It’s my boyfriend’s birthday so I decided to make him his favorite, spaghetti and meatballs. I went to a local butcher and asked for a pound of ground meat, I went with a 40% pork 40% beef 20% veal combination. Into a bowl went the meat, 2 slices of white bread broken into bits, 2 T of dry bread crumbs, A handful of chopped fresh parsley, 2 T of grate parmesan cheese, some salt and pepper and one egg (beaten before you add). I mixed it all together with my hands and formed 8 balls. I rolled the balls in my palms to make sure they stuck together.
Once the meatballs have been formed they need to be seared. I heated up about 2 T of olive oil into my le creuset over medium heat until hot and added 4 meatballs at a time. I found that my meatballs were incredibly soft and, for lack of a better word, mushy, so I was a bit nervous about this. I had to be very careful and patient when I moved the meatballs around to sear all the sides. One I finished with all the meatballs I set on a plate until my sauce was ready.
Now to make my sauce. I had to clean the le creuset out before I began, there was a lot of charred meat stuck to the bottom of my pan, I used a paper towel no soap or water to remove all the pieces. A little more olive oil in the pan over medium heat and in went one white chopped onion. The onion cooked for a few minutes until a bit soft and then in went 3 chopped cloves of garlic. To that I added one cup of red wine and allowed it to reduce until all the liquid was gone. I then added a can of crushed san marzano tomatoes and a T of fresh chopped parsley and some salt and pepper. I allowed this to come to a boil, and carefully put the meatballs into the sauce which I then covered and cooked for about 45 minutes.
After the sauce and meatballs had been cooking for 45 minutes I removed the meatballs from the sauce and used a blender to blend everything together, this is only my preference and if you like your sauce chunky absolutely not necessary. However, if you find your sauce to be too watery, you can always turn the heat up a bit (keep the top off) and cook off some of the liquid before returning your meatballs to your sauce. I bought some fresh pasta from a pasta shop in the west village cooked it for 2 minutes and was ready to eat! The meatballs were incredibly delicious, soft and moist bursting with flavor. The sauce was a bit tart but rich and went excellent with the meatballs.
Butternut squash raviolis with a sage butter sauce and lemon chicken. The sage butter sauce can take up to 30 minutes and should be used as soon as it is ready so I suggest timing the cooking of the raviolis accordingly. It is incredibly simple; however, you have to watch it very carefully. 1 stick of butter in a saucepan, allow to the butter to melt and wait… watching for the butter to turn brown. It may take up to 30 minutes. Once it browns add about 7 sage leaves and allow the butter to fry the leaves, it should take a few minutes. Remove the leaves and place on a paper towel. Then add 1/2 cup of cream to the butter, mix well and cook for only a few minutes, you just want the cream to heat up. And pour directly onto the cooked raviolis (the sauce will be very thin) then take those crispy sage leaves and crumble on top of the raviolis.
To the left, 3-1/2 cups of flour. To the right, 4 whisked eggs. Together… deliciousness.
I placed the flour on a clean surface and made a hole, or well, in the center. I dropped my whisked eggs inside the well and slowly incorporated the flour bit by bit, but making sure to not break the circle of flour so the egg wouldn’t run all over the place. I used a fork at first, but eventually when all the egg were incorporated, I used my hands to bring everything together.
It took a lot of patience, but it eventually came into a ball. I wrapped in plastic and left on my table for a few hours before rolling it out to make my raviolis.
Having roasted pumpkins and steamed sweet potatoes I wasn’t entirely sure how to battle the butternut squash. I decided the best way to get the most flavor would be to roast, the browned surface would only intensify the flavor of the squash. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees then cut the squash in half and took out all the seeds and stringy parts. I then took a T of cold butter and pressed it all over the exposed flesh. This was a bit tough, the majority of the butter stuck to the hallow part where the seeds once had been. I then placed on a cookie sheet, cut side up, and put in the over for about an hour.
Once the squash was cooked the filling was pretty simple. I sauteed a shallot in 1 T of butter for about 2 minutes then added 1/2 cup of pine nuts. After about 4 minutes I removed from heat and let cool. I then mixed 1-1/2 cups of the cooked squash, 1/4 cup of mascarpone cheese, the shallot/pine nut mixture, 1/8 t of fresh ground nutmeg, salt, pepper, and a lot of pepper.
Once the filling was ready, I took my dough and divided it into 2 equal parts. I rolled out each section, folded it over itself three times before rolling the dough out as thin as I could possibly make it. I dropped equal amounts of the filling down and folded over the side. I pressed the dough together and using a knife cut out the individual raviolis. I then used a fork to secure them together. I sprinkled some cornmeal onto a baking pan and let them rest for about 15 minutes
My ravioli’s all lined up and ready to go. I gently placed them into the boiling salted water for 4 minutes, removed and poured on the sauce on top.
The majority of this entry is about the raviolis, which were the most complicated to make. I accompanied the raviolis with Lemon Chicken. The chicken was quite easy. Just pound out some chicken breasts. Then have three stations.
1. flour
2. egg
3. breadcrumbs
Take your chicken, dunk in flour, then dunk in egg, then dunk in breadcrumbs, place on a dish. Put some olive oil and butter in a skillet and let it get very hot. Then fry the chicken about 4 minutes on each side, depending on how thick your chicken is. Serve with a few slices of lemon! Simple and delicious.
