• About
  • Blog Journal Index
  • Recipes
  • The Team

10 Legs in the Kitchen

~ Food. Dogs. Life!

10 Legs in the Kitchen

Tag Archives: comfort food

Preserved Lemon Pork Meatball Pappardelle (for a civilized dinner at home)

18 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by Stacey Bender in the kitchen

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#Covid-19 cooking at home, comfort food, easy pasta dishes

Finished dish

Restaurants are closed but your kitchen is still open for business; am I right?

There are hungry mouths to feed (even if just your own).

The thought of yet another frozen pizza is quite possibly starting to lose it’s previous appeal?

If you are one that likes to eat something (sort of) fancy but have picky kids, this might be just the thing.

If you are not a great cook but you like to eat well, then give this a try.

If you are on a tight budget or even if you can throw down a big wad of cash, this fits the budget.

If you are a meat and potatoes guy, a lover of pasta and meat, or get excited about anything containing the word meatball, or just want to try something new, well, look no further than this.

This meal is for everyone who still eats meat, hasn’t given up on gluten and knows the joy a simple act of grating parmesan can bring.

This meal is therapeutically easy, relatively quick, quite inexpensive and even forgiving, if you need to improvise by substituting ingredients that you already have hanging out in the pantry or the fridge.

No ground pork? Grind your own in a food processor; any cut of pork will work.

No pork? Try using ground chicken, lamb or beef instead.

No pappardelle pasta? Use fettuccine, linguine or spaghetti.

No pasta? Substitute with rice.

No preserved lemons? Use extra lemon zest and a bit more salt. You could also add in some capers instead.

No chicken stock and/or no vermouth? Use all stock, all vermouth or substitute white wine, or even pasta water instead.

Bread crumbs? Make your own with any kind of bread or use that can of bread crumbs your mother bought last time she was in town (oh wait, that was my Mom). Add chopped olives (or not), it will still be good.

No butter? Do you have milk or cream? I bet you have mayonnaise? You could even use that!

What I’m saying is this. Make something delicious, satisfying and fun. Keep cooking. Start cooking. Eat well. Eat often (but not too often). Feel good and above everything, stay home and stay safe!

Let’s all get though this and come out stronger on the other side!

Step one: Dig in pantry for preserved lemons from Irma

Step 2: Make meatballs

Step 3: Make sauce

Step 4: Add cooked pasta

Step 5: Ring the dinner bell, they’ll be sure to come running from the home office!

Print

Preserved Lemon Pork Meatball Pappardelle

  • Author: Stacey Bender
  • Yield: 4 servings (approximately 18-20 meat balls 1x

Ingredients

Scale

MEATBALLS

1 lb Ground Pork

1 cup (homemade) Olive Bread Crumbs (recipe to follow)

Juice of 1 Lemon plus it’s zest

1/4 of a Preserved Lemon, chopped

3 Cloves Garlic, chopped

2 TB Dijon Mustard

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

Fresh, Ground Pepper to taste

1/2 bunch Italian Parsley, chopped

Peanut Oil for cooking the meatballs

PASTA

1 TB Olive Oil

1 Shallot, chopped (approximately 2 TB)

2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

1/4 cup White Vermouth

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

2 TB Lemon Juice

1–2 TB Butter

1/4 cup freshly-grated Parmesan Cheese

3/4 lb Pappardelle Pasta

GARNISH (option 1)

2 cups Baby Spinach

1 TB Olive Oil

1 clove Garlic, chopped

1 tsp course Sea Salt

many grinds of fresh Peppercorns

2 wedges of Lemon

GARNISH (option 2)

1 cup Kale

1–2 TB Olive Oil

1/2 tsp course Sea Salt

many grinds of fresh Peppercorns

1 clove Garlic, chopped

1 TB grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Place a handful of flour in the bottom of a baking pan.
  3. In a bowl, combine all ingredients through Italian Parsley.
  4. Using your hands, mix to combine.
  5. Form into small, bite-sized balls and place on the prepared baking pan.
  6. Shake the meatballs to get lightly coated in flour.
  7. Cover the bottom of a fry pan with peanut oil and brown each side of the meatballs, transferring them to a paper towel-lined plate as they finish.
  8. Cook and drain the pasta (I save a little of the pasta water in case it is needed for the sauce).
  9. Remove the paper towel from the meatballs and place pan in oven while you prepare the sauce.
  10. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan and add the shallots and garlic.
  11. When the shallots and garlic are softening, add the lemon juice and stir. Add the vermouth, then the stock.
  12. Simmer a few minutes to reduce the liquid slightly (you might have a little more than 1/2 cup).
  13. Stir in the butter; it should slightly thicken.
  14. Add the cooked pasta, stirring to coat. Add the cheese and toss together using metal tongs. Once the pasta is heated through, season as needed; you might add a little more liquid, or not.
  15. Top with meatballs and your choice of garnish (see garnish instructions below).
  16. I always add an additional grating of Parmesan over top.

GARNISH (option 1)

  1. Just as you are about to add the pasta to your sauce, put the salt and pepper in a dry sauté pan and heat for 1 minute on low.
  2. Turn the heat to medium and add the olive oil and garlic, stir and let cook 30 seconds before adding the spinach.
  3. Toss the spinach to coat using metal tongs and cook just until wilted. Squeeze in the lemon juice and add the spinach to the heated pasta before topping with the meatballs.

GARNISH (Option 2)

  1. You can do this before you have started cooking the meatballs if you like.
  2. Wash and dry the kale.
  3. Remove the hard stem and discard.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients except the kale.
  5. Tear the kale into pieces adding them to the bowl as you go.
  6. Using your fingers, gently massage the kale with the mixture to rub all the flavors in and soften the kale.
  7. Let sit until you are ready to garnish.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us — we can't wait to see what you've made!

Life Predicts Change

22 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by Stacey Bender in From the journals, the kitchen

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

comfort food, spaghetti, tomato sauce

Life can be predictable, and for me, predictable is what life will always be…

20140222-160739.jpg Found this in my journal – volume 3, circa 2003; from my niece, Catherine (to me, Cat), age 6

I will, always, sleep until the last possible second before needing to get up for work. Most days, Buddy will, always, be waiting for me outside the shower, ready to cry if I don’t give him (and Ginger, who is three steps behind) their raw diet immediately upon grabbing a towel. Tom will, always, eat anything I put before him, and eat it as if I have given him a gift. So, life goes on like this…always, day-in, day-out. What’s not predictable is the change. It could be the subtle things, that happen quietly, in a whisper. They might pour upon us in a slow and gentle trickle. Or, the unexpected change that gives our world a big shake up, requiring agility and finesse just to keep from falling down.

Good, bad, or otherwise, it is predictable that change will occur. Our lives become better for it, richer! Our expanse of experience becomes larger and wider. More fulfilled. It might not seem that way because change is not always by choice and yet, sometimes it is.

I feel change coming. I don’t know why…I don’t know what. But, on this day, I feel like something familiar, comfortable and predictable. I want to fill the house with smells that are as safe and comforting, to taste something that will welcome me back rather than introduce me to someone/thing new. I want to make something I make when the weather is cold, the heart is warm and the outlook is unclear.

I want to make spaghetti, with meat sauce. I want to eat it in large portions accompanied with garlic bread oozing of garlic…and butter…and cheese. Lots of cheese. Lots of garlic. And wine. Ruby red wine. Bold, personable Italian wine. And cheese. But as Buddy would say, “more meeeeet” too, please!?

20140222-152928.jpgNo need for fuss to be fancy, just plate, eat, enjoy. I tuck in arugula so that I eat my greens too!

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Over the years I have refined my tomato sauce which is both versatile and handy to make in large batches. I keep 2-cup packages in the freezer for a large array of uses, but the main reason for doing this is to have on hand a quick avenue for making a reliable and predictable spaghetti. Simmered with good-quality ground beef, garlic, onions and red wine, the spaghetti feed is on and change can wait ’til another day.

INGREDIENTS (for tomato sauce)

1 TB olive oil
1 1/2 – 2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped carrots
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped and peeled
1 TB red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups red wine
3 qty. 28 oz cans peeled whole tomatoes or diced, unsalted (preferably San Marzano)
2 TB tomato paste (from the tube, Napoleon double-concentrate or 1 small can)
20-30 grinds pepper
1 tsp red chili flakes
2 TB dry oregano
1 tsp each fresh thyme and rosemary
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

sea salt to taste

MAKE THE TOMATO SAUCE

In a stock pot, sweat the onion, carrots and garlic in the olive oil until they are soft (approximately 10 minutes). Listen to them sizzle softly, without browning and reflect on the day.

Add the vinegar and cook for another minute before adding the wine. Breathe in the fragrance and exhale.

Now empty the tomatoes into the pot, stir. Take in the wonderful hue of red with your eyes and recall warm summer gardens brimming with plump, sweet tomatoes bursting from the vines.

Stir in the tomato paste and grind in the pepper. Feel the strength of your hands as the mill turns out the fiery black speckles.

Add in the chili flakes through the fresh basil, one spice at a time. Pause after each addition to appreciate the smell and imagine the taste that the spice will bring to the finished sauce. Tip the jar a little further or scoop the herb a little fuller if you feel more will improve the taste.

Bring the mixture to a rumbling simmer, turn down the heat and cover the pot. Let it simmer this way for 30 minutes, or so. Don’t go too far though, it will need attention and stirring. As you lift the lid to stir, breathe in the aromas, deep and slow. Break up the tomatoes with the back of your spoon, put the lid back on the pot and pour yourself a glass of wine.

After the 30 minutes, or so, remove the lid and continue to simmer, gently, for at least another hour, more if you desire. I usually go about my business attending to other things and keep it simmering away for several hours, adding the lid when it gets thicker than I want, and then removing the lid to thicken a little more.

I always, periodically, dip in a clean spoon to determine what adjustments I want to make, more pepper or chilies, more basil or wine? Sometimes I add salt and sometimes it isn’t needed; the brand of tomato used will play a role in this.

When the sauce is done, you can keep it chunky or use a small hand mixer to purée the sauce into a more even consistency. I like it somewhere in between even and chunky.

If you are making spaghetti, as I am tonight, begin preparing your meat while the sauce is developing flavor.

INGREDIENTS (for spaghetti)

Olive oil for browning the meat
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I always use grass-fed)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2-3 cloves chopped garlic
1 TB red wine vinegar
1 cup red wine
2 cups homemade tomato sauce

1/2 lb good quality spaghetti noodles (you could also use angel hair or linguini noodles)
Fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano for grating over

MAKE THE SPAGHETTI

It is important to bring the meat to room temperature before browning. Season with the salt and pepper, gently tossing and mixing the seasoning into the meat; let it sit covered for an hour.

To a hot, low-sided Dutch oven, add a little olive oil and tilt, covering the bottom of the pan with the oil. Add the meat, carefully breaking it up into a single layer as it drops in the pan. Enjoy the sound as it sizzles; this is a happier, more energetic sizzle than that of the onions.

Do not disturb the meat for at least 5 minutes. When you are able to stir without the meat sticking to the bottom of the pan, it is ready to be turned. Now is the time to add in the onions and garlic.

When the onions have softened and the meat has browned (8-10 minutes), add in the vinegar first, then the red wine. Breathe in again and exhale slowly. Close your eyes and feel the humidity wash over your face as the liquid evaporates into the air.

When the wine has reduced just a little, 5 minutes or so, add the tomato sauce, stir and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat and cover. With the lid on, moisture stays in and it sweats out the flavor, which then seeps back in, tenderizing and deeply-flavoring the meat and the sauce. Lifting the lid is like seeing the inner workings of a factory in motion. I stir, feeling like an intruder interrupting a process fully under control.

The meat sauce can simmer this way for as little as an hour or as long as 5 hours (yes, I picked that number out of a hat). A slow-simmered sauce will deepen and develop as long as the heat is low and the sauce stays moist. This can be interrupted early for a weeknight meal or left to simmer all day for a casual weekend extravaganza; it will be deeply satisfying in either case.

When you are near-ready to eat, bring a pot of salted water to a hard boil, add the pasta and cook per the package directions. If the pasta is fresh, it will take less time than dried pasta. There are very-good quality dried pastas imported from Italy that are often better than the fresh pasta found at your local grocery store.

When the pasta is al dente, drain and drizzle with olive oil, toss and grate over some cheese.

TO SERVE

Using kitchen tongs, place a pile in the center of heated pasta bowls. Spoon over a large helping of meat sauce. Grate more cheese on top and serve with really good homemade garlic bread and a hearty glass of red wine.

The house will put off the most comforting of aromas and your tongue will be rewarded with an explosion of addictive flavor, predictable, but never boring.

20140222-162939.jpgCatherine is off to college next year…University of Richmond – love you Cat!

What do you cook when predictable provides comfort?

47.535825-122.05501

Follow Blog via Email

Care to join us in our food and life adventures? Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 184 other subscribers

Archives

  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • August 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013

Recent Posts

  • Squash Blossoms and Dad
  • Pork (for Dad), Polenta (for Linda) & the Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree
  • Snow Day Chili, an Update
  • A Man with a Can and a Plan – Pig in a Pinwheel
  • Fireworks, Firetrucks, Pancakes and the Fourth!

Recent Comments

Jamie Bryan on A simple past: lots of garlic,…
Maria on One fish, red fish, fresh fish…
The Healthy Epicurea… on Squash Blossoms and Dad
Lois Bender-Casto on Squash Blossoms and Dad
Linda Brown on Squash Blossoms and Dad

Archives

  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • August 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013

Categories

  • at the holidays
  • beach mode
  • Beverages
  • Breakfast/Brunch
  • cooking basics
  • Eating Out
  • family gatherings
  • From the journals
  • Ginger + Buddy
  • Ginger + Winston (and Buddy too)
  • Health
  • holidays
  • Reviews
  • the kitchen
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

© 2013–2023 Stacey Bender. All rights reserved.

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...