Pasta Pomodoro with Feta, Garlic & Herbs

Pasta Pomodoro with Feta, Garlic & Herbs

This "recipe" is proof that uncomplicated food made from fresh, simple ingredients is the most delicious.  I think this dish is one of the best things I have ever cooked, and it's incredibly easy and unfussy.  Now that it's tomato season, I wanted to share it.  We'll certainly be enjoying it many times over, and I hope you do, too!

Get a pot of water started on your stovetop and bring it up to a boil while you prep the ingredients.

Chop several cloves of garlic, a small onion, and a few fresh ripe tomatoes.  Tear up some basil leaves, and if you have other herbs you like available, mince some of those up too.  This turned out great with basil and thyme.  When cooking for two hungry people, I typically use about five garlic cloves and four big tomatoes for about half a pound of pasta, but this isn't really a counting/measuring recipe.  Just eyeball everything.  It will taste good no matter what.  Trust me.  

Here's my secret flavor enhancer: Take about 2 teaspoons of the minced garlic and place into a small prep bowl with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Heat in the microwave for about a minute to make a quick garlic oil.  Be careful when you take it out of the microwave because the oil gets really hot. (You could also do this on the stovetop but it's such a small amount using the microwave is just easier.)  Set the garlic oil aside for later.  

Now heat some olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat and add a dash or two of red pepper flakes (or not, if you don't like a touch of heat).  Add the chopped onion and "sweat" till translucent.  (I think it's funny that "sweating" is a real cooking term.  It just means cook gently to release some water/cook through without browning.)

When your water is boiling, add a big handful of salt and let it come up to a boil again, then stir in your favorite pasta (I like long pasta for this sauce) and cook until just short of perfectly al dente. 

Add the rest of the raw chopped garlic to the onion and heat for another minute or two until fragrant, then add your tomatoes and any juices they've released, plus some salt and pepper.  Turn up the heat to medium-high so the tomatoes start to get juicier and bubbly, then go back to medium heat so all the juice doesn't bubble away.  Cook for a total of five to eight minutes, then add the herbs.

Drain the pasta and dump it right into the still-bubbling sauce.  If it looks like you have too much pasta for the amount of sauce you made, just add what looks like the right amount to you.  Save the rest of the pasta by tossing it with a bit of olive oil and refrigerating it.  You can even make a pasta frittata out of it another day.

Continue to cook the pasta in the sauce for another minute or so.  Allowing the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce lets it really soak up all that flavor nicely.  Add some crumbled feta cheese and grated Parmesan.  

Now for the finishing touch!  Drizzle the reserved garlic oil on top of the pasta and toss everything together.  Messy perfection!

And since tomatoes are in season, why not enjoy this with a delicious and beautiful caprese salad, like we did last night?

Delicioso!

Mom's Meatballs

Mom's Meatballs

Now that I'm married, I can say my mom (in-law), Donna, makes the best meatballs around, because honestly my husband's mother really makes the best meatballs I've ever tasted. Don't get me wrong—my own mom's are delicious and everyone thoroughly enjoys eating them, too, but let's face it—if hers were the best this post would be about them.  So to be fair I'm planning another post dedicated to my mother's awesome gnocchi.  How lucky am I to have these two for moms? I know, it's not fair, but at least I'm sharing their recipes.

So, how does one make the best meatballs?  I spent an afternoon in mom's kitchen watching her in meatball-making mode, which is always the best way to learn.  A generous and giving soul, she was happy to share her secrets.

No one makes meatballs like mom's!

These meatballs are everything meatballs should be—hearty without being heavy, the tender, perfectly seasoned spheres crisp-fried to delectable perfection.  And that's before they've simmered in and soaked up homemade tomato sauce. 
 

Mom's Meatballs  

Click here for print-friendly recipe

Like many of the best family recipes, these are typically made by "feel" so there isn't a cut-and-dried, measurable way to make them the same way every time. But for those who prefer to have a recipe to follow, this should do just fine. Just remember that it's flexible.

Ingredients

a large pot of your favorite homemade tomato sauce, for simmering

1 loaf day-old Italian bread (preferably unseeded, but seeded is OK too) 
3 eggs

about 10 finely chopped garlic cloves

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds ground "meatloaf mix" (beef, pork, and veal)

vegetable oil, for frying

cooked pasta and additional Parmesan cheese, for serving

Have your pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove before you even start making the meatballs. 

Simmering sauce.
My bro-in-law made that beautiful backsplash. Nice backdrop!

Trim the all the crust off and then cube the bread. 

Trimming off the crust.

Trimmed bread.

Cubing bread.

This bread is from Cassone's Bakery in Port Chester. They make the best Italian bread!

Cassone's Bakery

The crusts don't go to waste if you feed them to the birds and squirrels!  (You can also make breadcrumbs out of them but that's not as fun.)

Feeding the birds and squirrels.

Place the bread in a bowl along with about 3/4 cup water.  Place a dish and a weight on top (a big bottle of wine works great!) so the bread doesn't float and set aside while the bread soaks.

Weighing down the soaking bread with a bottle of wine.

Whisk the eggs in a wide bowl and stir in the garlic.  (Make sure it's finely chopped so no one bites into a big hunk of garlic.)  

Whisking eggs.

Lotsa garlic!

Whisking in the finely chopped garlic.

Add the Parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper, making sure to whisk each ingredient in before you add the next.  This "mom secret" ensures that all that flavor will be nicely distributed in the meatballs. I've never seen this method before—usually people put the meat in a bowl and just add all the ingredients, then mix it up.  Doing it this way is something I consider revolutionary.  Genius!   

Parmesan, salt and pepper.

Chopping parsley.

Whisk so everything gets incorporated into the meat evenly.

Now that the bread has soaked up the water, mush the soaked bread so it's nice and uniform in texture.  Add the bread to the eggs.

Soaked bread.

Mushing the bread.

Bread mush goes into the egg mixture.

Now it's time for the "smell test"—another mom secret!  If the egg/bread mixture doesn't have a strong garlicky smell, add more finely chopped garlic until it does.  This time it needed a little more garlic to pass the test. 

The Smell Test

Believe it or not, needs more garlic!

Eyeball the amount of bread/egg mixture in the bowl compared to the ground meat.  You should have about the same amount of each.  One large loaf of bread is typically about right for 1 1/2 pounds of meat.

Eyeballing the ratio.

Add the ground meat to the egg/bread mixture.  Start off by mixing with a fork to get it started, then use your hands to mix everything together really well.  If you feel any hunks of bread, take them out and discard them so no one bites into a “blop of dough.” 

Start with a fork...

Then use "God's utensils"—can't beat 'em!

Nicely mixed meatball mixture.

Portion the mixture into balls (about the size of a golf ball).  You can use an ice cream scoop to get even portions like Donna does, but Grandma Rosie (Donna's mom) would not approve!

Making even balls with an ice cream scoop.

Then roll each portion to get a nice round shape.  Donna's mom-in-law, Grandma Red, taught her to keep wetting her hands during rolling, which keeps the meat from sticking and makes the meatballs crispier when they're fried.

Rolling into nice smooth balls with wet hands.

You can do the portioning and rolling in batches.  First portion and roll one plateful of meatballs, and while those are frying portion and roll the next batch.  Mom has a good system here—she uses one Corelle plateful of meatballs per batch, since the size of the plate is the same size as the skillet.  Smart!
 

One plate = one skillet. How organized!

While you're getting your first batch ready, heat enough vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat (use a good cast iron skillet if you have one) to reach about halfway up the sides of the meatballs.  When the oil shimmers, it's ready.  

Cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

Carefully place the meatballs in the hot oil, being careful not to crowd them in too much. 

The oil's definitely hot enough. Look at that sizzle!

Fry until crispy on one side, about 6–8 minutes, then turn and cook until crispy on the other side, about 6 or 7 minutes more.  

Beautiful color on those. Cast iron is the best!

Don't bother draining them—either set them aside on a plate or drop 'em right into that pot of simmering sauce.  That grease has flavor!

Right into the sauce...no draining required.

Stir 'em in.

Be sure to try one (or a few...) before you even add them to the sauce.  They're perfectly crispy and delicious when they're hot out of the oil—My husband and his siblings used to line up waiting for them to emerge from the oil, clamoring for the hot, crusty meatballs. 

Set some aside to enjoy right from the frying pan.

Actually, if they're around while mom's making them they still do!

Yum.

While one batch fries, prepare the next batch so it's ready to go. 

Second batch.

Add additional vegetable oil as necessary and continue frying until all your meatballs are in the sauce.  

Meatballs in sauce.

Now stir a big spoonful of the oil you cooked the meatballs in into the sauce.  Another one of mom's secrets!  

Spooning out some meatball frying oil...

...and adding it to the sauce for even more flavor.

Simmer the meatballs in the tomato sauce for at least half an hour, but longer is fine too—in fact, it's preferable!  Leave them in for an hour if you can wait that long.

Almost time to eat!

Serve the meatballs and sauce over your favorite cooked pasta (we like penne rigate, which stands up well to the flavorful, hearty meatballs) with additional Parmesan cheese for sprinkling and enjoy one of the best meals you're likely to ever eat.  Buon appetito!        

Mmmmmmmeatballs!

Sorry pups...this is people food!

Sorry pups, not gonna share this time!

Heavenly Chocolate Orange Cake

Heavenly Chocolate Orange Cake

Being a big fan of anything orange/chocolate (for example, those chocolate oranges my family often enjoys around Christmastime), I've had my eye on this recipe on Smitten Kitchen (adapted from an Ina Garten recipe) for quite awhile.  I'm happy to report it didn't disappoint when I finally got around to baking it.  I made a couple of adjustments (a tangier, less sweet and more concentrated syrup, a bit of orange extract in the slightly thinner ganache, and a mix of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate in both the batter and ganache) and while it's a little bit involved, this recipe is worth the effort.  Moist and full of flavor, it keeps well at room temperature for a couple of days, and it's impressive to offer guests or to take along as a hostess gift. 

Heavenly Chocolate Orange Cake

Click here for print-friendly recipe
Batter:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter plus 1 tablespoon, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 cup grated orange zest (from 4 large naval oranges)

3 cups all-purpose flour plus 3 tablespoons

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon table salt or 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 ounces good quality chocolate chunks (I used half bittersweet and half semisweet cut from Ghirardelli baking chocolate bars) 

Syrup:
3 tablespoons sugar 
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 
juice of 1 lime

Ganache: 
8 ounces chopped good quality chocolate (I used half bittersweet and half semisweet cut from Ghirardelli baking chocolate bars) 
1/2 cup heavy cream plus 2 tablespoons 
1/4 teaspoon pure orange extract

First get everything ready to go and make sure the butter, eggs, and buttermilk are at room temperature, which helps produce a lighter, fluffier cake.

Mise en place

Zesting oranges with a Microplane

Juicing oranges

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and mix in 1 tablespoon of the flour. Brush the resulting paste all over the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan, making sure to coat all the nooks and crannies.

I learned this bundt greasing method from America's Test Kitchen and it's great! Much neater than separately buttering and flouring, and it works better, too.

Making the butter/flour paste

 Greasing the pan

Cream the remaining 1/2 pound of butter and 2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

Light & fluffy

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and then the orange zest.

Eggs, one by one

Zest

Making it orange-y

Whisk together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour (dry mixture in 3 stages, liquid in 2 stages).  

Buttermilk mixture goes in, alternating with the dry mixture

Well incorporated batter, ready for chocolate

Toss the chocolate chunks with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour and add to the batter. 

Floured chocolate chunks (keeps them from sinking!)

Mixing in the chocolate until evenly distributed

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and wipe off any drips. 

Ready to bake!

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Beautifully baked!

Clean cake tester (I used a wooden skewer)

Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar with the orange and lime juice until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is reduced to about a quarter cup. 

Making a juicy simple syrup

Remove the cake from the pan and set it on a rack over a tray. Removing the cake from the pan can be a little tricky, but you just need to be confident and quick. I like to do it this way: place the rack on top of the pan and flip them over together. Then let it rest upside down with the cake pan still on for about 30 seconds before gently pulling off the pan. Worked like a charm! But if your cake does happen to break, don't sweat it. Just cover any mishaps up with the ganache and no one will be the wiser!

Place the rack over the top of the pan...

Invert pan plus rack over a sheet tray...

Let rest about 30 seconds, then gently pull off pan. Voila!

Brush the orange syrup over the warm cake, then allow the cake to cool completely, about 2 hours.

Spooning and brushing syrup into cake

The soaked cake, cooling. This step ensures a moist crumb.

For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and orange extract in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.  If you don't own a double boiler (I don't), just set a heatproof glass bowl over a pan of simmering water and there you have it—homemade double boiler!

Homemade double boiler

Smooth and creamy ganache

Drizzle the ganache over the top of the cake, letting it drip generously down the sides.  (You may have a little extra.  If you do, save it and try dipping shortbread cookies or fruit into it!)

Yummy chocolate-glazed cake

Let it set, or not, then serve to good friends or family and enjoy the compliments (and the cake)!

Inside view

It tastes even better surrounded by good company and good conversation, preferably with an adorable dog snoozing nearby.

 

Cake and good company

Adorable dog snoozing

I hope you try it and enjoy it, too!