Grass Fed Veal Meatballs a La Jersey Girls Farm

You may remember my recent mention of the organic, grass-fed veal I got last weekend at Jersey Girls Dairy Farm in Vermont.  This all went down during the awesome Sweet Escape food retreat, and even though at the time it was a pain to drag all that stuff, including raw milk and eggs home, it was totally worth it.

Dan and I used the veal to make homemade meatballs, which was all Dan's department, and they came out stupendously.  You can definitely taste the difference, in the good quality meat and the farm fresh egg he used in the meatballs as its binder.  A sprinkling of fresh herbs and some freshly chopped red onion didn't hurt either.  We paired all this with my homemade Bolognese sauce, which I have on stash at home and some freshly grown basil too.  It was total savory bliss.  Here's how you make them:

Grass Fed Veal Meatballs a la Dan

Ingredients (serves 2)
1 lb of ground veal (try to use organic, grass-fed if possible)
1 small red onion, finely chopped
5-6 small garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
Handful of fresh basil, chopped
1 farm fresh egg
1/3 cup of plain breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Bolognese sauce - see recipe
Fresh basil for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a cookie sheet with a wire rack, placed inside of it.
Combine all ingredients into a medium bowl and incorporate well with your hands.  Use your hands to form the meatballs, about 2 inches in width.

Place meatballs onto the cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes on one side.  Flip the meatballs on to the other side and cook for an additional 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven and serve along with the Bolognese sauce and some fresh basil on top. 

Enjoy with a big glass of red vino.

Fooditka's Take on Bolognese

Since I've been pretty eating pretty well lately, and on a veggie kick, I wanted to make something comforting but also healthy for a satisfying dinner.  Always up for pasta, as I equate this with comfort food goodness, I decided to make my own Bolognese sauce, but instead of with beef or pork, I substituted it with chicken sausage and mushrooms, which made it really hearty.  I let the whole concoction cook in a sauce of crushed tomatoes and then placed it on a bed of whole wheat spaghetti deliciousness. It was lovely and such a perfect thing to freeze and use later for pasta, pizza sauce, dipping sauce.  Whatever!

Fooditka's Healthy Bolognese (serves 2-4)

Ingredients:
(1) 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 lb of chicken sausage, casings removed
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 package of baby bella mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Fresh basil
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Sautee the onions first until they get soft and then add the mushrooms.  Add salt and pepper and cook until the veggies get well done.  Add chicken sausage and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until cooked through.

Combine with crushed tomatoes and a little bit of water (approximately 1/2 cup).  Let it simmer for about 30-35 minutes until all the flavors combine.  Add cheese and fresh basil as a last step.

Place Bolognese over whole wheat spaghetti.  You can sprinkle it with fresh basil for extra flavor. Enjoy with a tall glass of red vino.

A Light Turkey Meat Sauce Hits the Spot

For those of you who know me personally can vouch for how much I love hearty foods.  One of my favorite things to eat is pasta with meat sauce, but who are we kidding, we can't eat that way all the time.  The recipe I'll tell you about shortly combines hearty (gnocchi) with light (turkey meat sauce), which I think makes for a great combination.

I got the original recipe from the September edition of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine, which actually called for a full fat, ground chuck meat sauce.  Altering it to my liking with a 99% lean turkey version and omitting all that parmesan cheese, it turned out quite well and something we ended up freezing and using for other things such as pizza sauce, hero sauce, pasta sauce and the like.

The sauce was delicious when served fresh but even better when you let it sit for at least a day or two.  Hope you enjoy it during the cold fall/winter months that are up ahead.  Dig in, and do let me know what you think.

Turkey Meat Sauce with Gnocchi recipe, courtesy of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine

Veal, Couscous and Gina's Bodacious Bolognese

My friend Gina, who's famous for making amazing Bolognese sauce, gave Dan his own jar of it for his birthday. We were beyond thrilled, as this is the best and the heartiest Bolognese I've ever tasted. I decided to use it with veal and couscous this week, creating an easy, quick dinner for two. The whole thing took me about a half an hour to prepare from start to finish. All I did was heat up the Bolognese, made the couscous according to directions on the box and fried up the veal in the following way:

Veal Preparation for Veal Bolognese (serves 2)
6 small - medium lean veal cutlets
1 cup of all purpose flour (add more if you need to)
1 cup of Italian-style breadcrumbs (add more if you need to)
2 eggs, whisked
Salt and pepper to taste
Generous glug of olive oil

Directions:
Pre-heat a large skillet on medium - high heat. Then add the olive oil.

Season cutlets with salt and pepper. First coat in flour, then eggs (shake off excess) and finally in breadcrumbs. Place in hot skillet and fry for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden.

Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil.

Assembling the Veal Bolognese
On a medium sized dinner plate, first add a bed of couscous, then top with fried veal and finally the Bolognese. Enjoy with a glass of red wine or a full bodied beer!

If you'd like to access Gina's family recipe for Bolognese, click here.

Gina's Family Bolognese Sauce

Gina, a mutual friend of mine and my brother's hosted an intimate dinner in honor of my brother's birthday. What a meal! Gina is a great cook and a gracious hostess--a lot of her recipes originate from her Italian and Californian roots.

The main event at our dinner was Gina's family famous Bolognese sauce. I can't even describe in words how delicious it was--hearty, fragrant and as chunky as a Bolognese should be. The recipe below, which Gina shared with me came from her father's side of the family. They should be very proud--it's robust enough for hungry Manhattanites and it could even feed a small village.

Treat the below recipe with care--it's very special.

Walter's Honest-to-Goodness Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients (feeds a looot of people - more than 5)

2 - 4 tbs olive oil

3 yellow or Vidalia onions, chopped

1/2 - 1 head of garlic cloves, peeled and minced

3 lbs extra lean ground sirloin

(2) 15 oz cans of tomatoes, drained, cut into 1 inch pieces (save the juice)

(1) 15 oz can of the best quality tomato puree or sauce, unseasoned

(2) 6 oz cans of Contadina tomato paste

1 cup of dry red wine

1 tbs of each, oregano and basil

Salt, pepper, Tabasco or Italian red pepper to taste

Directions:

Sautee sirloin until cooked through. Drain well of all fat and set aside. Clean pan. Sautee onions in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and sautee until fragrance is released but the garlic is not browned. Add meat and mix well. Add oregano, basil, salt, pepper, Tabasco and mix well. Add tomatoes and tomato paste, mix well. Add puree of tomato sauce, mix well. Sauce should be so thick that it does NOT pour from spoon in a ribbon but drops in a clump. Add just enough juice from the drained tomatoes to cause the sauce to pour from the spoon. It should be very, very thick to be authentic. Simmer very slowly for an hour before serving. To serve, toss hot pasta with sauce and put into bowls.

Gina's family also likes to put this sauce in the center of an omelette or on pizza crust.

Buon Appetito.