Tag: macaroni

Pasta and Kale

Like me, kale prefers cooler climates. This may explain why I enjoy it so much, although it might just be my European heritage. Kale has been one of the most popular green vegetables in Europe for at least two thousand years. The Greeks and Romans who loved the vegetable may have brought it to northern Europe, but many food historians suspect that the Celts carried it with them when they migrated across the continent and ended up in Ireland.

Besides having a wonderful fresh flavor, kale is a great source of important vitamins and minerals. One cup of steamed kale has more vitamin C than an eight ounce glass of fresh orange juice, more calcium than a cup of milk and more potassium than a banana–all this with only 50 calories and four carbs.

During the year I spent in Germany kale was on the menus in fine restaurants, school cafeterias and neighborhood Gaststüben. You could buy it fresh at the market in front of the cathedral in Muenster even when snow covered the cobbles. Farmers just dug the kale out of the snow and sold bunches of it crisp and green to eager housewives and hungry students.

We like it steamed as a green vegetable, in soups or combined with pasta. This combination of pasta and kale is a very simple recipe, but if you make it with good smoked bacon you will have a delicious side dish or main course. We try to get fresh crisp curly kale, but you can use flat leaf kale as well.

Feel free to change the proportions of ingredients to suit your taste, but follow the recipe the first time!

INGREDIENTS:

A bunch of fresh kale (approximately 8 ounces)
4 strips of thick-sliced bacon
1/4 medium onion (2 1/2 to 3 inch diameter)
12 oz. package of pasta
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

PROCEDURE:

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. While the water is heating and the pasta is cooking, prepare the other ingredients.

Clean and chop the onion and wash and remove the tough stems and large center ribs from the kale. Shred the kale with a sharp knife

Cut the bacon into half inch pieces and fry it over low heat in a large skillet. When the bacon is nearly done, add the chopped onion. Cook it slowly for three or four minutes. Do not brown the onion or allow the bacon to become crisp. Remove the skillet from the heat until the pasta is cooked al dente.

Return the skillet to the heat, add the kale and toss it until it is slightly wilted. Add the drained pasta with about 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese and toss thoroughly. Season lightly with salt and pepper and serve with extra Parmesan at the table.

NOTES: I prefer to use penne rigate for this recipe, but I have used rotini and macaroni. Anything except lasagna noodles should be fine.

Italian Meatballs

For many years Jerri and I have been stopping at a supper club in Trego, Wisconsin on our way to the cabin. While I was still working, we enjoyed the Friday fish fry at least once a month and occasionally we would treat ourselves to a prime rib dinner which is The Prime’s specialty, as you might infer from the name.

With more flexible schedules today we sometimes find ourselves driving through Trego during the middle of the week. One late Wednesday afternoon we decided to stop for dinner in Trego on our way back to New Richmond.

The nightly special was spaghetti and meatballs. Jerri chose the senior size, which was two meatballs plus pasta. I opted for the regular meal with three meatballs.

When the waitress brought out a plate the size of a platter with three baseball-sized meatballs perched on a mound of spaghetti, I knew I had misjudged the generosity of the chef. I also learned that the meatballs and sauce were as good as any I have made at home.

I hate to admit it, but I have wasted restaurant food by leaving it on my plate from time to time. However, I have never asked for a “doggy bag” until that evening. The third meatball and a large serving of spaghetti tasted nearly as good the next day for lunch.

With this recipe for meatballs and sauce, you will make a spaghetti and meatball dinner better than you can buy at most restaurants and you won’t have to ask for a doggy bag. Just put the leftovers in freezer containers and save them for a night when you want a quick dinner. They will keep for two to three months.

I call them Italian meatballs because I mix Italian sausage with the hamburger and use a generous amount of chopped parsley, which is a common ingredient in Italian-style meatballs. Many recipes use stale bread instead of cracker crumbs and some omit the milk or the pork, but they all are versions of a great way to stretch the meat a little with less expensive ingredients. The sauce also is a flavorful salute to Italy.

As you may know, in Italy meatballs are usually served as a separate course. Americans like meat with a meal, so Italian chefs apparently began serving meatballs with the spaghetti sometime early last century in New York City. The National Macaroni Manufacturers Association published the earliest known recipe in the 1920’s.

Anyway, if you are looking for comfort food, it’s hard to beat this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

For the meatballs:
3/4 lb. Italian sausage
3/4 lb. hamburger
1 clove garlic
1/2 c. chopped parsley
1 large egg
1 c. cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
1 – 2 T vegetable oil

For the sauce:
16 oz. plus 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/3 tsp. fennel seed
3/4 tsp. dried basil
3/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 tsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste.

PROCEDURE:

Start by making the sauce. Crush the fennel seeds in a mortar or with a spoon in a cup and combine the tomato sauce, spices, wine and olive oil in a pan large enough to hold the finished meatballs. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and allow the sauce to simmer while you make the meatballs. Taste and adjust the seasoning before you add the meatballs to the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water or tomato juice.

Using a fork (or your fingers), mix the sausage with the hamburger, garlic, parsley, cracker crumbs, salt and pepper in large bowl. In a small bowl beat the egg until lemon colored, mix with the milk and pour it over the meat. Mix thoroughly.

Put the bread crumbs on a plate. Take about two heaping tablespoons of meat at a time and form the balls. Roll them in the bread crumbs and set them aside on a plate.
Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet and brown the meatballs over medium heat on at least two sides. They do not have to be cooked through as they will finish cooking in the sauce. Drain the meatballs on paper towels, then put them into the sauce. Simmer the meatballs in the sauce for about 25 minutes. Serve with a green salad and good bread.

NOTES: In the United States meatballs are usually served with spaghetti, but they go fine with penne rigate or farfelle when like me you forget to check the spaghetti supply ahead of time. Pass some grated Parmesan or Romano cheese at the table.

You can substitute anise seed for the fennel. You can also substitute four cups of fresh or frozen chopped tomatoes for the tomato sauce, add a six ounce can of tomato paste and a quarter teaspoon of salt, then follow the recipe above to make a delicious sauce. Simmer it for an extra thirty minutes or so.

You can bake the meatballs instead of browning them in a skillet.  Preheat the oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place the balls an inch apart on the sheet and bake them for twenty to twenty-five minutes.