Meat Balls (for spaghetti)

I usually make really simple meatballs that are gluten free, so when I saw that these used bread crumbs, I was reminded of the ones my mom used to make. I have to admit, they held together MUCH better than my usual "recipe" (which is just a bunch of stuff mixed with ground beef and squeezed into balls).

 For this, I used:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. dried bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp basil
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

1 batch spaghetti sauce (or one jar of sauce)
1/2-1 lb spaghetti noodles
parmesan cheese for topping

mix all ingredients (except oil, sauce and noodles) in a large bowl until well combined.

Shape into round balls about 1.5 inches in diameter and place in hot skillet with oil.

Cook in a single layer, turning as until browned on all sides.

Add sauce and cook about 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles. Then top each bowl of noodles with sauce, meatballs and parmesan.

Gluten Free, Grain Free Zucchini Lasagna

Confession: This was actually an impromptu meal that was salvaged from a failed attempt at zucchini ravioli. The person who made the ravioli is way more talented than I am at wielding a grater. After clutching my stand-up grater so tightly I managed to grate half the skin off my thumb on the opposite side while I attempted to wrangle a zucchini through the slotted side, I gave up. I lifted the grated to find a sad little pile of 2-inch long, paper-thin zucchini shreds and a few longer, thicker, choppy pieces.

Soooo not going to be able to make ravioli wrappings with THIS!

This is nothing like the perfectly uniform ravioli-wrapping strips in the pictures. I didn't know what to do at this point, since I'd already started my sauce and had this wonderful ravioli picture in my mind. So I winged it and made lasagna on the fly, without a recipe. I've made regular lasagna enough that I didn't feel too lost as I attempted a noodle-free version. Forging onwards, I set about slicing the zucchini lengthwise with a knife, making the thinnest slices I could, and laid them out for lasagna noodles.

I then discovered we only had about 1/2 c. of cottage cheese and no ricotta (the ravioli didn't have cheese--it was meat/spinach ravioli). Though tempted to give up, I persevered, using the cottage cheese in one layer and meat in the next, layering with sauce and zucchini and cheese as I went.
When it came out of the oven, it didn't look half bad, all layered and pretty, although my pasta-infused Italian blood did not find the zucchini an equal substitute for noodles. However, it really was quite good. If you're gluten-free and used to things like spaghetti squash and other noodles substitutes, I would absolutely recommend this. But I can't honestly say I didn't feel a *little* deprived, knowing what 'real' lasagna tastes like.

For this, I used:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. chopped onion (fresh or dried would be fine, or leave this out altogether)
1 c. ground beef or lamb
1 large zucchini (2 small would be fine)
1 c. cottage cheese or ricotta (2 if you like more cheese)
1 egg
1 c. grated mozzerella
1/2 c. parmesan cheese
1 batch of marinara sauce (or 1 jar canned)

1. In a medium skillet, heat oil, then add onion, garlic and ground meat. 
2. Cook over medium heat until pink is gone from meat, then set aside. 
3. Meanwhile cut zucchini lengthwise in as thin strips as possible (or grate on the side that makes strips, if you are a talented grater-user).
4. In a small bowl, beat egg and then stir in cottage cheese or ricotta. You can add a dash of Italian seasoning or other herbs to this if you wish.
5. Put about 1/4 c. marinara sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish, spreading to cover the bottom of the dish. Then lay out zucchini slices as you would lasagna noodles.
6. Top with half your cottage cheese mixture.
7. 
8. Top that with third of your mozzerella and parmesan
9. Follow with another layer zucchini, then about half your remaining sauce, then the meat, the rest of the cottage cheese, third of mozzerella and parmesan.
10. Top that with your last layer of zucchini, the remaining sauce, the last third of your mozzerella and parmesan.
11. Bake in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes.

Basic Marinara/Spaghetti Sauce

This was basic sauce with red and green peppers as additions.

 I've made several different versions of spaghetti sauce from two different editions of Fannie Farmer cookbooks, and I don't like any of them. She was apparently not familiar with Italian food, or else I'm spoiled by my Italian mother's sauce so nothing else compares. While I don't remember my mother ever using a recipe, and my Italian grandfather's recipe apparently takes 4 hours to make, I know exactly how it is 'supposed' to taste. I have been making spaghetti sauce since I started cooking (don't we all start with spaghetti?) and even my very first pan of it tasted better than the ones in this century-old cookbook. So I can safely say, I'm thoroughly disappointed in Fannie's options where sauce is concerned.

So, I'm posting a version of my own recipe. This is a pretty basic one, though you can add in some optional veggies to make it more chunky.

My basic recipe:
4 tbsp. olive oil
1 med/large onion
2-4 cloves garlic

About 6 cups chopped, crushed or diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
1/2 tsp. salt (you can add more later, but you can't take it out once it's in there, so err on the side of less)
1 tbsp. basil
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. thyme
(or substitute about 3 tbsp. Italian Seasoning if you don't have all three of those herbs)
small pinch of fennel seeds

Just the basic sauce, this time with a lot of onions.

Optional add-ins for variety: sliced or chopped mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, carrots (I never use these but I see them fairly often in canned sauce), celery, red or green bell peppers, parmesan cheese (I always add this on top, but some people like it cooked in), 1-2 tbsp sugar if your tomatoes aren't very sweet, 1 can tomato paste if you really need a thicker sauce

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium/low heat
2. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently
3. Add garlic and fennel seed and cook 1 more minute
4. Meanwhile, chop tomatoes. Taste for sweetness, and add sugar if your tomatoes are sour or you just like sweeter sauce. If using canned, drain some of the juices and reserve in case you need it for step 6.
5. Add tomatoes and herbs and salt
6. Increase heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are completely cooked and some of the liquid boils away. If using fresh tomatoes, this sauce will be much thinner than canned sauce, so if you want, you can cook it down further to thicken. If using canned tomatoes, watch the sauce and add back in some of the reserved liquid if it gets dry or begins to stick.

This sauce is simple and no-frills, but it's always delicious and never fails for any type of Italian food requiring a red sauce.

Pasta with Zucchini Pesto

Notice how I cook in trends? For a while it's ham, then it's rice, then it's pasta...Really, it's just because I look at a recipe and then see some right next to it that look good, so I mark them and while they're fresh in my mind, I come back to them.
 
Anyhoo, my husband asked for spaghetti one night, so I started looking through the pasta section of Fannie Farmer. This recipe was perfect because it uses a lot of zucchini, and I'm drowning in the stuff, and cream cheese, which I just made. Since I'm all proud of my cream cheese, of course I'm looking for ways to use it! Unfortunately, I didn't have fresh basil for this. Fannie Farmer doesn't call it pesto, she just calls it 'pasta with zucchini,' but from the strong basil flavor, even using dried basil, I would call it a pesto even though it is technically just basil sauce.
 

Cooking in pan.

For this, I used:
1/2-3/4 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. grated zucchini
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. fresh basil (or about 1/4 c. dried)
salt & pepper to taste

Put your pasta on to cook and make the sauce as follows:

• Put olive oil in sauce pan or skillet and heat, then add garlic and cook for about 1 minute on medium heat.
• Add zucchini and cook another 3-5 minutes.
• Add milk and cream cheese and cook until cream cheese melts and sauce bubbles.
• Stir in salt & pepper & basil.
• Drain pasta and toss or top with sauce.

 This was pretty tasty. If I made it again, I'd have to have fresh basil, though. And the sauce was a bit thin, so I think I'd like it better if it had more milk and was a creamier sauce. But otherwise, it was tasty and super quick and easy. A good vegetarian meal.

Vegetarian Zucchini Lasagna Rolls

I've had this recipe marked since the beginning of the season. Now that my zucchini plants are in full swing, producing much more than I can eat, I'm using every recipe I can find that will use it up!

This recipe was quite different from the lasagna rolls I've seen before, mostly in the way it's cooked. But it turned out really well. My husband ate a huge plate of it and didn't complain a bit about the zucchini stuffing for the rolls.

For this, I used:
1/2 lb lasagna noodles
3 tbsp. olive oil

2 small/med onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 c. grated zucchini
2 c. cottage cheese or ricotta
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. tomato sauce (see recipe here)
1/2 c. parmesan

Cook lasagna noodles.

 Put olive oil in a skillet, add onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent and soft

Set aside and mix zucchini, cottage cheese, basil, oregano, salt

Add onions to mixture and stir until well blended
On a clean surface, lay out the noodles
Put about 1/4 c. cottage cheese mixture on each noodle,spreading it along the length of the noodle.

Roll it up and set it upright in an 8x8 or larger baking dish
Repeat until all the noodles and filling is used.
Spoon the sauce around the rolls but not on top.

Bake 30-40 minutes in 375 oven. I had to bake for 40 minutes before they were really hot and the noodles began to brown and get a bit crispy on the top edges.

Top with parmesan.

These turned out really well. Since the filling had onions and garlic, it balanced out the lack of such things in the sauce. While I wouldn't like the plain sauce on spaghetti, it worked perfectly here. These were really good and filling. A great vegetarian meal on a cold evening.

Tomato Sauce (For Spaghetti or Pasta)

I made a recipe for spaghetti sauce earlier this year, but this one is a vegetarian sauce. And really, a very strange sauce, if you ask me! I mean, what kind of spaghetti sauce doesn't have onions or garlic? It's just unnatural! But anyway, I wanted to make this one more like the recipe, instead of just adding the usual things that I do to make my own. This time, I really followed the recipe.

For this, I used:

2 tbsp. olive oil
About 5 fresh tomatoes (FF calls for tomato paste as well, but I'd feel awful buying tomatoes of any kind with the amount I have in the garden, and since it cooks for 45 minutes, it has plenty of time to thicken up!)
1 grated carrot
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. dried basil (or 2 fresh, if you have it)
3 tbsp. butter

• Heat the oil in a large sauce pan or skillet.
• Chop or put the tomatoes through a food processor. I used 3 c. per Fannie, but then it cooked down so much that I had to add another 2 c. and cook them separately, then mix it in to make enough for the pasta. So save yourself from my folly and start out with a lot more tomatoes than the original recipe states. This is supposed to make 4 c. sauce, but I used about 6 c. fresh tomatoes and it cooked down to less than 3 c. So, if using fresh tomatoes, use lots!
• Add tomatoes, carrot, salt & pepper, and basil. 
• Simmer 30 minutes. 
• If dry, add a bit of water. I used some whey from the cream cheese I made the other day.
• Simmer another 15 minutes.

This sauce was a bit strange and very different from the usual spaghetti sauce I've made before. But it wasn't bad. A bit plain without onions and garlic, so I'd use it on an exciting pasta like mushroom ravioli or zucchini-stuffed lasagna rolls. 

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

I chose this recipe for the simple fact that I had *almost* everything in it. It calls for vermichelli pasta, which I didn't have. So I used spirals, since usually I'm of the opinion that pasta is pasta and it's all pretty interchangeable (just don't tell my Italian ancestors I said that!) as long as the sauce is good.

I cut this recipe in half and it made just enough for 3 with no leftovers. I'm posting the full recipe, which should serve about 6.

You will need:
1 lb. pasta
6 vine ripened tomatoes
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp dried basil (or 2 fresh--always use fresh herbs if you've got them!)
2 tbsp dried parsley (or 4 fresh)
1/2 c. olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 c. onions or scallions
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
If using onion (not scallions) add onion and cook about 3-5 minutes.

Mince garlic and add to pan (add scallions here if using them instead of onions) and cook for about 1 minute.

Chop tomatoes and add to pan, along with lemon juice, basil, parsley, salt & pepper 

 

Simmer for about 10 minutes while pasta cooks.

Drain the pasta and pour it into the skillet, toss to mix well, and transfer it all to a serving bowl (or just serve it from the pan if you're not fancy :)
 

Zucchini Italian-Style

My mom has a different edition of Fannie Farmer than I do, so when I'm at her house, I like to peruse her cookbook and see if I can find new recipes. Sometimes, the recipes are altered in my updated edition, and sometimes I find things in my mom's old one that I don't have. I'm not sure if I have this recipe, but I don't remember seeing it. This is in an older edition of The Boston Cooking School Cookbook.

For this, I used:
about 1/2 tbsp. butter
one onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 large tomato, chopped
salt & pepper
cheese for garnish

Melt butter in skillet, cook onion until yellow, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the zucchini and add to onions. Cover and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, chop the tomato. Add to pan and cook about 5 minutes.

Pour everything in an oven safe bowl or pan and sprinkle with cheese, salt & pepper.

Bake in 375 oven until browning on top, about 20-25 minutes.

This recipe was sooo good. The cheese was all chewy and melty, and the flavors all went together perfectly. This is supposed to be a side dish, but it was so good I ate it as my dinner, since no one else at home that night likes squash. But I like it. This was super yummy and easy, and I finally found a day when it was cool enough to bake, so I'm glad I made it. Excellent recipe.

Minestrone

Since my family is Italian, I can be pretty picky about Italian food. I have made minestrone a few times, trying to perfect it so it's just like my mom's. I finally got it perfect last summer, but I thought I'd give Fannie's version a shot anyway. It wasn't as good as my mom's, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty good, since some of her recipes have come up way short. After all, no one can cook like our moms. That's the whole reason I picked this cookbook when I decided to undertake this whole learning-to-cook adventure.

Onward to my adaptation of Fannie's minestrone.

1 c. dried white beans (I used Great Northern)
4 quarts water
tsp salt

Onions in the pot with herbs.

1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. butter
tbsp dried parsley flakes (or handful fresh)
2 onions
1 tsp. thyme (fresh if possible)
4 tomatoes
2 carrots
8 small kale leaves
2 c chopped cabbage
2 c sliced zucchini
2 tsp dried basil (or fresh if you have it!)
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish

Optional: potatoes, green beans, pasta, corn, green peppers, celery stalks and leaves, substitute beef broth for 2-4 c. of water

After addition of pureed beans.

• Soak the beans about 8 hrs (longer is fine) in 1 quart water. You can soak them overnight, or, if you know you're making this for dinner, put them in the water first thing in the morning, and they'll be soaked by the time you're ready to make dinner. 
• Drain water from beans once soaked, add 2 quarts of water and cook in a pot with a lid for about 1-1.5 hrs or until soft.
• When beans are done, add olive oil and butter to a large pot (do not overheat--oil should not smoke)
• Chop onions and add them to pot along with parsley and thyme
• Stir onions frequently for about 2 minutes
• Between stirring, pour beans and their liquid into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Add to the pot.
• Chop carrots and add to pot
• Chop kale and add to pot. If you don't have kale, you can use any kind of greens. Fannie calls for Swiss chard. You could use spinach, etc, just make sure you adjust cooking times. Spinach or Swiss chard should go in after all the vegetables, since they take very little time to cook. I used kale, adding it here because it takes a while to cook.
• Chop tomatoes and add to pot
• Cover and simmer 15 minutes
• Add zucchini, cabbage and 1 quart water (or beef broth). I just used water. I had blanched my cabbage earlier this summer, so I used that. It cooled the pan down a lot, since it was still frozen, so I waited until the soup began to simmer again before starting the timer.
• Cook for 20 more minutes
• Add basil and 1/2 c. parmesan, stir and adjust seasonings. I added some oregano at this point, along with the basil, and some more salt. 
• Garnish with  more parmesan.

This looks all complicated from the long set of directions, but it's really not. It's time consuming to chop all those veggies, but it's not stressful if you don't worry about adding everything at once. I tried to add each thing in order, then go on with chopping the next thing and adding it as I went. It turned out pretty well, though I realized when it was almost done that I didn't have any parmesan. It was much better as leftovers when I added parmesan. But when I made it, I just garnished with regular grated cheese. It wasn't as good without parmesan.

Simmering in the pot.

Still, it was really good despite the fact that unlike my mom's, it doesn't have potatoes, noodles, garbanzos, or green beans. Since I don't have any of those things, it worked out well. It's the flavor that really makes it minestrone, and this one has it, at least more so than any restaurant minestrone I've had. So I'd say it's a success. I'd make it again for sure, especially if I didn't have a recipe for minestrone already. And I think next time I make it like my mom's, I'm going to change up the beans and do them as Fannie does. I really liked the thickness they added to the broth.