Gettin Sauced; Part 2 - Good Ole Spaghettini and Meatballs

After spending a good 7-8 hours making sauce, I like to end the evening with a fairly quick fix for dinner. This involves the now finished sauce and some Italian Sausage meatballs. As seen in the teaser pic on the Tomato sauce post... ;)

Yep, a total cheat recipe as far as the meatballs go. I learned this little trick from Jamie Oliver when he was on Late Night with David Letterman. While David was drinking the Heavy Cream, Jamie was squeezing the sausage out of the casings to make perfect little meatballs. Pretty awesome! Then David started drinking the Olive oil too and I had to change the channel...

Anyway, the point of this post is not so much about David Letterman's oddities, cause I could be here all night typing... ;) But that I have adopted his method as a quick way to make meatballs. Whether as an addition to my favorite pasta dish, which is Linguine alla Carbonara, or a simple dish such as this one. It is pure genius and I love it.

I used "Sweet" Sausage this time, but you can just as easily use the Hot Italian Sausage if you are not a fan of Fennel.

Spaghettini and Sweet Meatballs

1 lb Sweet Italian Sausage
2 TB Olive Oil (don't drink it please)
1 cup Sangiovese (You can try a Barbera or Nebbiolo too)
2 1/2 -3 cups Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce (depending on how you divided it up)
12 oz Spaghettini or Spaghetti
Basil to taste; either Chopped or more properly, Chiffonade
Parmegiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano for serving.

If your sauce has already been frozen, you will need to thaw it out in some warm water. Bring it as close to room temperature as your can.

Grab a bottle of 2007 Sangiovese, this particular one is a Brunello clone that I picked up from Witch Creek Winery in Julian CA, before I moved back to Oregon... A delicious wine, I just wish I had another bottle...

Begin by pinching the sausage to move the filling out one side...

to form a mini meatball.

You should get about 5 mini meatballs per sausage.

Once you have finished, begin heating the olive oil in a large skillet (I used an electric skillet this time)

Sear the meatballs until browned on all sides, meanwhile begin heating a large pot of water for the Pasta.

Remove the meatballs from the skillet and set aside.

Deglaze the pan with the Sangiovese, scraping any fond that has accumulated on the bottom of the pan, and reduce the wine to about 1/2 cup.

Add the Tomato Sauce and stir to combine.

When the sauce is homogeneous, add the meatballs back in and reduce the heat to a slow simmer.

Drop the pasta into the boiling water, don't forget to salt the water before adding the pasta.

Continue simmering the meatballs until the pasta is al dente, which for Spaghettini is only about 6-7 minutes, then add the spaghettini to the skillet....

and toss the sauce, spaghettini and meatballs to coat everything nicely. (I see people out there cringing, but I always toss my sauce with my pasta, I don't serve it separately; You can serve it separately if you like) LOL

Serve with Chopped basil and Grated Parmegiano-Reggiano.

Super quick, Super easy and Super delicious...

Mangia!!
~~

Spanish Fare with Italian Flair - Paella Coast to Coast

Cooking Coast to Coast part 2

The Dish today was originally Paella a la Valenciana.

This was an interesting recipe for me in many ways. My approach kept changing. In the beginning I was cooking not only for people who, for religious reasons, cannot eat pork, but also for people who were allergic to seafood. (sigh) As a result, it became a very Chicken-centric dish…

Then as people canceled, I was suddenly able to add pork, (Yay!) but still no seafood (Aw!). With the pork ban lifted, I started hunting for Spanish Chorizo. This presented other issues.

Let's face it, San Diego is awesome for Mexican cooking ingredients; not so great for actual Spanish items though. In the end, I decided to just simply give up and cook what I know... Jamón Serrano became Speck; the Chorizo became Hot Italian Sausage; and the Chicken.... Well, it stayed chicken; and sans ANY seafood.

Then another person canceled and the seafood was back on... SO, with half the ocean in tow... I made a somewhat Italian-esque concoction, even though I DID finally find "Paella Rice" (although I have my doubts, since the bag doesn't actually say what kind of rice it is)

The best part about the Paella is the "socarrat" that forms on the bottom. This is similar to the Grossmutter that forms in the bottom of a fondue pot. Although in this case, instead of crispy caramelized cheese, it's crispy caramelized rice.... YUM!!!! I am SO looking forward to that.

AND I even found a Paella pan. Which was totally AWESOME!!

Because neither my cast iron nor copper skillets were big enough. Paella pans have fairly low sides; as the amount of paella you are making increases, the diameter of the pan increases. Mine has an aluminum core, which I guess is OK, but from what I have read, simple Carbon Steel is the preferred material.

Paella a la Valenciana (alla Italiano?)

Here is the recipe we used, with my changes in Parenthesis... As far as instructions, I have changed them according to what I did, replaced the ingredients... For the original ingredient list and instructions, check out Paella a la Valenciana

Servings: 6-8

6 cups of very strong chicken Stock (4 cups Chicken, 2 cups Vegetable Stock)
1/2 tsp of Saffron threads (Kashmiri not Spanish)
1/4 tsp of Smoked Spanish Paprika
1 small onion, peeled and cut in half

Heat the broth with the saffron, smoked Paprika and the whole onion.

Cover and simmer 15 – 20 minutes.

Remove the onion and strain the broth -- you need exactly 5-1/2 cups.


2 small chickens, about 2-1/2 lbs each (2 1/2 lbs of Chicken Thighs)
1/2 cup dry white wine (Soave – but would have preferred Pummelo or Dancing Bull Sauvignon Blanc)
1/2 cup olive oil (Sicilian Olive oil)
1/4 lb of cooking chorizo, in 1/4 inch slices (Hot Italian Sausage)
1/4 lb piece jamón serrano ham, diced (Speck – Smoked Prosciutto)
1 medium onion, chopped (1 Large Shallot)
4 scallions, chopped (1 Leek)
4 tbsp chopped garlic
2 roasted piquillo peppers (Roasted Red Bell pepper)
1 lb small or medium shrimp, shelled (1 lb Jumbo Shrimp, Cleaned & Peeled but with tail-on)
2 (Optional) Live lobsters, boiled, split and divided into tail sections and claws; discard or keep the head and small claws; or (Nope)
4 (Optional) Lobster tails, split lengthwise; (Nope)
8 (Optional) King crab claws; or (Nope)
8 jumbo shrimp, in their shells, preferably heads on; or (Nopity, Nopity, No)
2 North Atlantic Lobster tails, split Lengthwise.. (Yeppers)
3 cups Bomba or Calasparra rice or other short grain Spanish rice (Mine just said "Paella Rice")
5 tbsp chopped Italian Flat-Leaf parsley
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1/4 lb fresh or frozen peas
18 clams and/or mussels, scrubbed (16 mussels, 8 clams)
Lemon wedges for garnish (Meyer Lemon Wedges)
Italian Flat-Leaf Parsley for garnish

OK, I sliced, diced and chopped everything this time, which I normally don't do, cause I usually kind of wing it a little... There was a lot of stuff on this one and everything happens very quick, I was glad I was fully prepared this time....

Dry the chicken thighs with paper towels and season with salt.

Begin reheating the stock with the wine added to it.

In a metal Paella pan, with about a 15 inch base, heat the oil.

Add the chicken thighs and fry over high heat until golden; then remove to a warm platter.

Add the Italian sausage and speck to the pan and stir fry about 5 minutes.

Add the chopped Shallot, Leek, Garlic, and Roasted Red pepper and saute until the Shallot is wilted.

Add the Shrimp and the Lobster and saute about 3 minutes more, or until the shrimp and lobster barely turn pink (the lobster will cook more in the oven.) then remove the shrimp and lobster to the platter with the chicken.

Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat it well with the oil.

Sprinkle in the 5 TB of chopped parsley and the crumbled bay leaves.

Stir in the hot chicken stock/Wine, peas and salt to taste, then bring to a boil and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat about 10 minutes.

Bury the shrimp and the chicken in the rice.
Add the clams and the mussels, pushing them into the rice, with the edge that will open facing up and place the lobster pieces on, cut side down, then bake at 325 F, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit on top of the stove, lightly covered with foil, for about 10 minutes.

To serve, decorate with lemon wedges and chopped parsley. Oh, and I threw a pre-cooked Crayfish (crawdad) on top, just for fun... A tribute to Jambalaya if you will (even though it isn't Italian)

I had to cook mine a little longer... 15 minutes longer to be exact.
I removed the mussels, clams, chicken and lobster and put the rice back in because it was still crunchy after the initial 20 minutes.... and even with the extra time, some of it was still a little crunchy, while other portions had become gummy. More like a badly made risotto than a paella. Which kind of makes me wonder about the rice I was using. The most disheartening thing though, was that I didn't any "socarrat" on the bottom of my pan... :(
I was SO looking forward to that. (sigh) Oh well.

Then again, it's a first try... so we shall see what happens when I try again. Oh yes, let there be NO doubt about that. I am gonna try it again. Sans seafood though, cause it gets a little spendy. But it WAS definitely still tasty even if the texture was questionable. Which only proves the point (Never fear the kitchen, even a "disaster" is more than likely still edible) Although I have discovered that, while I love mussels, I am not fond of mussels and saffron together... Clams, Yes... Scallops, Yes... Mussels, not so much...

Regardless of my somewhat mixed emotions over this dish, I had promised people food. So I boxed everything up.

And put it all in my Thermal Carrier for delivery. ;)


As of yet, I have only heard that it does not survive reheating very well. Mostly because of the seafood.


For many more Paella Permutations, check out what my bloggin' BakeSpace buddies all came up with. Inspiration is just a click away.

Just click a pictures below: (the blog links will take you to their most current posts)

Spryte from Spryte's Place in Pennsylvania


Michele from My Italian Grandmother in Jersey


Danielle from Cooking for my Peace of Mind in California (with Guest Blogger, Cathy in Minnesota)


Moni from Alaskan Dermish in the Kitchen in, well, Alaska of course


And Martha in upstate New York


Mangia!!
~~