Some days I just want to make something good that makes me feel good. Something familiar, but if I have the time to make it special, it’s even better.
Made with good natural ingredients.
Fresh things
Worthy of the good dishes.
Extra touches on a good hearty bread.
The real things that make me smile
Most nights during the school year, weekly dinners are a mix of one or two elaborate attempts and 3-4 thrown together stand bys. Spaghetti is usually the quickest meal I can make other than cereal. I usually brown some beef, throw on a jar of sauce, boil the noodles and serve it in 15 minutes. It’s a quick meal and as long as I don’t serve it every other night, it works in a pinch.
Tonight, I blame Food Network for this. I watched a couple of shows that inspired me to try a little harder for dinner. So, I made my own meatballs, phoned in the sauce, and jazzed up the bread. It came together in about 30 minutes and I was surprised by how much a little extra effort made a huge difference.
Meatballs
1lb beef, veal, or turkey. I used beef.
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup shredded parm.
1 egg
chopped basil
salt/pepper
1/4 cup of water
Sauce:
1/2 cup red wine
Jar of favorite sauce
OR
Make your own out of tomatoes, basil, oregano, parm, salt and pepper
1. Mix all together and roll into 24 meatballs. Smaller than golf ball.
2. Brown in shallow pan in 1/4 inch of oil. Brown 3 min per side. You are not cooking all the way through, just BROWNING. Make sure oil is hot before adding meatballs. Cook in 2 batches, do not crowd them. Let first batch drain on paper towel while 2nd batch is browning.
3. After browning all the meatballs, drain the oil, return meatballs to pan.
4. Add wine. Let alcohol evaporate about 30 seconds. Turn pan to medium low. Add sauce. Let simmer 15-20 minutes.
5. Cook noodles according to package directions. Add to meatballs and sauce.
Have a good night! I’m off to watch more trial coverage and get to sleep early. I’ve got marathon training continuing in the morning after CrossFit.
Courtney
Thursday 7th of July 2011
Food Network alway does that to me! This looks delicious!
Katrina
Wednesday 13th of July 2011
It's like an evil brother just waiting to pounce.
Lee
Tuesday 5th of July 2011
Sounds good. Can you believe that I don't think I've ever made my own tomato sauce? I always used jarred!
Katrina
Wednesday 13th of July 2011
I may have made it once. And realized that a really good jar sauce with some added garlic or wine is just as good. I'm sure hundreds of people will disagree, but on a crazy busy night when I have 30 minutes to throw together dinner before he goes to night shift, that jar is perfect!