(no subject)

[petermarcus]

Christey's been into meatball subs lately. Having spent a chunk of my childhood and college years in New England and New York, I've had gobs of 'em, but Christey, being Floridian (and not from a New York suburb like Boca Raton) never got into them until lately.

So, instead of Subway and such, I got some hamburger and provolone and sub rolls, and this evening, I've been making meatballs and marinara sauce. The house smells like an Italian grandmother's apartment, which is one of the most wonderful smells ever. And I don't even have an Italian grandmother (mine are/were Polish and Russian/German/South African).

Anyway, I'm making meatballs, and the smell is nice, and I'm remembering my apartment in college when my very Italian roommate (Ammie Maravelli, and yeah, it was a guy named Ammie) made meatballs marinara on Sundays, with pepperoni in the sauce and how good it smelled. Then I realized that, hey, wait...I was a vegetarian in college. How do I have this nostalgia for something I didn't eat?

Comments

[evilegg.livejournal.com]

Dutch did have an italian grandmother- and he makes his meatballs half ground beef and half ground pork. AWESOME.

[petermarcus.livejournal.com]

I almost did that! I was in the store today, and ground pork was in my mental list of items, but I forgot and didn't get any. So I just used beef. But, yeah, that's the thing right there!

[evilegg.livejournal.com]

We make pot stickers a lot and use ground pork for those, too. That would be a fun dinner to make with the kids. We premake all the wanton-stickers and then have two cook pans going at once for the actual cooking. We'll make 80 or so at a time. They even freeze well.

[aristophren.livejournal.com]

How did you make your marinara?

[petermarcus.livejournal.com]

Not the most authentic marinara, but:

Sauteed some shallots in olive oil until caramelized, then added a bunch of garlic and half a can of tomato paste and sauteed some more until the paste got a little rusty, added some balsamic vinegar and let it cook down to a glaze, then added red wine and let the alcohol (mostly) cook out. Added tomato sauce, and a big can of tomatoes that I smooshed between my fingers into little strips and bits, then chopped fresh oregano and basil from my herb garden. Let it simmer for 30 minutes or so.

Cooked the meatballs first in a 425 degree oven, big meatballs, like larger than a golf ball, then wiped the grease off and added them to the sauce, and let the meatballs and the sauce barely barely simmer together for about 2 hours.

[aristophren.livejournal.com]

It sounds pretty damn good.

[kaleidoscopeeye.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I love a good meatball sub :)