'Cause Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's not officially winter yet, nor really, really cold, but the temps have dropped appreciably (or unappreciated-ly) over the last week. It's dark when I wake up in the morning and dark when I walk home from work in the afternoon, and Blog O. Food's nesting instincts are kicking in. That means fewer trips into Manhattan, wooly socks and sweat pants for lounging around the apartment at night, and comfort food. Belly-warmin', spectacle-steamin', hot-off-off-the-stove comfort food.

This dish is a take-off on a springtime recipe when peas are in season and you can get 'em fresh off the vine. I could have made split pea soup, but I like the puréed texture of the whole peas better. Plus, buried deep somewhere, are repressed memories of split pea soup from my elementary school days. We'll let those sleeping dogs lie, eh?

Pea Soup

2 Tbsp unsalted butter 1 medium onion, thinly sliced 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock 2 cups peas 1½ cups sourdough bread, crust removed and cubed 1½ Tbsp dried herbs: thyme, basil, tarragon, etc 2 Tbsp olive oil Salt & pepper to taste

Start by tossing cubed sourdough bread with olive oil and dried herbs. Season with salt and pepper and spread out on a baking sheet. Toast croutons in a 375° pre-heated oven until just browned, about 12 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they will turn from golden to burnt toast with alarming speed. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add onions, salt & pepper and sweat over medium heat, stirring often. When soft, but not browned, add stock and bring to a boil. Add peas and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring periodically, until the peas are tender, about 5-6 minutes. Purée the soup in batches in a blender or food processor. Taste to adjust the seasonings. Pour back into the pot and heat just to warm through. Serve in rustic ceramic bowls - bartered from a local Duchess County pilgrim - garnished with croutons.

Even with frozen peas, there was a brightness to this simple soup, and just a hint of saltiness. Missing was that gummy consistency and bitterness you can get from split pea soup. Feeling fat deprived? Plop a generous dollop of sour cream into the soup before adding the croutons!

Sometimes, I'll brown off some cubed pancetta, drain really well on paper towels then add to the purée. If you do that, do not salt the soup until you've added the pork and heated it back up, then adjust your seasonings.

That ought to keep you warm 'til bedtime!

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

Sorry, but THAT'S a Spicy Meatball!

Every family has its own traditions around the holidays. Some folks open presents on Christmas Eve, some fly off to the capitals of Europe for the duration, yet others have restaurant wait staffs serve them their turkey and stuffing. Everybody is different in that respect, and that's okay. Where I come from chili was always the de facto meal the night before Christmas or Thanksgiving, Secretary's Day Administrative Assistant's Day, whenever! But this year, at The Very Brady Thanksgiving, Mama Jean slaved two nights and days over Italian sauce and meatballs and I am ever so grateful that she did.

"I wish I had a real recipe to offer but I essentially just throw things in a pot and the ingredients are the usual suspects that go in everyone's sauce." ~ Mama Jean

Don't let that modesty fool you, Jean is a serious cook, and like all masters she has an intuitive feel for what works. It may have been Aunt Janie's house, but it was Mama Jean's kitchen. And if we were gonna have Italian the night before Thanksgiving, well it was gonna be done right, damn it.

Thanksgiving Eve Menu

Antipasto

Honey cherry peppers stuffed with goat cheese and pecan Pickled cherry peppers stuffed with bleu cheese Kalamata olives Roasted red bell peppers Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese Prosciutto Peppered ham Sesame bread sticks

Il Primo

Cheese-stuffed manicotti

Il Secondo

Hand-made beef, pork & veal meatballs Sweet and hot Italian sausages Homemade tomato sauce

Mama Jean's Meatballs and Tomato Sauce

"I brown sausage (and I usually also brown some country spare ribs...nothing like pork fat for flavor...but the stores were so crazy I didn't realize I didn't have them until I started cooking) in the pot I am using for the sauce. I put a small amount of [extra virgin olive oil] in [the] bottom just to keep everything lubed until the sausage/meat starts giving off juice/fat. You can remove the meat or just push to the side and add onion and garlic scraping the fond off the bottom of the pan. Then I add the tomatoes, red wine, fresh parsley, basil and oregano (dried if not available), and I usually add some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Stir this all together and bring it to a fairly high temp (add back the browned pork if it has been removed) and then lower to a simmer before adding the meatballs." THE MEATBALLS: "I used beef, pork and veal for the meatballs but any combo or beef alone works, too. I add salt and fresh pepper, fresh parsley, (sometimes some very finely minced garlic), grated Parmigiano Reggiano, bread (Italian, Wonder, whatever) that's been soaked in milk (bread crumbs if I don't have any bread around), and usually two eggs and shape into medium sized meat balls... I put a lid on the pot and let it simmer a little while. Check fairly often in the beginning that the bottom is not sticking being very gentle so as to not break up the meatballs. Then you can let it go for as long as you like. I generally put it on very low and just let it go for a few hours... Towards the end, I let it cook without a lid to let it thicken naturally if it needs that. IF I taste it and the tomatoes didn't have a rich enough flavor, I might add tomato paste, the tube type is best. You can also add some more fresh herbs to brighten at the end if necessary. I love this because it's good right away, later that day, the next day, or even from the freezer. As in all things good ingredients yield good results."

The woman has banished the word "shortcut" from her vocabulary. You can throw away that cherished index card in your little tin file box. Jean's sauce had a richness that I'd never experienced before, and I live in an Italian neighborhood! I loved the extra grated cheese she included while cooking. It added another pleasant layer of complexity. Wisely, she served rustic Italian bread on the side for sopping up the leftover sauce on the plate. Can you imagine a homemade sauce without bread on the side? I don't want to live in that world.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

At's a Spicy Meatball!

Sometimes it's hard being a California Irish-Mexican living in a New York Italian neighborhood. California being such a godless land of fruits & nuts, one forgets that the Sabbath is taken seriously in other, more pious parts of the world. So it is that on Sundays I can usually be overheard cursing the Church under my breath when Arthur Avenue virtually shuts down to trade. Granted, the bakery ovens still churn out loaves, and the restaurants are all open, but when lamb and fresh herbs are on the shopping list, I won't be checking off items at the corner deli.

And that is how this became a blog post on pork meatballs.

Quick & Easy Meatballs

1lb pork loin or boneless chops, cubed 2 cloves garlic 2 oz pitted green olives 2 oz sun dried tomatoes 2 oz toasted pin nuts ½ Tbsp basil, chopped ½ Tbsp thyme, chopped Salt & pepper to taste ¾ Tbsp olive oil 1lb orzo pasta 2½ cups vegetable stock 2 cup water

Pulse pork, garlic, olives tomatoes, pine nuts, herbs and seasonings in a food processor until finely minced, but not puréed. With clean wet hands, form pork into golf ball-sized portions. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat and fry meatballs until browned on all sides. Add ½ cup of the stock, and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, set the remaining 2 cups stock and 2 cups water to boil in a large stock pot. Add orzo and cook to al dente. Drain. Pile orzo onto a platter and arrange meatballs on top. Drizzle the sauce over the meat. Garnish, and bring to the table!

My meatballs were every bit as good as what I was hoping for with lamb, as if there was ever any doubt. The pork was just cooked through with no pink color and still lots of tender goodness. This is one of those flexible recipes. Think of what works for you: capers and dill, sautéed mushrooms and black olives, pimento and caramelized shallots. Follow your impulses!

There are so many nutritional plusses with pork, but that's not why I love it. Nope, I eat so much pork because it's flavorful, tender and juicy. It's hard to screw up a good cut of pork. You'd have to really hate cooking or be one of Dick Cheney's henchmen to ruin it. There are two keys to turning out excellent dishes: low & slow cooking for those fall-off-the-bone roasts and shanks, or quick searing, just reaching a safe internal temperature (145° to 160° depending on who you ask), for melt-in-your-mouth leaner cuts. I'm an acolyte in both temples.

By the numbers, it's hard to fault pork. An eight ounce serving has only 11g of fat, 4g of the saturated kind. It's sick with protein (65g) and minerals like potassium and phosphorus (1273g and 726g respectively). The only caveat on a warning label would highlight cholesterol counts: 170g per serving. So this isn't really your breakfast, lunch and dinner protein source. But if it's on the menu once or twice a week, you'll probably live a long, happy, healthy life. Yeah, I think about these things as I'm preparing recipes for you, and dinner for me!

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food