spring, yes, but it’s still chilly enough to need something hearty for dinner, so here it is: Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs.
I love this recipe because you can use shortcuts (pasta sauce from a jar, frozen meatballs), or take your time and make the sauce from scratch and hand-shape your own meatballs. Either way, you’ll come up with something hot, cheesy and delicious.
I made my meatballs from scratch using ground beef, veal and pork… but you can use any combination (turkey? chicken? lamb?). Remember a little bit of fat in your mixture means more flavor in your meatballs.
If you do make your meatballs from scratch, here’s a great idea: double the recipe, make extra meatballs and freeze them. Then all you’ll have to do is thaw them for a quick dinner (Meatball Sandwiches, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Meatball Appetizers) when you’re in a hurry!
Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs
prep: 30 minutes
bake: 55 minutes
serves 6
for the meatballs you’ll need…
⅓ pound ground beef
⅓ pound ground veal
⅓ pound ground pork
½ cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
3 cloves garlic, minced or pushed through a garlic press
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon red chile flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
for the ziti you’ll need…
1 pound ziti pasta
5 cups pasta sauce or homemade tomato sauce
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8 ounces ricotta
8 ounces mozzarella, diced
let’s get to it…
Combine the meats, breadcrumbs, eggs, garlic, Parmesan cheese, parsley, red chile flakes (if using), salt and ground pepper in a large bowl. Mix together (I like to use my hands to mix). Shape the meatballs into tiny balls, about the size of a grape (or any size you want).
Heat the olive oil on medium high in a large skillet. Add the meatballs in batches and brown on all sides. Remove from skillet; set aside. (They will not be cooked through but will finish cooking when you bake the ziti.)
Place oven rack is in the middle of the oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Coat a 3½-quart baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. (You can also make these in individual serving dishes like I did in the images.)
Prepare ziti according to package directions until al dente. Drain. Return ziti to the cooking pot and toss with 3 cups of the pasta sauce and the meatballs.
Pour half of the ziti and meatballs into the sprayed baking dish. Spoon and spread the ricotta on top of the ziti. Sprinkle on half of the diced mozzarella, another cup of the pasta sauce and half the Parmesan cheese.
Add remaining ziti and meatballs to the baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella, pasta sauce and grated cheese; cover with foil.
Bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer or until center is hot, cheese is melted and sauce bubbles around the inside of the baking dish. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.
April3
Something delicious for this weekend: a rich Seafood Cioppino.
This recipe is Italian Chef Fabio Viviani’s take on cioppino, a tomato based stew made with whatever seafood is fresh that day. I pulled this recipe out of his fabulous new cookbook, Fabio’s Italian Kitchen. He finishes the stew with heavy cream, which beautifully balances the acidity of the tomatoes.
The recipes in his cookbook really work. In Chef’s own words: “My food is not complicated. My food is meant to be made and eaten. I just want to make sure that when you’re done cooking, every person you know will say, ‘That’s a great freaking dish.’”
And, really, isn’t that the exact reaction we all want?
Fabio’s Italian Kitchen Cookbook
Fabio Viviani’s Seafood Cioppino
prep: 30 minutes
cook: 40 minutes
you’ll need…
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
4 leeks, rinsed well and sliced into thin rounds
salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
20 mussels, scrubbed
20 clams, scrubbed
¼ cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, hot
1 cup squid, whole or cut in half
1 cup large shrimp (about 8), shelled and deveined, tails on, heads on or off
1 15-oz. can whole tomatoes, diced
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup parsley, minced
let’s get to it…
Heat the butter in a large stockpot and sauté the onions and leeks with a pinch of salt until translucent. Add the red pepper flakes, bay leaf and thyme sprigs.
Place the mussels and clams in the pot, give them a stir, then add the wine. Cook until the wine has disappeared, then add the stock.
Bring to a gentle simmer, cover with a lid, and cook for about 10-minutes until all the shells have opened (discard any that have not). Add the squid, shrimp, tomatoes and cream and let the soup simmer for 5 to 6 minutes.
Remove from heat, adjust seasoning, and ladle soup into one large bowl to serve family style, or individual bowls. Serve with minced parsley.
May15
Mama loves shrimp.
It’s lean, high in protein, loaded with heart-healthy omega-3 fats, low in saturated fat and high in nutrients, like magnesium. It’s also super-easy to prepare.
Here’s one of my fave recipes, which takes about half-an-hour from start to finish. If you don’t have parsley on hand, you can still make the recipe… just throw in a couple of Tablespoons of dried Italian herbs or finely grated Parmesan cheese.
Roast Shrimp with Parsley Crumbs
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 8 to 10 minutes
Serves: 6
you’ll need…
½ stick unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic
1 cup bread crumbs, plain or seasoned
¾ cup parsley
1 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
2 lbs. shrimp, large or extra large, deveined and peeled (and butterflied* if you like)
let’s get to it…
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Melt most of the butter (reserve about a Tablespoon) in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the garlic and breadcrumbs and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Toss in the parsley and chili flakes and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
Grease a large baking dish with the remaining butter. Place the shrimp in the dish and sprinkle generously with the breadcrumbs. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and the breadcrumbs are browned slightly.
*Cooking Know-How: To butterfly a shrimp, cut almost all the way through the flesh, down the center of the shrimp’s back to the tail. Gently open the shrimp and remove the vein with the knife or a fork. Rinse.
April6
My fresh vegetables always turn out soft after I cook them, even if I cook them for less time than I am supposed to. It doesn’t matter if I boil or steam them … they are always limp!
Limpness can be a drag… even when it comes to vegetables. But fortunately, there’s an easy solution, and one that will also bring more color to your plate, too.
What you add to the water will really affect the final appearance of the vegetables. Look at the chart below. For colors that really pop on the plate, try adding either an acid (like vinegar, citrus juice or milk) or salt to the water before boiling or steaming.
Vegetable:
|
Add a little of this to the cooking water:
|
To keep them:
|
Cauliflower, Celery Root, Kohlrabi, Parsley Root, Potatoes, Turnips, Onions, White Asparagus
|
Vinegar, Lemon Juice, Milk.
Add a little salt for seasoning
|
Bright White
|
Red or Purple Beets (with the skin on), Red Cabbage, Radishes
|
Vinegar, Lemon or Orange Juice
Add a little salt for seasoning
|
Bright red or purple
|
Green Beans, Broccoli, Spinach, Peas, Lima Beans, Brussels Sprouts, Green Asparagus
|
Salt (do NOT use baking soda)
|
Vivid Green
|
You’ve fixed the water, now it’s time to blanch the vegetables to get them perfectly al dente (tender, but firm with no hard core). Blanching means that you stop cooking the vegetables (either boiling or steaming) a few minutes before they are completely done.
Immediately after blanching, shock your vegetables by putting them into a bowl filled with ice and cold water. You can either drain the vegetables in a colander and then plunge them into the icy water… or remove the vegetables with tongs and drop them in the cold water. Shocking stops the cooking and keeps the colors bright.
After a few shocking minutes, drain the vegetables thoroughly (you don’t want soggy vegetables, remember?) and set aside until you are ready to finish them. Finishing means you reheat and season them by sautéing, glazing or adding a sauce. I like to keep it simple and drop them in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds and then finish them with a few squeezes of lemon juice and a little bit of salt.
What you wind up with are beautiful, colorful vegetables that don’t droop when you pick them up… slightly crisp and delicious.
