spaghetti and garlic bread.

I would like to add some homemade meatball. Got a recipe for some that is a little different. See I am trying to impress said guest.

Meatballs
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound ground pork
1 carrot, grated
2 eggs
1 1/2 c bread crumbs
1/2 c cold water
1/2 T ground fennel seeds
1 t garlic powder

Sauce
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
3 garlic cloves crushed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 T oregano
Black pepper to taste
2 c water
1 c dry red wine

Directions
Combine all the meatball ingredients and knead with your hands. Form into golf ball sized meatballs. Place on a pizza pan and bake at 400° for 10 to 15 minutes. Then broil until nicely browned. Set meatballs aside and make the sauce. In a large frying pan, saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Then add all the remaining ingredients and simmer for 1/2 hour. Place meatballs in the pan and cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti until done. Serve meatballs and sauce over pasta with a generous portion of grated parmesan cheese.

From my cooking blog: http://cookingwiththemark.blogspot.com

Mix them with one of these:



Squeezing the mixture together with your hands is what makes them leaden and more like fat hamburgers.

And because I like to give purchasing info when I gank pictures, you can get it at http://www.breadtopia.com/store/danish-dough-whisk.html

I've never liked the meatballs people bake in ovens. Meatballs, imho, are not meant to have crunchy outsides. The ones I make taste like meatballs I've had at better Italian restarants: not too big, not too doughy, not too bland. Really, these are just like tiny meatloafs cooked in the sauce.

1 pound of ground meat (beef, buffalo, pork, turkey, or any combo of them)
1/2 an onion, shredded
1/4 c ketchup
1 or 2 eggs
plain or herbed breadcrumbs - just enough to keep the meatballs together with the eggs
dash or two of garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
some Italian seasoning if you use the plain breadcrumbs (optional)

Mix everything together by hand and make into small (golfball-sized) balls. When your sauce starts to boil, drop the meatballs into the sauce, being careful not to pile them on top of each other. Turn the sauce down low and let them simmer in there until they're cooked, 15-20 minutes. Stir gently once or twice to avoid breaking the meatballs and keeping the sauce from burning on the bottom of the pot. Gives your sauce a nice meaty taste, and the meatballs remain moist from being cooked in the sauce.

BTW, if you're using jar sauce, you probably want to use two jars for this recipe, so the meatballs have some boiling room. The sauce with the meatballs freezes well if you have more leftovers than you bargained for.

Good luck with your guest!

Sounds wonderful!

Everybody likes spaghetti!

Making the sauce will fill your place with wonderful aromas.

You can assemble it before your guest arrives and pop it in the oven while s/he gets there.

And you can make enough to send home with you guest and keep later for yourself.

And if you decide to invite more than one person, the food will be there.

Really hard to mess it up, too.

Make some garlic bread and a simple salad and you are done.

Anyway, that's always been my go-to dinner when I've moved into a new place.

Any tips for a beginner?

I wouldn't do it. I can find better sauce, lasagna, ravioli, right now in my town that I'd prefer to trying to make my own.

You're going to be busy greeting people, don't be the cook and the greeter, don't be the front and the back of the house.

Actually, it costs more to make your own when it comes to menu items like this.

Let me know if you need help.

xoxoxox

If things go boiling over, I just might!

As I said, I am not the best cook. I can cook, but I have not cooked to impress for 10 years now!

upscale Italian restaurants.

And she's trying to impress her guest with her cooking.

OMG, NYC_SKP!!!! You are missing the whole point here.

You know - the easiest way to a man's heart is through his stomach and all that!

641.822 turns me on!



Hey, are we or are we not facebook friends or should I send you a PM about my coastal commitment?

You poor thing.



I don't do Facebook…. ever. In fact, I despise Facebook.

So send me a PM.

Make a tomato sauce with or without meat (I like ground beef in mine).

Then you need some ricotta cheese and some shredded mozzarella.

Cook some lasagna noodles and lay them out flat after draining them.

Then assemble.

Some sauce on the bottom, noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, sauce.

Repeat three times. You can put some grated parmesan on top if you want.

Bake for about an hour, or until it is bubbling.

If you don't want to make the sauce, just buy a decent marinara (Trader Joe's makes a good one). Brown your meat and add the sauce to it.

You can find lots of recipes on the web, but this is basically it.

so you can concentrate on the enjoyment!

I is going to be a blast! And I can even break in the dishwasher by going pasta!

It's easy, mostly an assembly job after you've cooked the chicken breasts (and simmering in water with some ginger and scallion will net you a clear broth that can be doctored up later for a light as air soup) and all the ingredients are readily available in any grocery store.

Plus, they can be nuked (or steamed if you don't have a nuker yet) and feed you for several days. Or they can be frozen for later.

That would be a great choice!

green salad on the side. simple and tasty.

Poached salmon and steamed broccoli on a bed of egg noodles with Bearnaise sauce