6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Tyler ALWAYS uses more oil than I do
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves We used dried, since we don't have a parsley plant. We wish we had used oregano too, though, as it's our new favorite dried herb
1 cup milk
4 thick slices firm white bread, crust removed, cut into cubes, about 2 cups We used a baguette, which ended up being too small after removing the crust--use something with more middle than crust!
2 pounds ground beef We used half this amount
2 pounds ground pork Ditto!
1 egg
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, cut into 10 (1-inch) cubes
2 cups heated Sugo Sauce, recipe follows we used really simple tomato sauce based off the other recipe and my previous recipe for tomato sauce
1 pound dried spaghetti
8 fresh basil leaves
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat; cook the onions, garlic, and parsley until softened, about 10 minutes Took less than 10 minutes for us. Scrape out onto a plate and allow the mixture to cool; set the pan aside. Pour the milk over the bread into a medium bowl and let it soak while the onions are cooling. Combine the meats in a large bowl and add the egg and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the bread to the bowl along with the cooled onion mixture We also broke up the bread, I suggest doing that--it's what he did on the show, too. Using your hands, gently combine all the ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed. Don't overmix or the meatballs will be tough. Divide this mixture into 10 pieces and form them into patties. Place a mozzarella cube onto each patty and bring up the sides around the cheese to form a ball completely enclosing the cube. We had some cheese leakage, but that's okay with me!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat the remaining oil in the skillet over medium heat and brown the meatballs on all sides, about 10 minutes. Put them into the oven and bake until the meatballs are cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain the pasta and put it onto a large serving platter. Pour on half the Sugo Sauce and mix well. Place the meatballs over the spaghetti and garnish with the basil leaves. Serve immediately along with the extra sauce and Parmesan.
Two meatballs each were PLENTY for us--and these are smaller than the original recipe! We split three meatballs the next day in meatball subs (yum!) and we still have two left over. The only change I would make is a little more herbs in the meat mixture itself, probably at least some oregano.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Tyler Florence Meatballs
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Fall Classic: pork loin, baked apples and acorn squash
I love fall food, squashes and apples especially. This week, we picked up a couple nice looking Niman Ranch pork loin chops, and prepared them simply with some acorn squash and baked apples on the side.
Sweet acorn squash: Slice a medium acorn squash in half, through the stem. Scoop out the seeds and strings. Using a fork, poke the flesh liberally - this allows the flavoring to sink into the flesh while it's baking.
Place ~1 tsp. butter in the hollow, sprinkle in about 1-3 tsp. brown sugar (depending on the size of your squash), two pinches of cinnamon and, if you have them, a pinch each of allspice and nutmeg (preferable fresh grated). Bake 30-50 minutes at 400°F, until the flesh is very soft. I think it makes a nice presentation to serve just like this, but you can also scoop the flesh out and mash it up before serving. Adjust the sugar/spices at this point if desired.
Pork 'chops': Rub your pork chops with olive oil, kosher salt and a couple grinds of black pepper. We had some fresh sage on hand, so we chopped that finely and rubbed that on as well.
Heat about 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a small oven-proof pan. Sear chops 5 minutes on each side and transfer to oven. Cook another 10-15 minutes at 400°F until meat is at 150°F - but be careful, it's super easy to overcook pork (as I did this time, boo) and nobody likes a tough chop. Remove from oven to a clean cutting board, cover with foil and let rest 5 minutes.
Baked apples: Core and slice (no need to peel) two medium-firm apples like Gala, Cortland, or the more tart Granny Smith.* Place the slices in the center of a sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon, similar to the squash, and wrap the aluminum foil up into a cup shape. Add 1 tsp. butter, if desired, and bake at 350° for about 15 minutes. *I sometimes add a handful of raisins (golden or Thompson) or cranberries to the mix for an extra visual and taste dimension, but didn't do that this time.
There's a lot of stuff going in the oven for this meal, so it takes a little thought to organize. I find it's easiest to prepare the squash and put that in the bottom rack of the oven first. Prepare the apples and set them aside. Start the pork, get that in the bottom rack of the oven too, and then put the apples in the top rack after five minutes or so. You can turn the oven down to 350° after removing the pork, that will finish off the squash and the apples by the time the pork has rested.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Pork Tenderloin with Maple Glaze
This weekend I had the best pork dinner I've ever made. Got the recipe from epicurious.com for pork tenderloin with maple glaze. It was sweet, tangy, with a hint of herb. So good! It's one of the few recipes I've ever made where I actually used all the ingredients listed :-P
2 12- to 14-ounce pork tenderloins We split an 18oz in half
2 teaspoons crumbled dried sage leaves
1 tablespoon butter
6 tablespoons pure maple syrup
6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar This may have been a teensy bit excessive
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Rub pork tenderloins all over with crumbled dried sage; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Melt butter in large nonstick skillet we used our one Calphalon! pan from FMIL over medium-high heat until hot and bubbling. Add pork tenderloins and cook until brown on all sides, turning occasionally, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until thermometer inserted into pork registers 150°F, um, I don't know how my thermometer was supposed to be there with the pan covered? turning occasionally, about 10 minutes longer. Mine was more than 10 minutes, and I didn't have as much meat as they suggest--of course, I didn't keep it covered, either Transfer pork to platter; cover to keep warm.
Whisk 5 tablespoons maple syrup, 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard in small bowl to blend. Set aside. I did this step while waiting for the pork to cook Add remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar to skillet and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce heat to medium-low. Return pork and any accumulated juices to skillet; add maple syrup mixture and turn pork in glaze just until coated, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Transfer pork to cutting board. Cut pork into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Stir remaining 1 tablespoon maple syrup into glaze. Season glaze to taste with salt and pepper.I then brought it to a boil while my fiance was cutting the meat, in order to reduce it a touch
Arrange pork slices on plates. Spoon glaze over pork and serve.
Makes 6 servings.
Bon Appétit
October 2000
So, yes, this was delicious. We served a simple salad (with sage in the dressing), corn (with sage-pepper butter), and a big Sourdough roll from our local Whole Foods. Absolutely delicious, and the leftover sandwich I made the next day with the butter on the roll and the left over glaze drizzled on top was to die for!
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Meat rub Spice-O-Rama
My husband and I are big grillers. We grill everything, especially meat. But there's really only so many times that you can eat plain grilled meat without getting bored. I don't always have time for marinades, since I usually pull something out of the freezer in the morning as I'm heading out the door (and want to start cooking almost immediately after getting home). So I started playing with some spice combinations and have come up with some good meat rubs.
Paprika-based rub
1T ground Hungarian paprika
1/2T ground mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove minced garlic - I am such a cheat. I have a super duper garlic press that I got for a wedding present; it's got a mincer and slicer
1/4 tsp pepper - I use white pepper, because I don't actually like black pepper
1 tsp salt, to taste
Mix all spices together, and rub to desired flavor on raw meat. Any excess can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days.
I've found that the one above is particularly good on pork. As a matter of fact, it's a knockoff of a recipe I found in my George Forman cookbook. . .shhh, don't tell the big guy!
Another favorite, for chicken:
Rub some bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts down with some extra-virgin olive oil and set aside.
While the grill is heating up, mince up some garlic (about 2 cloves for two breasts) and some fresh basil (to taste). Insert about 3/4 the spices under the skin of the breasts and put on the grill. The rest of the spices taste fantastic over some quartered red potatoes (wrap the combo in tin foil and stick those on the grill, also). The skin of the chicken can be removed prior to eating, to cut down on calories and fat.
For those of you that don't use outdoor grills, the top recipe can also be cooked on a tabletop grill. The chicken one can be baked in a 350 oven for about 35 minutes.
In addendum to Jackie's vegetables post, I like to grill asparagus, too. I do it like Ted from Queer Eye, by making little asparagus "rafts" with bamboo skewers, like so:
I baste them with olive oil, rub a little minced garlic on the top, and sprinkle with white pepper. I grill them on the top rack, away from the flame until the tips are drying, but the skin is still semi-tough. I've found that the insides of the stems soften quite nicely using this method.
Take that, Bobby Flay!
(just kidding, Bobby. You know I love you!)
