Rice Ring With Meat Sauce Stuffing

This is a true crowd pleaser if serving at a party or a dinner. It's literally dinner in a pan. Serve with an arugula salad and dinner is done!

Rice Ring Stuffed With Meat Sauce

Meat Sauce


1 bottle or can of tomato puree
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp. olive oil
450 gr (1 lb) ground beef
1 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste

Meat Sauce

Sautee the onion, garlic until translucent. Add ground beef and sautee until fully cooked. Add the tomato sauce, parsley and let simmer on med/low heat for about 40 minutes stirring the sauce often. Add peas  and let cook. Set aside.


For the rice ring you will need to boil 6 cups of water with salt and 3 cups of Arborio rice.

In the meantime prepare your bundt pan.

Butter your bundt pan and coat with bread crumbs, I used the Italian seasoning bread crumbs

Once your Arborio rice has cooked and cooled down, add 1 cup of parmesan cheese and two eggs to your rice. Blend thoroughly.

Wet Hands and Form Rice in Pan

Fill With Meat Sauce and add chunks of mozzarella (about half a ball)

Cover with remaining rice. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes

Let cool for about 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with remaining sauce.

Italian Peasant Cuisine - Cheese Balls

My parents were both born and raised in Italy. They come from the Abruzzo region. Abruzzo is approximately 2 1/2 hours northeast of Rome. My father comes from the outskirts of Pescara on the shoreline of the Adriatic Sea and my mother is from the outskirts of the city Chieti. Her little town is located at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountains. This recipe that I am featuring today is a classic poor man's cuisine dish. It is called pallotte cacio e uova. Which translates to egg and cheese balls. The original recipe calls for sheeps milk cheese. I've improvised by mixing parmegiano reggiano cheese to lessen the sharpness. By all means, if you enjoy the sharpness of pecorino cheese; go for it! The dough consists of stale bread, eggs and cheese. Very easy to make and tasty!

Pallotte Cacio e Uova a traditional poor man's dish from the Abruzzo region



Pallotte Cacio e Uova

Pallotte

Ingredients
100 grams of stale bread
2 cups grated pecorino cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup of milk
4 eggs
1 tbsp. minced parsley
vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Sauce:
400gr ripe tomatoes or sauce from the bottle
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 onion
basil
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the Pallotte

Soak the stale bread in the milk until completely softened. Squeeze out the excess milk.



soak bread in milk



Add the eggs, parsley, garlic, pinch of pepper and cheese to the bread mixture. Mix until well incorporated. Let rest in fridge for about an hour.



incorporate the rest of the ingredients and let rest

 

Shape into small balls and fry in vegetable oil on medium-high heat. Then place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.



ready to be fried

 

Sauce

In a large pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the minced garlic and onion. Add the chopped tomato or sauce from the bottle, and a glass of water. Let cook for about 10 minutes. Once the water evaporates, add some basil (I also add a little chopped parsley) and salt to taste. Cook for another 10 minutes, on medium heat. Make sure you stir constantly to prevent burning. Transfer the balls into the sauce and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Buon Appetito!



Old School Munchies

 

 

Dropped by my parents house the other day just to see how they were doing. My uncle and aunt were over. All four of them were having a game of cards. The snacks my mom was serving brought me back to my childhood days.  The snacks served were what I call peasant food. Food they grew up on back home.

Pictured below, my mom served mini taralli, flavored with white wine. Lupini beans, dried figs that were cut in half and stuffed with walnuts. The dates were also split in half, pitted, stuffed with goat cheese and topped with an almond.

With the figs and dates, serve warm. Just place it in the oven just to warm through.

I must comment on the dates. The thought of sweet and savoury totally turns me off. But with this combination, the flavors balance. The sweet date offsets the savoury goat cheese.

Let me tell you, I cannot stop at one! So addicting! And with a glass of wine, even better!

Toss the chips and peanuts and try this for a change.

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Sunday's Best

Well when I was growing up,  Sundays were a big deal in my family. It was family day. We celebrated Family Day every Sunday. It was a time of rest. The time to spend with the family and the day that my mother would treat us with homemade pasta! Nothing beats homemade pasta. It does take a little time to make but if you slot some time once a week I think your family deserves it. One of my favorite dishes is gnocchi.  I'm sharing with you my mother's recipe. My mother and I have tweaked it a little bit to add a bit of sweet potato in it as a healthy alternative. If you don't like sweet potato use all potato.

Nonna Lidia's Sweet Potato Gnocchi


3 potatoes
1 small sweet potato
Both combined weighing about 2 pounds. If you do not like sweet potato then use all potato

1 Egg
1 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour

Boil the potatoes in salted water until fully cooked, remove from heat. Drain water from pot and carefully peel the skin from the potato. Rinse the potato and place in bowl. Place potato in ricer into another bowl.

Once the potatoes have gone through the ricer, add 1 tsp. salt and the egg.

Stir until incorporated.

Place the flour on a clean working surface. Add the potato mixture on the flour mixture and slowly incorporate the potato mixture with the flour until a soft dough forms.

slowly add the flour until soft dough forms

 

 

 

Add more flour if needed as you knead the dough..

The dough should be nice and smooth.

Now it's ready to cut the gnocchi into strips.

Roll into a 1/2" rope.

Cut on the diagonal (about 3/4")

Place a clean tea towel on a baking sheet and sprinkle with flour.

Place the gnocchi on the baking sheet and lightly sprinkle with flour.

On your stove, boil salted water. We add about half a tsp of salt to the water. Once the water has boiled, drop the gnocchi into the water. Stir gently. Once all the gnocchi has popped to the surface, remove the gnocchi with a drainable spoon and place onto your serving platter.

Add your favorite tomato sauce and gently incorporate.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

Approx 6 servings.