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Today is Mama’s meatballs.

During Passover, Mama made meatballs to go with the turkey and other fine Passover foods.

Over the years, I modified the recipe a bit where I could keep the flavor but take the Kosher out of the equation. Cans of Rokeach or Manishevitz soups and sauces are very expensive and I only use the for the holidays.

3 lbs chop meat 80/20
1 large onion - minced save liquid that onion will give off.
1 small onion - minced
Italian style bread crumbs
Ketchup
2 eggs
3-4 jars of Tomato Basil sauce
1 jar Tomato mushroom sauce
Salt & pepper to taste

In pot saute small onion in olive oil. Salt and pepper. Cook it down a bit. Add all sauce to pot. Lower heat and simmer.

In bowl, add chopmeat, onion, onion juice, and 2 eggs and mix with hands. Add salt and pepper. For ketchup and bread crumbs you have to feel this. There is no set amount. Put some ketchup in, mix and taste a piece of chopmeat. If you can taste the ketchup that will be enough. For bread crumbs, you add them until you can form a meatball.

Make meatballs a bit smaller than golf balls.

Put meatballs directly into the sauce. Cook for 2 hours, stirring every now and then so the bottom of the pot doesn’t burn.

The idea here is for the fat from the meat, the onion and the sauce to infuse back into the meatballs.

Put into a large bowl and chow down.

Note: These aren’t spaghetti and meatballs meatballs. That is heresy.

Enjoy and Happy New Year.

Quick and Easy Panzanella Salad

3-4 cups store-made croutons or crostinni (Bakery dept)
1/3 cup Kens or Newman’s olive oil vinaigrette ( or other better quality olive oil vinaigrette)
1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato pesto or spread (usually in Produce dept.)
1 teaspoon capers, drained (non pareil = small ones)
1 7-ounce can camponata (eggplant appetizer)
2 or 3 grinds of fresh black pepper (1/4 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (fresh is best)
1/4 cup roasted red peppers (Mancini, B&G, etc.)
4 small ripe plum tomatoes (1 cup chopped)
1 small orange or yellow or green bell pepper (1/2 cup chopped)
1 small red onion (1/2 cup chopped)
1 head butter or bibb lettuce ( a bag blend works too)
1 tablespoon flat leaf (Italian) parsley, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh basil, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons shredded Asiago or Parmesan cheese.

(I purposely did not add any additional salt because of the salt in some of the ingredients)

In a large bowl, toss croutons with 1/3 cup olive oil vinaigrette, sundried tomato pesto, capers, camponata, salt, pepper, and garlic.
Slice roasted red peppers, tomatoes, bell peppers and onion into bite-size pieces, add to bowl.
Gently toss salad being careful to not breakup croutons to much. (Allow salad to stand for 10-15 minutes or until croutons have softened slightly.)
Place butter lettuce leaves on a large platter and top with salad mixture.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and basil and cheese.

Tip; You can also dress this salad up with a few bouquets of fresh basil and rosettes made with curled up additional pieces of the roasted red peppers.

Thank you for adding me to your list. Sorry I missed last weeks thread, but with a new grandchild and the holidays upon us I was a bit overwhelmed.

Several years ago I stumbled upon a cookbook called “Smoke and Spice”. It turned me onto the world of real BBQ. My favorite recipe is a rub that works for most meats, but especially pork.

3/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup course ground black pepper
1/4 cup salt (Sea Salt works best for me. If you use table salt reduce to 1/8 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs chili powder
2 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs onion powder
2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Take a medium to large pork roast and slice into one inch steaks. Rub the meat and let it sit in fridge for at least three hours. Works best on a grill with medium high heat. Although it’s not as tasty you can bake it an oven.