Crap that's a lot of meatballs
I haven't had dinner out in a couple weeks. Instead I have been either working (hello Stouffer's) or I've been making dinner at home. When I work I usually grab a salad or one of the many Stouffer's Farmer's Harvest meals. So far I'm in love with the Macaroni and Cheese (it's a lot of cheese that sets up nicely after standing for about two minutes). This isn't going to be about those dinners (although I do recommend them).
Tuesday night I made spaghetti and meatballs. We have a ton of meatballs in the freezer which Mum brought home at the end of the year from working dining services at the local college. I've been trying to find ways to use them up (next will be to use up the turkey from Dad's funeral dinner). There are some really nice premade pasta sauces available, but nothing is quite like making your own. All it takes is some garlic, onion, a couple nice ripe tomatoes, and some fresh herbs.
Starting with two cloves garlic, I heat some oil in a sauce pan while I dice the garlic. An easy way to dice garlic is to first smash it a bit with the heal of your hand and the side of a chef's knife, then run the knife through the smashed clove. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic. I usually have to wait for the oil so I set the garlic aside on my large cutting board and start dicing my onion.
Dice one small or half a medium/large onion. I like sweet onions and tend to prefer red onions due to the color contrast. Depending on how sweet you want your sauce you can use any onion. The onion gets added to your pot once the garlic starts to brown. Do not burn your garlic! You just want a light color to start to appear. Once it starts to color, add the onion and stir. Cook this until the onion begins to soften and become clear.
I add my tomato in three phases. The easiest way to ensure this is to have two large tomatoes or three small/medium tomatoes. The more flavorful the variety the better. Heirloom tomatoes are amazing in sauces. If I don't have any large heirlooms I use Beefeaters. These are usually the tomatoes used for slicing for sandwiches. And buy them from a local farmer, not from the super market for the most flavor. Also adding in one or two small Roma tomatoes can help boost the flavor.
Back to adding the tomato. The first half of my two large tomatoes gets diced. It doesn't have to be too perfect as these will cook down forming the base of the sauce, but a uniform dice will cook them down at the same rate. Once diced and the onion is cooked as above, add this half (the first third). Set the other half aside for now. Chop up the other tomato. These pieces need to be larger than the first addition. These will cook down some, but not all the way. We want to keep some texture. This is the perfect point to start seasoning your sauce by adding a couple pinches of salt. I use sea salt as the large flakes melt into the sauce a lot better than table salt. Plus the flavor is amazing with the tomatoes.
Once the first addition of tomatoes has started to break down, add the second tomato (second third). Give this a stir and another small pinch of salt. Now is time to start thinking about the herbs you want to add to your sauce. I like the classic basil, oregano, parsley, and taragon in my sauce. Sometimes I'll add a little thyme, sage, and cocoa to deepen the flavors. If you are using fresh a two stage addition process is best. For dried I like adding the dried into the sauce right after the second addition of tomatoes as it gives the dried time to flavor the sauce and also soften up. Fresh herbs should be cut to a small dice and added as the second addition gets warm, reserving some for the end. This is also the time to add the dried herbs (you don't have to reserve any for the end).
Cook the sauce for a few minutes. This is the perfect time to adjust salt and add pepper. Also any additional sweetness you want to add can go in at this time as well. In other words, taste your creation. It's important to always taste and adjust through out the rest of the cook time on this sauce as the last addition of tomatoes will change things as well. Once it tastes how you want it, dice up the last half of tomato and throw that into the pot. At this point we are just cooking this to get this last bit of tomato hot. Once hot, taste again, add any salt or pepper you need and this is also the time to add the last of the fresh herbs you have reserved. These also just need to be heated up.
I should note here that at no point do you want this sauce to get to a rolling boil. Keep it moving and just starting to boil (bubbles on the side of the pan). The whole sauce should only take about twenty minutes so timing pasta to go with it is easy (when you start your oil, start your pasta water). You can serve this over anything and would make a nice dipping sauce for bread.
Tomorrow I will post my Swedish meatballs.
Tuesday night I made spaghetti and meatballs. We have a ton of meatballs in the freezer which Mum brought home at the end of the year from working dining services at the local college. I've been trying to find ways to use them up (next will be to use up the turkey from Dad's funeral dinner). There are some really nice premade pasta sauces available, but nothing is quite like making your own. All it takes is some garlic, onion, a couple nice ripe tomatoes, and some fresh herbs.
Starting with two cloves garlic, I heat some oil in a sauce pan while I dice the garlic. An easy way to dice garlic is to first smash it a bit with the heal of your hand and the side of a chef's knife, then run the knife through the smashed clove. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic. I usually have to wait for the oil so I set the garlic aside on my large cutting board and start dicing my onion.
Dice one small or half a medium/large onion. I like sweet onions and tend to prefer red onions due to the color contrast. Depending on how sweet you want your sauce you can use any onion. The onion gets added to your pot once the garlic starts to brown. Do not burn your garlic! You just want a light color to start to appear. Once it starts to color, add the onion and stir. Cook this until the onion begins to soften and become clear.
I add my tomato in three phases. The easiest way to ensure this is to have two large tomatoes or three small/medium tomatoes. The more flavorful the variety the better. Heirloom tomatoes are amazing in sauces. If I don't have any large heirlooms I use Beefeaters. These are usually the tomatoes used for slicing for sandwiches. And buy them from a local farmer, not from the super market for the most flavor. Also adding in one or two small Roma tomatoes can help boost the flavor.
Back to adding the tomato. The first half of my two large tomatoes gets diced. It doesn't have to be too perfect as these will cook down forming the base of the sauce, but a uniform dice will cook them down at the same rate. Once diced and the onion is cooked as above, add this half (the first third). Set the other half aside for now. Chop up the other tomato. These pieces need to be larger than the first addition. These will cook down some, but not all the way. We want to keep some texture. This is the perfect point to start seasoning your sauce by adding a couple pinches of salt. I use sea salt as the large flakes melt into the sauce a lot better than table salt. Plus the flavor is amazing with the tomatoes.
Once the first addition of tomatoes has started to break down, add the second tomato (second third). Give this a stir and another small pinch of salt. Now is time to start thinking about the herbs you want to add to your sauce. I like the classic basil, oregano, parsley, and taragon in my sauce. Sometimes I'll add a little thyme, sage, and cocoa to deepen the flavors. If you are using fresh a two stage addition process is best. For dried I like adding the dried into the sauce right after the second addition of tomatoes as it gives the dried time to flavor the sauce and also soften up. Fresh herbs should be cut to a small dice and added as the second addition gets warm, reserving some for the end. This is also the time to add the dried herbs (you don't have to reserve any for the end).
Cook the sauce for a few minutes. This is the perfect time to adjust salt and add pepper. Also any additional sweetness you want to add can go in at this time as well. In other words, taste your creation. It's important to always taste and adjust through out the rest of the cook time on this sauce as the last addition of tomatoes will change things as well. Once it tastes how you want it, dice up the last half of tomato and throw that into the pot. At this point we are just cooking this to get this last bit of tomato hot. Once hot, taste again, add any salt or pepper you need and this is also the time to add the last of the fresh herbs you have reserved. These also just need to be heated up.
I should note here that at no point do you want this sauce to get to a rolling boil. Keep it moving and just starting to boil (bubbles on the side of the pan). The whole sauce should only take about twenty minutes so timing pasta to go with it is easy (when you start your oil, start your pasta water). You can serve this over anything and would make a nice dipping sauce for bread.
Tomorrow I will post my Swedish meatballs.
Comments
Post a Comment