Paradise Italian Grill

During a recent review of another restaurant, I mentioned the Des Moines' Ultimate Pizza survey Cityview was doing.  Last week we got around to checking out another of the contestants in that survey, and we found it quite to our liking.  That restaurant is Paradise Italian Grill.

In the interest of fairness, and to avoid any perception of conflict of interest, I should note that my immediate supervisor at work is the wife of one of the co-proprietors of Paradise Italian Grill.  That didn't influence our decision to eat there - we were visiting with my son and looking for a place to eat, and Paradise happened to be nearby - nor has it influenced the review, but facts are facts.

Paradise Italian Grill used to be known as Paradise Pizza, and had been open in West Des Moines for several years before switching owners this summer.  It was closed for renovation for awhile and had its grand reopening this past weekend.  We ate there a couple days before that event.  I wasn't familiar with Paradise Pizza, but when we visited Paradise Italian Grill, we were told that the renovation greatly changed - and improved - the appearance.  Apparently Paradise Pizza was painted in colors that remind one of the flash and emptiness of the 1980s ala Miami Vice, plus for some strange reason its decor included a huge mural of cats.  The turquoise blue and neon pink and cat mural are (thankfully) gone now.  The new decor is more neutral, with some classic bistro-style touches.   The overall feel was comfy.

The transformation from Paradise Pizza to Paradise Italian Grill has expanded the menu to include pasta dishes, sandwiches, salads and a range of appetizers, but since we came because of the Ultimate Pizza challenge, we decided to sample three of the restaurant's signature pizzas.  We'll probably try some of the other menu items some other time. 

The pizzas we got were the Spicy Thai Chicken pizza, a simple, rustic pizza with tomato chunks, fresh basil and Buffalo mozzarella and one of Paradise's crock pizzas.  The crock pizza is an individual pizza, with sauce and toppings layered atop ample amounts of mozzarella, the entire thing covered with dough and cooked in a crock.  The server brings it to the table and turns it over to serve, removing the crock.  The result is something of a bread bowl pizza.  Our own pictures, unfortunately, didn't do it justice so I chose to run the picture below, which was taken from the Paradise Italian Grill website.  My son got the crock pizza with mushrooms and black olives, and he said it was delicious.  It certainly looked wonderful. 

The simple, rustic pizza was also quite nice.  The fresh basil and mozzarella tasted great, and the crust was really nice...crunchy yet still having a bit of chew to it.  The Thai pizza was, quite frankly, wonderful, and it truly was spicy (though not overly so).  The peanuts on top, accenting the Thai peanut sauce used in place of a red pizza sauce, was a great touch.

Overall, we were quite pleased with the pizzas we got at Paradise.  While not our favorite pizza (that would be Fong's), it was good enough to rate more or less a tie with our second-favorite local pizza, Bordenaro's.  We'll probably eat at Bordanero's more often than either Paradise or Fong's, but that's mostly a matter of location and convenience.   Bordy's has the others beat in that regard simply because it's on the route we take home after work.   We don't eat out in West Des Moines that often, and when we do, it's usually somewhare further west, but when we're in the Valley Junction area and in a mood for pizza, Paradise will be our go-to choice.  Even if we don't have anything else going on in the Valley Junction area, I'm pretty sure we'll go out of our way to eat at Paradise Itailan Grill again sooner rather than later.   The pizza was really good, and we're looking forward to trying out some of their other offerings.

Paradise Itallian Grill is located at 2025 Grand Avenue in West Des Moines, Iowa.  They're open weekdays 11 an to 10 pm and weekends 10 am until ... well, I'm not sure, as the hours listed at the website are "weekends 10 am to close."  2 AM, perhaps, since they have a bar?

In any case,  Paradise Italian Grill is on Facebook.

Restaurant Review: Mezzodi's

Credits:  InfoUSA

Last night we decided at the last moment to eat out in Des Moines rather than come home and cook something.   Because this was unplanned, we didn't have our camera with us, so we can't offer any of our own pictures, and have no pictures of the dishes we ordered.  Credits for the photos are listed with the photos. 

After considering some other options, we decided to try out Mezzodi's, an Italian restaurant that's been a Des Moines standard for more than a decade.  Last year it changed ownership and management, and it recently got a favorable review in Des Moines' alternative paper, Cityview.  Based on that review, we decided to try it out. 

Sadly, we really weren't very impressed. 

First off, the good.   The service was good.   Our waitress was attentive, bringing bread and refills of our iced tea frequently.  Our orders arrived quickly.  The general decor was pleasant.    The serving sizes were generous.   The salad featured a variety of lettuce types, and the salad dressing was excellent.   In fact, the ranch might be the best ranch dressing either of us has ever had.

The vocal jazz - including Sinatra standards - playing in the background was also great, when we could hear it (see below).   The prices for the dinners also weren't bad at all, though the appetizers seemed quite overpriced. 

As to the not-so-good...

Well, to start off, the restaurant was noisy to a degree that really interfered with our enjoyment.   This wasn't due to the place being crowded, but rather due to the fact that there wasn't any sort of barrier between the bar area and the dining area.   There were some obnoxiously loud people at the bar, and we could hear their obnoxiousness all too clearly even though we were seated about as far from the bar as possible.   I suppose one could cite this as a problem with the customers at the bar more than a problem with the restaurant, but one rather has to expect people at a bar to get somewhat rowdy, and the design of the restaurant didn't take this into account.  This might be acceptable if you're going to a sports bar to get chicken wings or burgers, but we found it unacceptable for an Italian restaurant.

But, more importantly, the food - other than the salad, as noted above - just wasn't very good.   Not truly bad, but very plain and ordinary. Like, Stouffer's Frozen Dinner levels of plain and ordinary.  Definitely not what we are wanting when we go out to eat.

Juli got the chicken Parmesan, which comes with a side order of spaghetti and a huge meatball.   I got the meatball lasagna.   Both dishes were attractively presented, and both featured ample amounts of cheese and sauce... and they were both sadly lacking in flavor.  The meatballs tasted of more filler than meat, while the sauces were under-seasoned.   I don't know how they managed to make a lasagna in which the flavors of the different ingredients - the cheese, the pasta, the sauce, the meat, the spinach - completely failed to blend, but I'd like to know so I can avoid whatever assembly or cooking techniques they used.  The chicken Parm wasn't any more exciting.  Actually, if anything it was even less exciting. 

In fairness, I will note that some other reviewers give good reviews to some of Mezzodi's menu items that we didn't try.  The pizza, in particular, seems to be quite well-liked, and the Cityview reviewer was impressed with the tenderloin sandwich.  On the other hand, one reviewer raved about the chicken Parmesan, proclaiming it the best he's ever had.  That review is dated January, 2010, so perhaps the chicken Parm was a lot better under the previous management.   If not, that reviewer really needs to sample some better chicken Parmesan (Johnny's Italian Steakhouse is only the first example that comes readily to mind).  I can say with complete honesty that I've made chicken Parmesan using several different recipes (including this one and this one), and every one of them was much better than what we got at Mezzodi's. (For that matter, my Turkey Parmesan is also a lot better than Mezzodi's chicken Parm, and that recipe would almost certainly work even better if you replaced the turkey with chicken.)

We don't really like to give bad reviews, but we unfortunately were not impressed with Mezzodi's, and based on our experience, we can't recommend it.   I doubt we'll be returning, but if any of our readers have had different experiences or wish to offer their own opinions of Mezzodi's, we'd be glad to post them.

Credits:  Charles Walton

Mezzodi's is at 4519 Fleur Drive.   Hours are Mon-Thurs 11am to 10 pm, Fri & Sat 11 am to 11 pm and Sun 11 am to 9 pm.

Italian Burgers with Basil and Provolone + Grilled Vegetables

We've both been in the mood for burgers lately.  Juli wanted me to make some simple burgers with BBQ sauce, but I was in the mood for something a bit more novel than that.   I ended up making some Italian-seasoned burgers and topping most of them with melted provolone and fresh basil leaves from our garden, other than the one that I just covered with BBQ sauce while the burgers were still grilling, so Juli could have what she'd been craving.  These burgers were good.  Really, really good! 

Along with the burgers, I grilled some zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes.  I made the squash as I've previously described, save that I used only olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper and fresh chives as seasonings.  I topped the tomatoes with nothing but olive oil, salt and pepper.  All of the veggies grilled up really nicely, and they went great with burgers and a Caesar salad.

I used Barilla Spicy Marinara in and on these burgers, but any store-bought or homemade marinara would work just fine.   You could warm up the marinara before topping the burgers with it, but we found they tasted great without warming up the sauce. 

These burgers are fast and easy to make, they're really tasty, they're a great way to use fresh basil and they make for a nice change from ordinary burgers.   There's not much else to say about them, other than to include the recipe below and encourage you to give them a try sometime.

Italian Burgers with Basil and Provolone

yield = 6 servings

2 1/4           pounds 85% lean ground beef (chuck)
1/4              cup fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2                 tablespoons marinara sauce
1 1/2           teaspoons freshly-ground black pepper
1                 teaspoon minced garlic
3/4              teaspoon kosher salt
1/2              teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2              teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4              teaspoon onion powder
18-20         medium to large fresh basil leaves
6                slices provolone cheese
6                hamburger buns or other large, round sandwich rolls
                  additional marinara sauce for topping

Prepare grill for medium-hot, direct grilling.

Add ground chuck, Parmigiano-Reggiano, 2 tablespoons marinara sauce, black pepper, garlic, kosher salt, red pepper flakes, oregano and onion powder to a large bowl.  Mix ingredients thoroughly by hand, then form the meat mixture into six large patties.  Indent the middle of each patty slightly by pressing with fingers.

Place the patties on the grill, cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Flip, cover and cook for another 4 minutes, then top each burger with 3-4 basil leaves and one piece of provolone.   Cover and cook another minutes or so, until the cheese has melted. 

Transfer the burgers to a serving platter.  Top with marinara and serve on buns.

Grilled Tomatoes

yield = 2-3 servings

2                 large, ripe tomatoes
                   olive oil
                   freshly-ground black pepper to taste
                   kosher salt to taste

Core each tomato, then slice the tomatoes sideways into 3 or 4 slices of equal thickness, with the number of slices depending on the size of the tomatoes (I cut ours into three slices each).

Brush on both sides with olive oil, then season on both sides to taste with kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper. 

Grill over direct, medium-high heat for 5 minutes, then turn and grill another 5 minutes on the other side.  Transfer to a serving platter and serve immediately.

Spaghetti with Pancetta, Mushrooms and Basil

The May 2011 issue of Bon Appetit included a feature article on cooking restaurant-quality pasta dishes, plus several recipes.  The article included several good tips and techniques, including the observation that while home recipes often specify one making the sauce, cooking the pasta separately then serving the sauce atop the pasta, in restaurants the pasta is often cooked until nearly done, then added to the pan or skillet with the sauce along with a bit of extra liquid to finish cooking.  This results in the pasta absorbing some of the flavors from the sauce, and in it being more evenly coated with the sauce.

I decided to try out the article's suggestions, and after studying the sample recipes to get a sense how the cooking techniques were put into action, I tossed together a recipe of my own featuring pancetta, mushrooms and garden-fresh basil. 

I should note that the pancetta I used was La Quercia brand.  La Quercia, based in Norwalk, Iowa, produces a selection of Italian-style dry-cured artisan meats.  The company has gotten a lot of favorable reviews in the food press, including exceptional reviews in Bon Appetit, Cook's Illustrated, Fine Cooking, The New York Times and even Vogue.  In the Des Moines area, La Quercia meats can be found, among other places, in the better Hy-Vee and Dahls supermarkets.  The brand is also available in Whole Foods stores and many premium markets. The pancetta was certainly excellent in this dish.

In fact, the entire dish was excellent.  The rich taste of the pancetta, the earthy flavor of the mushrooms and the savory cheese and fresh basil provided the sauce with tons of flavor.  As promised in the Bon Appetit article, the cooking method resulted in some of this flavor being absorbed into the pasta, as opposed to the pasta simply being topped with flavorful sauce.   This made for a wonderfully satisfying meal. 

I should note that the picture above was taken before I remembered to sprinkle the pasta with the basil and grated cheese.  It would have been great even without those final touches, but adding them pushed it to another level of flavor excellence.

That article turned out to have a lot of great advice, and unless you're already cooking pasta dishes on par with those offered at the better Italian restaurants, I'd strongly recommend tracking down a copy of that issue of Bon Appetit, or at very least the article on pages 136-143. 

Spaghetti with Pancetta, Mushrooms and Basil

yield = 4 servings

2              tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3              ounces pancetta, chopped
1/2           teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2           teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1              medium onion, grated
8              ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
3              teaspoons minced garlic
1              can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, pureed
2              teaspoons table salt
12            ounces spaghetti
1/4           cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1              tablespoon butter, chilled
1/4           cup fresh basil, chopped

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering.  Add pancetta and cook, stirring often, until crisp and lightly browned.   Add red pepper flakes and black pepper, stir for 10 seconds, then add onion.  Cook, stirring often, until the onion is starting to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and release in size. 

When the excess mushroom liquid has cooked off, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then stir in the the pureed tomato puree.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

While the sauce simmers, add table salt and 4 quarts of water to a large pan or stock pot.  Bring to a boil and add the spaghetti.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until 2 minutes prior to the pasta being done, or al dente, per package instructions.  Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. 

Add drained past to the skillet and toss with tongs to coat.  Add the reserved cooking water and cook until the pasta is al dente (about 2 minutes).  Remove from heat.  Add butter and 1/2 of the Pecorino and toss until the cheese melts.   Serve, sprinkling individual servings with basil and the remaining cheese.

Turkey Parmesan

Recently our hometown grocery had some nice-looking turkey cutlets for sale.   We picked some up, and after considering what to do with them, I decided to make some Turkey Parmesan.   I consulted our Chicken Parmesan recipe, published back in November, and came up with some improvements on that recipe.  After jotting down the changes, I went to work. 

One thing I discovered right away - which was not evident in looking at the package - was that the cutlets weren't even close to evenly-sized.   This forced me to cut some of the larger cutlets into two pieces before pounding them flat, because otherwise they wouldn't cook up as evenly as I'd prefer.   That wasn't too much hassle, fortunately, and everything else went off without a problem.  I breaded the cutlets in panko crumbs and Parmesan, fried them golden-brown on both sides, then tossed them on a wire rack, sprinkled them with cheese and tossed them in the oven to finish cooking.  Meanwhile, I cooked the spaghetti and made a quick and flavorful pasta sauce, and by the time those were done, the cutlets were ready to come out of the oven.

This turned out great - even better than the last time I made Chicken Parmesan.  The changes I made in the recipe really were improvements.  The cutlets were delicious - crisp outside, juicy, tender on the inside and flavorful all the way through - and the sauce was also quite tasty.   I even managed to find some good, fresh basil in the grocery (not at all a sure thing this time of year), which made for a nice garnish.

The recipe below will work fine for Chicken Parmesan, too.  Just use chicken breast cutlets in place of the turkey.   If you've printed off our Chicken Parmesan recipe, replace it with this one, because it's even better.  As far as I'm concerned, this recipe replaces our old one for Chicken Parm.

Turkey Parmesan

yield = 4 servings

1 1/2            pounds turkey breast cutlets
                    salt and pepper to taste
1                  cup all-purpose flour
2                  eggs
2                  tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, + 2/3
                    cup for frying
2                  cups panko bread crumbs
1/4               cup freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, +
                    1/3 cup
1/2               cup freshly-shredded mozzarella cheese
1                  teaspoon table salt + 1/2 teaspoon
1                  onion, finely chopped
1                  teaspoon minced garlic
1/2               teaspoon dried oregano
1/4               teaspoon crushed dried basil
1/8               teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1                  can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1/2               ounces spaghetti
1/4               cup (packed) chopped, fresh basil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with foil.  Set a wire rack atop the baking sheet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. 

Dry the turkey breast cutlets with paper towels and sprinkle on both sides with salt and pepper.   Put the flour in a wide, shallow dish (such as a pie plate).  Combine the eggs and one tablespoon olive oil in a small bowl.  Beat thoroughly, then pour into another wide, shallow dish.  Add the panko crumbs and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan-Reggiano in a third wide, shallow dish and mix thoroughly. 

Place one cutlet in the dish with the flour, flipping it to cover thoroughly and shaking off any loose flour.  Dip and flip the flour-covered cutlet in the egg mixture to coat it, letting any excess drip back into the bowl, then dip it into the panko mixture, pressing and flipping the cutlet to get the crumbs to stick on both sides.  Place the cutlet on the wire rack and repeat with other cutlets.  After coating all the cutlets, allow them to dry for 5 minutes to help the coating adhere.

Add four quarts of water and one teaspoon of salt to a large pot and start the water boiling for the spaghetti.

Heat 2/3 cup of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until smoking.  Place 2-3 cutlets in the oil and cook for about 3 minutes before flipping them and cooking another 3 minutes.  They should be browned on both sides.  Transfer the cutlets to a plate lined with three layers of paper towels.  Repeat with the rest of the cutlets, returning the fried, cooked cutlets to the wire rack. 

When all the cutlets have been fried, top each first with a bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano, then with a bit of mozzarella, dividing the cheese evenly between the cutlets.  Place in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted, about 7 minutes.

Add the last tablespoon of olive oil to a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add the oil and cook until it has started to brown, then add the garlic, oregano, dried basil and red pepper flakes and cook another 30 seconds.  Stir in crushed tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, when the water comes to a boil, add the spaghetti and cook per package directions.

Remove the turkey cutlets from the oven, arrange on a serving platter and spoon some of the sauce over the cutlets.  Top with chopped fresh basil.  Serve with spaghetti and remaining sauce.

Italian Meatloaf

A couple weeks ago, I made a Lamb Meatloaf with Indian Spices, inspired by a meatloaf article in the current issue of Fine Cooking.   I was happy with how that turned out, and continue to be inspired by that article's discussion of how you can successfully make a wide variety of different meatloaves by varying ingredients but maintaining a general ratio of so much meat to so much of various other sorts of ingredients, so last weekend I made an Italian meatloaf.   Once again I came up with a version somewhat different from that suggested in the article, and didn't let their choices of ingredients or their ratios constrain me too much.   And once again it turned out pretty well.

As with any meatloaf, this one is based on the meat, which in this case is a mixture of one pound of ground veal mixed with a half-pound each of lean ground beef and Graziano Bros. sweet Italian sausage.   Other key ingredients include white wine (added to the aromatics and cooked down) and freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.  The wine and the cheese provided a richness of flavor beyond that typical for a meatloaf, while the combination of tomato paste, tomato sauce and a bit of brown sugar provided more depth of flavor, not to mention a glaze more typically Italian than the standard ketchup glaze.

I've found one key to a good meatloaf is to cook it a way that allows excess fat and moisture to drain off as it cooks, as opposed to staying in the pan and making the bottom third of the meatloaf soggy and greasy.  Once again I achieved this goal by cooking the meatloaf on a broiler pan.

The meatloaf had a firm, well-browned crust with some cracks where tasty cheese had bubbled up through the surface, yet was moist on the inside.  It held together well, with very little crumbling, and had a nice texture, fairly light for a meatloaf.  The various seasonings stood out without any of them dominating.  

I served the meatloaf with two sides I took from different sources.  Rosemary and Chevre Mashed Potatoes was from the promotional issue of Cuisine at Home I received awhile back, while Honey-Glazed Carrots with Lemon and Thyme is from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which I've been finding quite useful.  Both turned out quite nice, and nicely complemented the meatloaf.

The Rosemary and Chevre Mashed Potatoes featured an interesting mix of flavorful ingredients - fresh rosemary, goat cheese, butter, pepper and salt, of course, but also buttermilk and lemon zest.   They had a lot more flavor than the average mashed potatoes, and stood well on their own with no need for gravy or even additional seasonings.  The Honey-Glazed Carrots were also outstanding.   They simmered in a mixture of honey and chicken broth just long enough to cook through and pick up some seasoning without getting soggy, while lemon zest and juice and some more honey added off the heat added extra flavor and some thickness to the glaze.  I only made half a batch of these, and regretted not making the full recipe, because Juli and I finished the carrots off and would have gladly eaten more if we'd had more. 

The Italian Meatloaf and the two flavorful sides made for a very satisfying meal.  I'm probably going to wait a few weeks before I make another meatloaf, as we have lots of meatloaf leftovers in the freezer now for lunches, but that will give me time to decide whether I want to do a mushroom loaf or a Greek loaf next.  I'll definitely be making the mashed potatoes and the glazed carrots again, and probably soon.   The ATK Family Cookbook includes several variants on the basic Glazed Carrots, and they all look great. 

Italian Meatloaf

yield = 7-8 servings

2       tablespoons olive oil
1       large yellow onion, chopped
1       tablespoon minced garlic
4       tablespoons tomato paste, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
3/4    cup white wine
4       slices white sandwich bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
3/4    cup milk
1       pound ground veal
1/2    pound 90% lean ground beef
1/2    pound sweet Italian sausage
2       large eggs
1/2    cup finely-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4    cup chopped fresh parsley
1       tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1       tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2       teaspoons kosher salt
1/2    teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2    teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3       tablespoons tomato sauce
1      teaspoon dark brown sugar

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until it starts to brown (about 7 minutes) then stir in garlic, two tablespoons of tomato paste and oregano.  Cook 1 minute, then add white wine and cook until the pan is almost dry (about 5 minutes).  Transfer to a large bowl and set aside to cool.

Soak the bread pieces in milk for about 10 minutes, then mash into a paste.  Add to large bowl with cooled onion mixture.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.  Prepare a broiler pan by lining the inside of the pan with foil and spraying the top rack with nonstick cooking spray. 

Add the veal, beef, sausage, eggs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, basil, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes to the large bowl.  Use hands to combine the ingredients without tightly packing the mixture.

Stir together tomato sauce, the rest of the tomato paste and brown sugar in a small bowl.

Transfer the meat mixture to a sheet of wax paper and shape it into a rectangle, approximately 12 x 4 inches.  Brush top and sides of the meatloaf with the tomato mixture.  Bake until a thermometer inserted in the center of the meatloaf registers 160 degrees (about 55 minutes).   Remove from oven, let rest 10 minutes, then transfer meatloaf to a cutting board and slice into individual servings.

Spaghetti with Homemade Meatballs + Crusty French Bread

This weekend, I made up another batch of my Chunky Marinara Sauce in order to make Spaghetti with Meatballs.  But while the sauce is something I've made before, I did a couple other new things.  Specifically, rather than use our dependable favorite Graziano Bros. meatballs, I made my own.   I also took my first stab at making bread and cooked up a couple French loaves.

Having had some difficulty with lamb meatballs in the recent past, I consulted some meatball recipes before putting together one of my own.   I ended up closely styling mine after an old Cook's Illustrated recipe, but I changed a few things to better reflect Juli's and my preferences.   Most notably, I changed around the ratio of beef to Italian sausage, going from the 5:1 ratio CI suggested to a 2:1 ratio.  I made this change because I wanted a bit more of the sausage flavor. 

The meatballs turned out great.... nice texture, flavorful and a good complement to the sauce.   I'm not going to claim my meatballs are better than the ones we purchase at Graziano Bros. Grocery - at least not yet - but I'm quite pleased with them.   We'll keep some of the Graziano meatballs around for when we need meatballs in a hurry and with a minimum of hassle, but I'm confident that I'll be making my own meatballs most of the time from now on. 

Jeffrey's Italian Meatballs

yield = 24 meatballs

2           tablespoons olive oil
2           medium yellow onions, chopped fine
4           teaspoons minced garlic
4           teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
1/2        teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4           slices white bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
2/3        cup milk
1           cup freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/3        cup chopped fresh parsley
2           large eggs
1           teaspoon salt
1/2        teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
2           pounds 85% lean ground beef
1           pound fresh, loose sweet Italian sausage

Heat olive oil until shimmering in a large skillet over medium-high heat.   Add onions and cook until golden-brown, about 8 minutes, stirring frequently.  Stir in garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes and cook 30 seconds, then transfer onion mixture to a large bowl to cool.

Add bread pieces to a medium bowl.  Pour in milk and allow the bread to soak for 5 minutes, then use hands to squeeze soaked bread into rough paste.  Add bread-milk paste to the large bowl with the cooled onion mixture.

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position.    Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Set a wire rack within a rimmed baking sheet and spray the rack and sheet with nonstick cooking spray. 

Add grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, eggs, salt and pepper to the onion/bread mixture.  Stir together to mix these ingredients, then add ground beef and sausage to the mixture.  Using hands, mix all the ingredients thoroughly, then shape mixture into approximately 24 meatballs, each somewhat larger than a golf ball.  Arrange meatballs evenly but without touching on the wire rack and bake until well-browned, 20-25 minutes. 

After baking up the meatballs, I mixed them in with the marinara sauce and served the meatballs and sauce over spaghetti with a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.   Our meal was rounded out with a Caesar salad and slices of Crusty French Bread.  I made the bread using a recipe that came with our Cuisinart Stand Mixer.  Unfortunately, my first try at making bread didn't work out quite as well as did my first tries at cake or pie.   It wasn't bad, mind you, just not as good as I'd have preferred. 

The Crusty French Bread had a great crust and good flavor, and while Juli thought it was okay, I didn't really like the interior texture.   The bread was too dense for my tastes.   I will probably try out a different recipe next time I decide to make French bread, but I suppose this recipe might be a good starting point if I decide to experiment with making my own recipe some day.  Still, it didn't keep us from enjoying this meal, and it didn't in any way dampen my happiness with how the meatballs had turned out.

Pasta and Meatballs with Chunky Marinara Sauce

We had our Christmas dinner the weekend before Christmas, when Juli's son and his partner dropped by for a visit.  That dinner featured a ham, dinner rolls, and some festive sides.   By the time Christmas itself rolled around, we were pretty tired for various reasons, including dealing with winter weather, and neither of us was in the mood for a traditional Xmas feast.   Instead, I simply cooked something tasty for lunch and supper.

Lunch was pasta with marinara sauce and meatballs.  I made up a variation on my Quick Marinara Sauce recipe, mostly because we didn't have enough crushed tomato to make up a full batch of the basic recipe.  We had several cans of diced tomatoes, though, so I made up for what I didn't have in crushed tomato by adding some diced tomatoes.  The result was a chunky sauce.  It was, frankly, delicious... every bit as good as the non-chunky sauce. 

One of these days I'll have to get around to finding or making a good recipe for Italian-style meatballs, but this time around I didn't want to go to that much work, so I went with our standby:  Frozen handmade meatballs from Graziano Bros. Grocery.   Their excellence is the main reason I haven't really felt a strong need to find or come up with my own meatball recipe. 

For the pasta, I skipped the traditional spaghetti and cooked up some radiatore for something different.  We'd picked that up awhile back but hadn't gotten around to using it for anything.  It went great with the sauce and meatballs.  

Juli used a loaf of Italian bread we'd picked up the day before to make some garlic bread to go with our lunch.

Pasta with red sauce and meatballs might not be a traditional Christmas meal for most people, but it sure hit the spot for us!

Our Christmas lunch.
The garlic bread isn't pictured, as it was still in the oven.

Pasta with Chunky Marinara Sauce

yield = 6 servings

1        28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1        15-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
5        quarts water + 1/2 cup
2        teaspoons table salt, divided
24      frozen meatballs (optional)
2        tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1        large onion, minced
2        teaspoons minced garlic
2        teaspoons dried oregano
1        6-ounce can tomato paste
1/2     cup red wine
1        teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1        teaspoon sugar
1/8     teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3/4     pound uncooked pasta
1/4    cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
2        tablespoons freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
          + extra for serving
2        teaspoons dried basil

Christmas morning in the kitchen.
Left:  Stock pot with water boiling for the pasta
Right front:  Dutch oven with onions
Right rear: Saucepan with crushed and diced
tomatoes simmering.

Heat the crushed tomato and diced tomatoes in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook until it has thickened significantly.  Add 5 quarts water and 1 teaspoon table salt to a large pot over high heat and bring to a boil.  (If you are making the dish with meatballs, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and arrange the meatballs on a wire baking rack set over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Place in the oven and cook for approximately 1/2 hour, or until done.)

Meanwhile, add the oil to a Dutch oven over medium heat.  When the oil is shimmering, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it starts to brown.  Stir in the garlic and oregano and cook for about 1 minute, then stir in the tomato paste and cook another minute.  Add red wine and water and cook for 1-2 minutes, then stir in the sugar, black pepper, salt and red pepper flakes.

By that point, the tomato mixture should have cooked down enough.  Add the thickened tomato mixture to the Dutch oven, stir thoroughly, reduce heat and cook at a low simmer.

When the water in the large pot has come to a boil, add the pasta and cook according to directions.  At the same time, add the cheddar cheese, two tablespoons Parmesan cheese and basil to the Dutch oven and stir in.  (If you are making the dish with meatballs, stir them into the sauce at this time as well.)

Drain the pasta and serve topped with the sauce (and meatballs, if desired) and with grated Parmesan cheese.