Classic Beef Meatballs

Recipe from “The Meatball Shop Cookbook” by Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow. Recipe can be halved or doubled to suit your needs.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds 80-percent lean ground beef
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
½ cup bread crumbs
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon ground fennel
4 cups Classic Tomato Sauce (prepared or homemade)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle the olive oil into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and use your hand to evenly coat the entire surface. Set aside. Combine the ground beef, ricotta, eggs, bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes and fennel in a large mixing bowl; mix by hand thoroughly. 

Roll the mixture into round, golf ball-size meatballs (about 1 ½ inches), making sure to pack the meat firmly. Place the balls in the prepared baking dish, being careful to line them up snugly and in even rows vertically and horizontally to form a grid. The meatballs should be touching one another.

Roast for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through. A meat thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball should read 165 degrees. While the meatballs are roasting, heat the tomato sauce in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring often.

When meatballs are firm and fully cooked, remove them from oven and drain excess grease from pan. Pour the tomato sauce over them. Return meatballs to oven and continue roasting for another 15 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen 1 ½-inch balls; serves 6.

Per meatball: 138 calories; 8 g fat (3 g saturated fat; 52 percent calories from fat); 5 g carbohydrates; 49 mg cholesterol; 373 mg sodium; 10 g protein; 0.5 g fiber.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130628/LIFESTYLE01/306280010#ixzz2XWYlvj3h

Grilled Trout

Preheat the grill or broiler.

Pat the fish dry, season inside and out with salt and pepper, and brush with 2 tablespoons olive oil. 

Place on the grill and cook 12 to 15 minutes, turning every 3 to 4 minutes, until the skin is nearly charred and crispy, yet the flesh is still moist near the bone. (You can check with a meat thermometer; internal temperature at the bone should get to 135 degrees to 140 degrees.)

Lone Ranger Skillet Cornbread

½ onion, chopped

½ jalapeno, diced

1 ear of corn, kernels off the cob

1 ½ cups cornmeal

½ cup unbleached white flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk (we used soymilk)

¼ cup honey

2 eggs

4 tablespoons salted butter

olive oil

10 inch skillet

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place a tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron skillet and heat over a medium flame on the cooktop. Add the onions and saute until soft, and then add in the corn and the jalapeno. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture cook while you prepare the batter.

To make the batter, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt and baking soda in a medium sized bowl and mix well. In a large mixing bowl, crack the eggs and then add the honey and the milk. Whisk the wet ingredients together until the eggs are fully incorporated. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Lastly, add in your corn mixture from the stovetop and stir until combined.

Return the skillet to the cooktop and heat over a medium flame. Add the butter to the skillet and heat it until just melted. Pour the batter straight into the skillet and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Serve hot with butter and honey.

Serves 4-6

Almost Lasagna

Ingredients 
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked, (or other similarly shaped pasta-like small shells) 
1 pound Ground turkey, (or beef, chicken, sausage or tofu crumbles) 
1 jar Pasta Sauce, (26 ounces) 
freshly grated Parmesan cheese 
2 eggs 
1 pound Ricotta cheese 
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded 
2 cups veggies (diced zucchini, matchstick carrots, etc.) 
salt and pepper 

Directions 

1. Brown meat and drain well, if necessary. 

2. While meat is cooking, stir together eggs, ricotta, grated Parmesan and salt and pepper. 

3. Mix cooked meat, macaroni, sauce and veggies. Add ricotta mixture and blend well. 

4. Coat a 9-by-13 baking pan with cooking spray or olive oil and spread half of macaroni mixture evenly over the bottom. Top with a cup of mozzarella and a healthy sprinkle of grated Parmesan. Add the remaining macaroni mixture and top with another cup of mozzarella and another sprinkle of Parmesan. Cover with foil. 

 5. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F and bake the casserole for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 to 20 minutes until the cheese on top is lightly browned and bubbly. 

Strawberry Crumble Pie

Serves: 8 / Preparation time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (plus cooling time)

6 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled, halved if large
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup minute tapioca
1¹⁄₃ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup solid vegetable shortening
2 to 3 tablespoons water
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix the strawberries with the sugar and tapioca. Let the filling stand while you make the pastry.

In a large bowl combine the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening until the texture is uniform, but coarse.

Reserve about ½ cupful of the mixture; set that aside.

Sprinkle the water over the remaining mixture in the bowl; toss with a fork and press it into a ball.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to fit a 9-inch piepan. Fit the pastry into the pan. Fill with the strawberry mixture.

Cut an 8-inch round piece of foil; lay it over the filling.

Bake the pie for 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, blend the reserved ½ cupful of flour mixture with brown sugar and cinnamon.

After the pie has baked for 35 minutes, remove the foil; sprinkle the flour-cinnamon mixture over the pie.

Continue baking 30 to 40 minutes more or until the crust and crumb topping are browned.

Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool completely before serving so the filling sets.

Cook’s note: If the pie bubbles over during baking, place a sheet of foil beneath it.

From Linda Girard of Rowe’s Produce Farm.

Tested by Susan M. Selasky for the Free Press Test Kitchen.

303 calories (37% from fat), 13 grams fat (3 grams sat. fat), 47 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams protein, 164 mg sodium, 0 mgcholesterol, 3 grams fiber.

Ice cream bread

Makes: 1 mini-loaf (6 servings) ⁄ Preparation time: 5 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes plus cooling time
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup butter pecan ice cream or favorite ice cream, softened
3⁄4 cup self-rising flour (see cook’s note)
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a mini (53⁄4-inch-by-3-inch-by-2-inch) loaf pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl,
combine the ice cream, flour and sugar. Transfer to the loaf pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for
10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Cook’s note: As a substitute for self-rising flour, place 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1⁄4
teaspoon salt in a measuring cup. Add all-purpose flour to measure 3⁄4 cup.

Analysis per 1 slice:
217 calories (17 percent from fat), 4 grams fat (2 grams sat. fat), 18 grams carbohydrates, 3
grams protein, 217 mg sodium, 8 mg cholesterol, trace of fiber.