1 pound ground beef
2 eggs
½ cup Italian flavored breadcrumbs
1 small onion
1 teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon garlic
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Olive oil
Directions:
Place ground beef into a mixing bowl and punch a hole in the center of the beef. Add all ingredients except olive oil in that hole. Combine with both (clean) hands (We all know that cleanliness is next to Godliness!) until mixture is uniform do not over mix. If sticky use a little more bread crumbs.
Put a little olive oil on your hands and form mixture into balls a little larger than a golf ball. They should be a ¼ cup each, if you like to make them larger or smaller then have at it as it will only effect the browning time.
Pour olive oil into frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add meatballs to the pan (may have to be done in batches) and brown turning once. The cooking time is 10-15 minutes depending on the size of meatballs.
Serve alone or with spaghetti
Mom was always asked to bring her meatballs to any Church or social gathering and her meatballs were always gone five minutes or sooner after being put on the table. She always brought a huge batch of them getting up early and preparing one of her specialties.
Goombah called it ‘rice that goes round and round’ because she served it heat hot. He would use his forks and circle the outside of the usually ample serving of Risotto.
Making a good risotto is like becoming a good lover: It takes some practice to begin with, and a certain amount of involvement thereafter. You have to stand over it for at least 20 minutes and this makes it difficult for dinner parties. The dish doesn't allow shortcuts and can't be successfully prepared in advance.
Important - use short-grained round or semi-round rice; among the best rice’s for making risotto are Arborio, Vialone Nano, or Carnaroli. Do not use long grain or instant rice.
4 cups chicken broth (best to make your own)
1 lb chicken livers or 2 chicken breasts (chopped to bite size
3 cups rice, arborio or vialone
2 six oz cans tomato paste
½ medium onion, finely chopped
½ cup grated Parmigianino cheese
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt and black pepper to taste.
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp parsley
1 teaspoon basil
Directions:
If using chicken livers - Pour one quart fresh milk over one pound trimmed chicken livers. Move them to the refrigerator and soak them for eight to twelve hours then drain and rinse.
Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a pot over medium-low heat; reduce heat to low.
In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, basil, chopped liver or chicken and cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure livers and chicken are cooked fully.
Add the rice and cook over medium-high heat for about one minute to coat with the butter, stir with wooden spoon. Add the tomato paste and stir for 30 seconds.
Add the first portion of simmering stock, about 1/2 cup. Stir until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add another addition of stock and stir until most of the liquid is absorbed. Repeat this process until the mixture is creamy and a bit loose; the rice should still have some chew to it. The process will take about 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir in the chopped parsley and the grated cheese to taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.
Your patience will pay off in a great meal most will prefer the chicken. Chicken livers require a taste for it.
Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal the word "polenta" is from Italian and translates as ‘thick maize porridge served with meat’ and some just call it Italian grits. It was originally and still is classified as a ‘peasant food.’ Sometimes topped with sauces, in the 1940s and 1950s polenta was often eaten with just a little salted anchovy or herring but not in our house. One has to acquire a taste for anchovy. It is a northern Italian dish and in Albania it is called harapash.
Polenta is traditionally a slowly cooked dish. It sometimes takes an hour or longer and constant stirring is necessary. The time and labor intensity of traditional preparation methods has led to many shortcuts. These include alternative cooking techniques that are meant to speed up the process. There are also new products such as instant polenta, popular in Italy, that allow for fast, easy preparation at home. One can purchase it at most grocery stores but the fun is in the cooking of it in the traditional fashion.
The process is straight forward. You'll need:
1 pound or slightly more of coarsely ground corn meal (you want corn meal the consistency of fine to medium-grained sand, not flour, and if possible stone-ground).
2 quarts boiling water - have more boiling water ready.
A teaspoon of salt
Directions:
Use a wide bottom pot and boil salted water. When it comes to a boil, add the corn meal small amounts at a time so not to let the pot stop boiling.
Stir constantly with a wooden spoon to keep lumps from forming. It is important to stir in the same direction, as the mush thickens. If you stop stirring the polenta will stick and burn so keep stirring for a minimum of a half-hour and if you stir longer, the better the polenta will become, stir until your feet hurt or your arm cramps.
The finished polenta should have the consistency of firm mashed potatoes remember to add boiling water as necessary. The polenta is done when it peels easily off the sides of the pot.
Now isn’t that fun and Goombah got up some mornings and thought – “Boy aren’t I lucky I get to make Polenta today.”
Mom formed the polenta into a round mound a let it cool then would slice and add the following sauce.
The sauce Mom made was simple:
Veal - 1 lb
Olive oil – 1 tablespoon as needed
1 onion - chopped
Basil - 1 teaspoon
Garlic – 1 clove or to taste
Parsley – 1 tablespoon
All Spice – 1 teaspoon or to taste
Salt, pepper - to taste
Tomato paste – 2 tablespoons
Water – 2 cups
Directions:
First heat some olive oil in a skillet big enough to hold the ingredients and when the oil starts to pop, sauté the onion, garlic for a minute. Season the veal with salt and pepper and place the veal, into the pan cook over high heat turning once until browned, about 8 minutes.
Add two cups water and bring to boil add all spice and tomato paste
Reduce the heat to moderate and cook turning veal once until just cooked through, about 20 minutes for medium rare.
Goombah heard of alternative methods of making the polenta but have tried none of them as he was just old fashion. He will list a few:
"Prepare your polenta exactly as before, but once you've drizzled the corn flour into the boiling water, you cover it with brown paper (He just opened up the brown paper bag), clamp the lid on, move to the back burner and turn the heat right down to minimum. Then, after the 40 minutes, it is ready - with no stirring. It will also stay warm for... anyone turning up two hours late for lunch.” (From - About.com)
“Put the basic recipe in a slow cooker. Cook on low over night (at least about 6 hours). A single portion can be made in a bowl set in water as in a double-boiler arrangement (level to match bowl contents) -- saves having to clean the cooker pot." (From – About.com)