sauce

How to Make Nonno’s Famous Meatballs

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CUCINA

Frying Meatballs - Francesca Di Meglio
There’s nothing quite like the smell of meatballs frying on the stovetop. © Photo by Francesca Di Meglio

Meatballs comfort me in my darkest hours. It’s not that I like them so much. I wouldn’t call them my favorite food. But their symbolism is powerful. They are round like a warm bear hug. They require a loved one to mold them with their own two hands. Each chef has his own way of making them. Of course, in Italian families they are a Sunday Funday staple.

In our house, Nonno is the meatball maker. My son does not each much – especially related to our Italian cuisine – but he eats meatballs. My nephew eats them so joyfully that I wonder if he will turn into a meatball. And my niece will eat one, along with her sauceless spaghetti, every Sunday. The meatball unites generations. It’s a little ball of love with potent powers. It stops tears. It ends wars – at least in our house. A tray of meatballs is the sign of peace.

The How To

Ingredients

1/2 to 1 lb. Ground pork and/or beef

2 to 3 Eggs

2 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Parsley flakes

1 tsp each Salt and black pepper

1/4 cup Parmigiano cheese

Nonno’s Sunday Sauce Or Simple Tomato Sauce

Directions

  1. Put the ground meat in a big bowl. This is a preference call. Some Italian nonnas insist on making meatballs with a mix of ground veal, pork, and beef. My father either combines the pork and beef or just uses one or the other. The good news is you can make this to suit the tastes of your family. Don’t try arguing with any nonna or nonno about why your preference is the best way to do it. You will lose.
  2. Mix the ground meat with the eggs, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, and Parmigiano cheese. You might want to use less salt and pepper, depending on your dietary needs and preference.
  3. Roll the meat mixture into balls. I usually use either a cookie or ice cream scoop to start and then finish molding the ball with my hands. Try to keep them all about the same size for more even cooking.

How to Cook

  1. Cook the meatballs. Now, you can put them on baking sheets and cook them in the oven. Or you can fry them (as I did in the photo above). The baked ones are not bad. But you should put some oil on your baking sheet and open one up to make sure they are cooked through before taking them out of the oven. (Whenever I’ve cooked meatballs in the oven, I have cooked them at 400 degrees F.) If you’re frying them, heat about a half-inch of olive oil or canola oil in a pan, then put them in and fry them, making sure to brown all sides. Again, I would hack one open to make sure they are getting cooked through. If the outside layer is getting dark too fast, lower the heat.
  2. The final step is to put the meatballs in sauce. You could cook the meatballs in the sauce or finish cooking them in the sauce. Some people simply add the already cooked meatballs to the warm sauce and serve. My in-laws sometimes like the meatballs with no sauce at all. Mix it up. Surprise me.

Di Meglio is the author of Fun with the Family New Jersey (Globe Pequot Press, 2012). She also has written the Our Paesani column for ItaliansRus.com since 2003. You can follow the Italian Mamma on Facebook or Twitter @ItalianMamma10.

Linguine with Clam Sauce

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Linguine with Clam Sauce - Di Meglio
Linguine with clam sauce is a Friday favorite. © Photo by Francesca Di Meglio

Many Italians and Italian Americans refrain from eating meat on Fridays. The practice goes back to the days when the Pope asked people to sacrifice meat eating for God. Rumor has it the real reason was that the fishermen were paying him off because they needed more work. Who knows?

Whatever the reason, it has become tradition. Some only eat fish on Fridays during Lent, but others keep it up all year long. Even if you don’t reserve your fish eating for Friday, your mouth can’t help but water when presented with a dish of linguine with white clam sauce. Truly, it’s one of the simplest dishes to cook.

Now, this is one of my favorite meals. I love shellfish and pairing it with pasta cooked al dente is the stuff of dreams. But I have to admit that the clams I get in the United States are never as delicious as the ones I get in my family’s native Ischia, Italy. And bad clams can leave a bad taste in your mouth (literally). In any event, I am still able to get decent clams Stateside, and I often indulge. Frankly, I don’t think I could live without them. Ok, so I could but who wants to?

Anyway, without further ado, discover how to make linguine with clam sauce.

Ingredients

Pasta (linguine are obviously ideal, but I have used fettuccine – as in the photo above – and spaghetti)

Clams (I usually have between .5 to 1 lb. to go with a pound of pasta)

Olive Oil

Garlic (2 to 4 cloves)

Salt (for the pasta water)

Fresh parsley

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Black pepper (optional)

Directions

For starters, you have to wash your clams. This is an important, often overlooked step, to preparing clams. Put the clams in a bowl and cover them with cold water. Add some ice and about a tablespoon of vinegar to the water. Don’t worry, you will not taste the vinegar when you cook the clams. It just helps draw out the sand and grit. Then, place the bowl in the refrigerator. I try to do this overnight, which means getting the clams the day before you are actually going to cook them. If that’s not possible, you should at least leave the clams soaking for a few hours. If you take shortcuts, you risk having sand and even a pebble or two in your sauce or having extra salty clams. None of these outcomes is desirable. When you are ready to cook the clams, take the bowl out of the fridge and dump the clams into a colander. Then, run cold water over the clams a bit. Then, use a vegetable brush to scrub each clam with nothing more than cold water.

Now, you’re ready to actually start cooking. I lightly coat the bottom of a dutch oven with olive oil and turn on the stove to a medium high flame. Sometimes, I add a clove or two of garlic to the pot before adding the clams. Put the cover on the pot. In about 10 to 15 minutes, the clams should open and be done. Give them a minute or two more to make sure they are good and done. You want them to not only be open but for the clam to easily come out of the shell.

In the meantime, boil the pasta. Make sure to boil the water like an Italian and keep the pasta al dente.

While the clams are cooking and the water is boiling, you can start the sauce. Saute the cloves of garlic in olive oil. I actually would use about one-quarter cup of olive oil. You can remove the cloves from the oil once they brown but before they burn. Once the clams are done, reserve the liquid in the clam pot and remove about half (if not a little more) of the clams from their shells. Reserve the clams still in their shells. You will add about one-third of a cup of the liquid and all the naked clams (don’t judge, that’s what I call ’em) to the garlic-flavored oil. Saute it all to blend over a medium-low flame. Be careful not to burn the oil. When you’re about ready to add the pasta to the sauce, add the red pepper flakes if you’d like. Heat through for a minute longer and add the pasta to the sauce. I usually shut off the gas at this point, but many Italians leave the flame on its lowest setting for this part. Stir the pasta into the sauce. Once the sauce is coating the pasta, you can plate the meal for each of your guests. Top the pasta with chopped fresh parsley and some of those clams still in the shell. Never ever put parmigiano on pasta with shellfish. Please. Don’t. Do. It. The Italians might arrest you. I’m only slightly exaggerating.

Di Meglio has written the Our Paesani column for ItaliansRus.com since 2003. You can follow the Italian Mamma on Facebook or Twitter @ItalianMamma10. For more handmade crafts and party gear, visit the Italian Mamma store on Etsy.

Zucchini Pizzas

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Zucchini Pizzas - Di Meglio
Maybe this will convince your kids to eat some of the green stuff. © Photo by Francesca Di Meglio

Around August, Italians with a garden (which is just about all the ones I know) start getting creative about how to use their zucchini. They mostly let Americans dabble in cakes and breads and muffins. They prefer something more savory. We have made lots of interesting dishes, including zucchini stuffed with rice or sausage and topped with mozzarella, matchstick zucchini fries (totally addictive), zucchini and corn in pancakes, zucchini parmigiana, zucchini with pasta and mussels, boiled zucchini (for those trying to be healthy), zucchini in place of spaghetti and topped with a sauce of fresh tomatoes, and the list goes on.

The other night, we had two giant zucchini sitting on the counter. My mom had stuffed one with ground beef and ricotta, and I was left holding the other one in my hand. The kids were already refusing the stuffed version. My nephew was demanding pizza. So, I decided I would give him pizza. This is what I did:

Ingredients

Zucchini (peeled and cut into 1-inch thick slices)

Tomato sauce

Fresh mozzarella

Olive oil

Directions

Pre-heat your grill. Line a hefty metal baking sheet with heavy aluminum foil. Coat the foil with olive oil. Place the zucchini slices on the foil-lined tray. Put a Tbsp of tomato sauce on top of each slice. (For our sauce, I simply saute two peeled garlic cloves in olive oil in a sauce pan, add a can of tomato sauce, add oregano and basil from the garden, a pinch of salt and a smaller pinch of sugar to remove acidity of canned tomatoes. Then, I let it boil and simmer for no more than five minutes.) Finally, I top each zucchini slice with a piece of fresh mozzarella. I put it on the grill and cooked it for about 5 to 10 minutes on medium-high. I have a gas grill, but you could definitely do this with a charcoal grill or even an oven. If you use the oven, however, I would wait to top the zucchini and sauce with the cheese until it’s almost done. Otherwise, the cheese might get brown or burn.

Now, the grown-ups really enjoyed these pizzas. I had them for lunch the next day, too. My nephew only ate the cheese. My son did take an actual bite and give it a decent try. But he decided he did not like it and would not eat anymore of it after that. Still, that bite is a big win for me.

Di Meglio has written the Our Paesani column for ItaliansRus.com since 2003. You can follow the Italian Mamma on Facebook or Twitter @ItalianMamma10.