Spaghetti and Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

Spaghetti and Meatballs makes it on to our weekly menu fairly often. Who knew the addition of a little string cheese would make such a tasty difference. Gorgonzola also makes for a delicious stuffing for meatballs, but here I figured Mozzarella was in order!

Spaghetti and Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs (from foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients
Meatballs:
1/4 cup milk
2 slice white bread, cut into cubes
1 pound 80 percent lean ground beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 sticks mozzarella string cheese, cut into small cubes or 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
Nonstick cooking spray

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion diced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used San Marzano Tomatoes)
2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) box spaghetti

Directions
For Meatballs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine the milk and bread. Let the bread absorb the milk. Add remaining meatball ingredients except the cheese. Using your hands, gently combine all the ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed. Take about 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture and roll into a ball and press into a patty. Place a mozzarella cube or 1 tablespoon shredded cheese onto the patty and bring up the sides around the cheese and roll between hands to form a ball. Place onto a nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Repeat process with remaining meat and cheese. Place the meatballs into the oven and cook for 12 minutes. Remove baking sheet from the oven and set aside.

For Sauce:

In a medium pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and saute for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Gently stir in the meatballs and any pan drippings from baking sheet and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Spaghetti:

Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and place the pasta on a large serving platter. Place the meatballs over the spaghetti, pour the sauce on top and serve immediately.


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Sloppy Joes

Hi my name is Rachel, I like Sloppy Joes. This was my first try making them in how long. It was very easy, and very quick. Instead of solely using ground beef, I used what is labeled as 'meatloaf mix' from the meat dept at the grocery store. Meatloaf mix consists of ground beef, veal, and pork. I felt this lightened up the recipe a bit, and I suppose you could use ground turkey to lighten it up a bit more, but I don't like the taste of ground turkey on it's own. This recipe also utilizes a lot of pantry staples, so this is a great go-to recipe in a pinch!

Sloppy Joes (From My Kitchen Cafe adapted from Dave Lieberman)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 ½ pounds ground beef (or meatloaf mix as I used-beef, pork, veal)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2/3 cup smoky BBQ sauce (or whatever BBQ sauce is in your fridge)
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
8 to 12 sandwich rolls

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. You can make the sloppy joe up to 2 days in advance and reheat it over low heat or in the microwave.

Red Pepper, Leek, and Bleu Cheese Steak Roulade

I saw this recipe in the Food Network Magazine (December 2009) and I knew instantly I had to try this. I've never tried to make something like this, so I knew this would be interesting. If you are not familiar, a roulade is French for a sort of rolled dish, as in meat or a light cake. You can vary the ingredients to what you and your family prefer. The few ingredients I chose I knew were going to be a success. But I whole heartedly confess to using shortcuts (and some not so shortcuts as you will see later) to make this dish quick and easy-which is especially appreciated coming up on this time of year, the holidays!

Here's my secrets: I grocery shopped on Saturday, on Sunday I sliced and cleaned my leeks, roasted off a red pepper on the grill, and the bleu cheese was purchased already crumbled ready to use. So I knew during the week that all I would really have to do was saute the leeks quickly, give my flank steak a once over with something heavy to ensure uniform thickness, assemble (roll it up,) get the bread crumb topping on and into the oven it went.

It was smooth sailing all the way up until I realized I did not have any twine, which turned out to be semi-essential! So I looked and looked and found these small skewers (what they were from I'll never know) and I managed to "pin" my roulade closed. Laugh if you will, but it worked, in a not-so-pretty way, it worked. Kitchen twine is now on my Target list this weekend!

Red Pepper, Leek, Bleu Cheese Steak Roulade

(inspired from Food Network Magazine December, 2009)

For the steak:

1 large red bell pepper (charred and peeled)

3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Kosher salt and fresh black pepper

1.5 pound flank steak, trimmed

1/2 to 3/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese

For the crust:

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

3 tsp dried rosemary (or fresh)

3 tsp fresh chopped parsley

3 tsp grated Parmesan

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Kitchen twine for tying

Prepare the stuffing for the steak. Rub the outside of the red pepper with a bit of canola or vegetable oil and roast the red pepper under the broiler or on the grill for 8-10 minutes. When the skin is slightly charred remove pepper from heat and place in a paper bag for 5-10 minutes. I'm not entirely sure why, but I've heard that this will help to ease the skin from the pepper, which is your goal. Once the pepper is peeled, remove stem and seeds.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Saute the leeks in a little butter or olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes, remove from heat and cool.

Gently pound the steak with the back edge of a heavy pan, or with a meat mallet, until the entire steak is about 1/4 inch thick. Lay the steak on a cutting board with the long side facing you. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Place the red peppers in one row lengthwise, leaving a one inch boarder. Lay the leek mixture in the next row, next to the peppers. Lastly lay the crumbled bleu cheese in the last row, leaving an inch border to the end.

Roll the meat into a tight roll, tucking in the filling and seems as you go.

Assemble the crust. Mix the crust ingredients in a small bowl and toss until the mixture resembles wet sand. Brush the roulade with a bit of olive oil, and press the crust topping on top, try and do this rather firmly. Tie the roll with kitchen twine in three to four places, not too hard as to not disturb the topping. Depending on the size and thickness of your steak, you may need to tie the twine before you add the crust and snip off before serving.

Place the steak on a rack in a roasting pan and roast until the crust is nice and golden brown and a thermometer inserted in to the middle registers 130 degrees for medium rare (about 45 minutes.) Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 15 minutes.

Carefully cut the twine and remove, slice the roll crosswise into slices and serve.

Stout Braised Beef Short Ribs

I had come across this recipe a while ago and had never had a chance to try it, for various reasons. But I was waiting for a nice cool fall afternoon to try this and boy was it beautiful outside today. This paired with a day of football made for a great Sunday!

Before today, I had never worked with beef short-ribs before. I finally found them at the store but they were boneless…hmm. I was hoping for the bone-in version, but I picked up two packages and thought I was set. But I happened to stop at another grocery store and they carried the bone in version. So I picked up a package of those and within this dish I was set to do a taste comparison. That being mentioned I know that bone-in cuts of meat will ALWAYS offer up more flavor to the dish versus the boneless cuts. As I expected the bone-in variety was way more tender and tasty, but the boneless cuts were ok also.

These hearty beef short ribs are slow-cooked in stout, a dark beer that originated in the British Isles. It is made with dark-roasted barley, which lends a rich, deep color and bittersweet flavor to the beer. I served mine with mashed potatoes and carrots, vary the sides to fit what you prefer.

Stout-Braised Short Ribs (from William Sonoma)

3 lb. beef short ribs (bone in preferred)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 Tbs. canola oil
2 yellow onions, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
6 garlic cloves, sliced
2 cups stout (such as Guiness Beer)
8 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs (optional)

Season the short ribs generously on all sides with salt and pepper. In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil until almost smoking. Working in batches (do not overcrowd), brown the ribs on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a slow cooker.

In the same pan over medium heat, cook the onions, carrots, celery and garlic, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the slow cooker and add the stout. Cover and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions until the meat is very tender, on low for about 6 hours.

Transfer the ribs to a large bowl and cover with aluminum foil. Skim the fat off the sauce. Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth. (I used a food processor, however works for you best)

Transfer the ribs to individual bowls. Spoon the sauce on top and garnish each serving with a parsley sprig. Serve immediately.

Beef Stew

A favorite around our house in the fall is the crockpot, it has yet to fail me! Pot Roast is our favorite-So moist and tender, practically falling apart is how we roll. This is my first attempt at beef stew, and since it's pretty similiar, I knew I shouldn't have any trouble with it. This is a great fall go-to favorite!

Beef Stew (From Martha Stewart)

3 pounds beef chuck, trimmed of visible fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1/3 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound medium onions (about 2), cut into 1-inch chunks
1 pound small white or red new potatoes (about 6), well scrubbed, halved if large
1 pound carrots, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
6 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bay leaves

*This is the crockpot version, for the oven version, please refer back to the original recipe

Load the veggies into the crockpot, and then the garlic, bay leaves, vinegar, flour, tomato paste, the beef and salt and pepper into the pot, cover with lid and set temperature to low for 6-8 hours. Step back and get to crackin on the other things on your to-do list. The work is done for this meal. This shouldn't be complicated, it's beef stew, life's tough enough as it is :)

Comfort Food: Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes

Sometimes a really tough week just screams for comfort food to really make everything alright, it kinds of smoothes out the bumps and corners to make things easier to deal with. What are your comfort food that you head to when times get a bit stressful? Oh well, these little meatballs are far from gourmet, but they are tasty little bites from some church basement lady cookbook I picked up a while back-they always have the best recipes don't they? I served these with a nice mashed potato and gravy, but you serve them with what you wish.

Traditional Meatballs

2lbs ground beef-I used 1 lb pork and 1lb ground beef
1 cup finely ground saltine crumbs
½ cup finely (minced or grated) onion
2 eggs
1.5 tsp. Salt
1/3 aprox. cup of milk

Mix thoroughly beef, crumbs, onion, eggs, salt, seasonings and milk in a large bowl by hand.

Shape into balls (about 25 depending on size)
Do not shape too tightly-will toughen up

Bake on foil lined baking sheet at 350° for 30-35 minutes, depending on size