Mango & Tomato: pork

11/22/20

Sunday Supper: Italian Sausage Meatballs, Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes, And Gravy

meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy, italian sausage, supper, dinner, sunday supper, simple, comfort food

"Oh good grief -- looks so fancy and good," my friend Jenn texted back after I sent her a photo of Sunday Supper: Italian Sausage Meatballs, Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes, And Gravy. Good? Yes! Fancy? No way.

A while ago I thought it'd be a smart idea to make meatballs using ground Italian sausage that is sold without the casings because it already has so much flavor: you'd need to add nothing else.

I was wrong: those meatballs turned out incredibly dense. This time, I added a few other ingredients to stretch the ground Italian sausage and make the meatballs less dense and more airy. It was a success.

Sunday Supper: Italian Sausage Meatballs, Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes, And Gravy

Italian Sausage Meatballs

1 pound mild ground Italian sausage (if you can't find the ones without the casings, simply remove and discard the casings)

2 broccoli stems, peeled, grated (if you don't have broccoli, use half an onion, a small zucchini, a few carrots, or even celery)

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

2 tablespoons half & half

1. Preheat the oven to 425F and line a small roasting pan with aluminum foil.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs. Then using a cookie or ice cream scoop to divide the mixture into uniform lumps, roll each into a ball. Place the meatballs on the roasting pan with space in between and roast for about 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165F. Optional: put the meatballs under the broiler for a few minutes.

Mashed Potatoes: cook red skinned potatoes in salted water until completely tender. Using a fork mash drained potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Mix in a few spoons of olive oil. Done.

To serve, put mashed olive oil potatoes into a bowl. Add 3 meatballs. Drown in gravy. Top with fresh thyme.

What's your idea of comfort food?

5/2/19

Dinner in 30 Minutes: Sweet & Spicy Pork Lettuce Cups With 2 Vegetable Sides

If you only have 30 minutes and need to get dinner on a table that's delicious, fun, and impressive, I give you Dinner in 30 Minutes: Sweet & Spicy Pork Lettuce Cups With 2 Vegetable Sides.

This idea came about after I randomly bought one pound of ground pork at my grocery store. After a quick Google search for ground pork recipes, I found Delish's Sweet 'n Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps and with a few edits turned it into a full meal.

Turn on the music and get cooking!

The key to making an entire meal in 30 minutes is to chop whatever needs to be cooked first, and then prep the rest of the ingredients while the others are cooking.

Dinner in 30 Minutes: Sweet & Spicy Pork Lettuce Cups With 2 Vegetable Sides

Serves 4

2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for snow peas
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground pork
snow peas
salt
1/4 cup hoisin sauce, more if desired
1 tablespoon sriracha, more if desired
Bibb lettuce
rice noodles
cilantro
carrots, peeled
daikon, peeled
Russian sunflower oil
smoked almonds, chopped

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. Start boiling a large pot of water on the stove.
3. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add ginger and garlic and saute for about 3-5 minutes on medium heat without burning it. Add pork. Saute until the pork is no longer pink. This will take a while.
4. Meanwhile, coat snow peas with oil and season with salt an roast for about 15-25 minutes depending on how crunchy you want them to be.
5. Grate, or use a fancy peeler, carrots and daikon, drizzle with Russian sunflower oil, season with salt, and add cilantro.
6. Back to pork: add Hoisin and sriracha. Mix to combine. Heat through.
7. Cook rice noodles according to directions.
8. Add rice noodles to the lettuce cups, top with pork mixture, cilantro and chopped almonds.
9. Serve with carrot/daikon salad and roasted snow peas.

Leftovers are awesome for lunch next day!

3/6/19

Preserving Italy: Porchetta by Domenica Marchetti

Would you take advice on cooking pork from a Jewish girl (me)? Maybe not. How about advice from the author of multiple Italian cookbooks?

Last weekend I recreated Domenica Marchetti's porchetta from her latest cookbook, Preserving Italy.

After attending Domenica's workshop in the summer, I had the porchetta salt and the cookbook and decided to try my hand at this relatively easy recipe of butterflied pork butt seasoned with salt, layered with sauteed fennel and garlic (a LOT of garlic), rolled, rested overnight in the refrigerator and roasted slow and low.

I had a lot of faith in this recipe because 1) Domenica made it for the workshop and it turned out awesome 2) all of the recipes I've made from Domenica's cookbooks have always turned out great.

First, I'm obsessed with the photo of the salt. Second, I would suggest you actually grind the pepper instead of using whole peppercorns because I did not like biting into them while eating porchetta. The salt mix is made up of fennel seeds, coarse sea salt, grated lemon zest, rosemary, and peppercorns.

Third, my grocery store did not have fennel (!!), so I used 2 leeks. For the garlic, the recipe calls for 12 cloves: I highly recommend you use a mini food processor to chop the garlic and be ready for the aroma to invade every inch of your condo.

Fourth: I asked the butcher in my grocery store to butterfly or roll out the pork butt. He left way too much fat and connecting tissues. I removed some, but unfortunately not enough.

Fifth, I used reusable silicone ties instead of kitchen twine to hold porchetta together.

The final results (scroll to the top), were delicious. Instead of making a sandwich, as Domenica suggests in the book, I ate my porchetta with a simple salad of mixed greens, thinly sliced radishes, snow peas and a combination of lemon juice and olive oil.

I had A LOT of leftovers, which per Domenica's suggestion I turned into a meat sauce by simmering porchetta in a mixture of sauteed carrots, onions, celery and tomato sauce.

Here's a similar recipe from Domenica's Rustic Italian cookbook.

2/21/17

2 Ingredient Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork: Pork Tenderloin + Puttanesca Sauce

Want juicy and flavorful pulled pork that takes only one hour and two ingredients? I have you covered!

All you need are two pounds of pork tenderloin and three cups of Puttanesca sauce from Terlato Kitchen. I received the sauce to taste test and loved that it had olives and capers and all the needed seasonings: no need for added salt of pepper for your pulled pork.

I used my electric pressure cooker for this: add pork tenderloin to the pressure cooker, cover with Puttanesca sauce, set for 1 hour on meat setting.

Once the pressure is released, carefully use two fork to pull the pork apart.

This pulled pork is great for lunch, brunch or dinner. Last weekend I piled the pork on a mixture of potatoes, black beans, red peppers and onions and topped it with a fried egg and a side of avocado. So good!

Disclosure: I received a few samples from Terlato Kitchen, but am not being monetarily compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

12/27/16

Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes: Braised Pulled Pork BBQ & Creamy Corn Polenta

I grew up with a mom who was a fan of pressure cooking. This was back in Russia. No, I don't have any stories of explosions to report. For one reason or the other, however, I did not start using a pressure cooker until earlier this year. I just never thought to buy one. And then one showed up at my door.

So far I've used it to make beans, ribs, pulled pork and chicken tikka masala. This weekend I added two more recipes to my repertoire. Both of the recipes, Braised Pulled Pork BBQ and Creamy Corn Polenta, come from Bren Herrera's new cookbook Modern Pressure Cooking. I received a preview copy of the book for the blog. All opinions are my own as always.

You could read the book and learn about pressure cooking, pick up tips and techniques, and plan an entire menu made in a pressure cooker, or you could page through and choose a few recipes and jump in. Guess which one I chose!? :)

It's funny that a Jewish girl chose to make a pork recipe. But then I've never kept kosher. I decided to make the Braised Pulled Pork BBQ and serve it with Creamy Corn Polenta. My original plan was to make both recipes in the same day, but it turned out a bit much. I ended up making the pork on Saturday (first night of Hanukkah...oy), and serving it over freshly made polenta on Sunday.

Braised Pulled Pork BBQ
Serves 6

1 1/2 cups diced Spanish onion (large dice)
1 cup diced green bell pepper (large dice)
2 Roma tomatoes, cut into large dice
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
1 1/3 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon chipotle chile powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano {I did not have it, so left it out}
1 cup chicken stock
3 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, skin off, cut into 3" pieces

Place all of the ingredients except the pork in a large mixing bowl and mix well with a spoon or spatula. Using tongs, place the pork in the pressure cooker. Ladle all of the sauce over the pork. Do not stir. Close the lid.

For the electric pressure cooker: Use the meat/poultry setting, or set to high pressure (10-12 PSI) and 45 minutes.

When done, turn off the cooker and allow the pressure to release on its own, 10 to 12 minutes.

Here's what I did after opening the pressure cooker: take out pieces of pork and let them cool slightly. Then using two forks, pull the meat apart on a cutting board. Get rid of all the fat!!! This will take a while.

Pour the sauce with the vegetables into another bowl and let it cool. Remove as much fat as you can. Then put the pulled pork into the bowl.

I found it best to make this recipe the day before serving it. The flavors mingle and intensify and you can remove even more fat once the entire dish has been in the refrigerator over night.

Creamy Corn Polenta
Serves 4 to 6

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup milk, plus 1/2 cup
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal (noninstant)
2 teaspoons sugar (I did not use it)
1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, or 1 teaspoon fresh
1/2 teaspoon achiote oil (optional: I used chili oil)
1 cup corn, canned (drained) or fresh
2 tablespoons salted cultured butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste (I used quite a bit more)

Add all the liquid, except the 1/2 cup of milk, to the pressure cooker and stir. Bring to a very light boil using the saute setting, about 3 minutes. {I used meat setting on mine.}

For electric pressure cooker: Set to high pressure (10-12 PSI) and 8 minutes total. I could not figure out how to do this on my model, and used rice setting instead.

Once all the pressure is out, open the cooker. Gently stir in the corn, remaining 1/2 milk and butter. Season with salt. Serve immediately.

Both the recipes were straight forward. Bren provided directions for both the electric and the stove-top pressure cookers. My condo smelled incredible! I served the pork directly over the polenta topped with corn kernels, red onion and cilantro. It was such a comfort meal, and I'm having leftovers for lunch today.

Don't be scared of pressure cooking. Use this book as a guide to make everything from beans to tongue (!!!!) to flan!

9/28/16

Pressure Cooked Pork Bowl With Corn & Black Beans Inspired By Skinnytaste

My Pressure Cooked Pork Bowl With Corn & Black Beans inspired by Skinnytaste recipe is THE perfect lunch bowl for fall. Yes, the weather is getting cooler, but it doesn't mean you have to load up on carbs and cheesy sauces. You can still eat a pretty healthy lunch or dinner that's satisfying, colorful, quick to make and is packed with a lot of flavor.

I saw Gina's recipe for Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken and liked the use of cumin to spice up the black beans and corn. I did not have the time to make a slooooooooooooooooow recipe. Plus, I already had some pressure cooked pork on hand and decided to use that with a few extra ingredients (Castelvetrano olives!) to make my own version of Gina's dish.

Pressure Cooked Pork Bowl With Corn & Black Beans Inspired By Skinnytaste

Ingredients for 1 bowl
olive oil for sauteing
1/4 small onion, diced
3/4 cup frozen corn, defrosted
3/4 cup black beans (home cooked or canned and drained)
to taste: cumin powder, garlic powder, chili powder, salt
1/2 cup pulled pork
1 tomato, diced
1/2 avocado, sliced
lime juice
3-5 Castelvetrano olives, pit removed, "flesh" chopped

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add onions and saute for about 5 minutes or until tender.
2. Add corn and black beans, season with cumin, garlic and chili powders and salt. Saute until cooked through.
3. Add pulled pork and warm through.
4. Serve the above mixture in a bowl topped with diced tomato and sliced avocado.
5. Squeeze lime juice on top of the bowl and add olives.
Optional: top with fresh cilantro.

This was such a satisfying meal. You can make it a bit more substantial by serving it on top of a roasted sweet potato or roasted diced butternut squash.

8/17/16

How To Make Pulled Pork In A Pressure Cooker

I hope you are willing to take advice from a Jewish girl on cooking pork because this quick pulled pork recipe I made in my electric pressure cooker was amazing! Yes, amazing. I don't say this often, but in this case it was true.

Pork loins were on sale and I bought a pack of 2 on a whim. I considered roasting them, but then decided to try making pulled pork. It was beyond easy, juicy, flavorful and required so little clean up!

So far I've used my pressure cooker to make mostly chickpeas and black beans. Pork was something new. I looked at a few recipes on line and then made up my own.

How To Make Pulled Pork In A Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

olive oil

2 1-pound pork tenderloins

1 large onion, thinly sliced

salt & pepper

14. 5 ounce fire roasted tomatoes {I used Muir Glen brand because that's what I order in bulk on line}

2 bay leaves

1 cup water {after making the recipe, I think it's safe to say you can leave the water out!}

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Brown the pork tenderloins and onions seasoned with salt and pepper for about 10 minutes.

2. Add tomatoes, bay leaves, pork loins and onions to the pressure cooker. Set it for 1 hour on "meat" setting. Go clean, dance, watch a few shows, read a book, paint your nails, whatever you want.

3. Once the pressure cooker reaches the necessary pressure and then "cooks" for an hour, release the steam, carefully open the lid and smell the divine aroma. Using 2 works, carefully pull the pork apart {after taking out the bay leaves}.

A video posted by Olga Berman (@mangotomato) on Aug 7, 2016 at 1:37pm PDT

I served the pulled pork with sweet potato wedges and lightly pickled cucumber and red onion spiralized salad. This was a really satisfying meal.

For the sweet potatoes, cut large sweet potatoes into 8 wedges, Season with salt and chili powder after drizzling with olive oil and roast for about 40 minutes at 425F.

Here's a little spiralizer video that got over 5K views on instagram!

A video posted by Olga Berman (@mangotomato) on Aug 7, 2016 at 3:20pm PDT

Tonight I'm planning on making pork ribs in the pressure cooker. Stay tuned and follow on instagram to see how those turn out. Wish me luck!

3/17/16

Let's Move Visit To The White House & Recipe For Rainbow Salad

I still cannot believe that I visited THE WHITE HOUSE this past Tuesday. Who would have thought starting a blog six years ago would give me such an incredible opportunity?

Together with about 150 bloggers and social media mavens, I attended a #LetsMove event at The White House where I learned about the program started by Michelle Obama, watched The White House Executive Chef Cris Comerfod demonstrate a quick and nutritious Must Have Tuscan Kale Salad To Go and listened to remarks by Dominique Dawes, Dr. Karen DeSalvo, and other women from the USDA passionate about health and fitness of today's youth.

Although I'm not a mother, trying to eat healthier and increasing my physical activity is something that has been on my mind for years. In fact, recently I started seeing a weight management specialist. No drastic changes so far, but I'm trying to be more mindful of what/when/why I eat, taking stairs instead of elevator, and trying to do something active while watching Bravo and Food Network. Of course, there are always walks around my neighborhood and Friday salsa dancing nights.

During the visit, I marveled at the beautiful library (see more photos on my instagram), stunning flower arrangements, pretty wallpaper in the bathroom and massive chandeliers. I also had a chance to visit White House Kitchen Garden. Look at the green cabbage! It'd perfect for today's St. Patrick's Day!

Here are a few major points from the Let's Move! campaign:

1.6 million kids attend healthier daycare centers
2 million kids now have a Let’s Move! Salad Bar in their school
Over 10 million kids attend Let’s Move! Active Schools where they strive to get 60 minutes of physical activity each day
Over 30 million kids have access to healthier school meals
Nearly 80 million people live in a Let’s Move! City, Town, or County
200 corporate partners have made commitments for a healthier America

Let's move to a healthier future!!

Last night I was inspired to create a healthy dinner with many flavors, colors and textures.

Rainbow Salad

Ingredients

1 small red cabbage, thinly sliced

1 endive, thinly sliced

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

14.5 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained {or use any other beans you like}

1 cup diced fresh pineapple

to season: toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar

Directions

Combine the vegetables, beans and pineapple in a large bowl and drizzle with toasted sesame oil, say sauce and rice vinegar to taste.

I served the salad with a boneless pork chop.

Make sure to check out Let's Move! website for more information, motivation, and ways you can improve your health and health of your children.

Special thanks to SheKnows for including me in this event!

1/15/15

Easy Hot & Sour Soup Recipe: My Take on Food52

When I saw Joanne Chang's Hot and Sour Soup on Food52, I knew I wanted to try it. Unlike a bunch of other recipes that I pin or print out or bookmark, I actually went to my grocery store, picked up the ingredients and MADE IT!

The soup starts by sautéing garlic, ginger, scallions and ground pork in vegetable oil. I used all 16 ounces of ground pork instead of 8 as the recipe called for because the package of ground pork I bought had 16 ounces. My condo started to smell incredible as soon as the ginger and garlic hit the oil.

Then you add a bunch of liquids: chicken stock, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and sriracha as well as tofu and mushrooms.

A word on tofu: it tastes like nothing. After making the soup, I would recommend you leave it out and increase the amount of mushrooms or maybe try sautéing the tofu before adding it to the soup.

One of the changes I made to Joanne Chang's recipe was adding snow peas and water chestnuts. The soup definitely needed some crunch (from both) and color (from snow peas). Add these ingredients in the last minute: you just need to heat them through as they don't require any cooking.

And finally: the eggs. You whisk those in a separate container and then whisk them into the soup. Look: I got a double yolk!!!

I served the soup topped with cilantro and a bit more sriracha. This was such an easy recipe to make and it made great leftovers. I will definitely make it again.

12/27/13

Cooking from The Lemonade Cookbook: Jackson's Pulled Pork with Barbecue Sauce

If you want to make one meal this weekend that will last you for the majority of the week, then this Jackson's Pulled Pork with Barbecue Sauce recipe from The Lemonade Cookbook is perfect for you.

I received a copy of this cookbook for a review (yay, blog perks!) and marked multiple recipes to try out. The cookbook highlights modern Los Angeles cuisine with great photos, recipes, and tips.

Being a non Kosher Jew, the pulled pork recipe screamed try me, and so I did.

Jackson's Pulled Pork with Barbecue Sauce recipe from The Lemonade Cookbook
Ingredients
for pulled pork
1/4 cup Ancho chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablspoons ground coriander
1 tablespoons granulated onion (I did not have it, so left it out)
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 4-pound boneless pork butt, cut into 3" chunks
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 quart low-sodium chicken or beef broth

for the barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Directions
1. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the rub.
2. Rub the spice mixture on the pork chunks. If you have time, wrap the pork in plastic and keep in the refrigerator for 4-8 hours or overnight. If you don't have the time, or patience like me, don't bother. The recipe still has a ton of flavor.

3. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil, and then in batches brown the pork.
4. Transfer the pork to a plate and then add the broth to the Dutch oven and bring to a boil. {Note, if you had a lot of fat remaining in the Dutch oven after removing the pork, discard most of it...my pork must have been rather lean.}
5. Put the pork back into the Dutch oven, cover, and then transfer to a 350F preheated oven for 2 hours or until the pork is completely tender.

NOTE: The recipe in the book forgot to tell you the temperature you need to set your oven. I read it 5 times: nothing. So I decided 350 was a good one to use.

6. For the barbecue sauce, heat the oil in a small pot, add the onions and saute them till softened. Add the rest of the ingredients, reduce the heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes.
7. Puree the sauce using a stick blender: the book did not mention it....but why would you want a chunky barbecue sauce?

8. Once the pork is fully cooked, pull it apart with two forks.

I had the pork mixed with the barbecue sauce topped with pickled onions. Soooo flavorful and tender.

This recipe makes a ton of pork, so be ready!

Have a great weekend!!!

6/21/13

What to do with Ground Pork: Asian Pork Meatballs with Teriyaki Glaze

This past Saturday, I randomly went shopping at 11 o'clock at night. It was so lovely: hardly any people, no screaming kids, no long lines: just peace and quiet. I did not have a grocery list in mind and just picked random produce, flowers, and new shampoo. Then I decided to get a package of ground pork and figure out what to do with it.

That's when I remembered one of my most popular posts: Spicy Turkey Meatballs. It has been pinned more than 3K times!! {Those are big numbers for me.}

I decided to do something similar with the ground pork and that's how Asian Pork Meatballs with Teriyaki Glaze came about. {Thanks Cindy for the idea of adding teriyaki.}

Asian Pork Meatballs with Teriyaki Glaze
Makes 12 meatballs

Ingredients
1 pound ground pork
1 egg
2 garlic cloves, microplane'd
1" fresh ginger, peeled and microplane'd
splash of soy sauce
splash of Worcestershire
splash of water
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
pinch of red pepper flakes
peanut oil
Teriyaki sauce
sesame seeds

Directions
1. Combine the first 9 ingredients and form them into meatballs. I recommend using a cookie scoop to keep the balls uniform.

2. Heat the peanut oil in a skillet and brown the meatballs until they are golden brown.
3. Once the balls are brown, drizzled the teriyaki sauce over them and continue to cook until the balls are cooked through (test one to make sure!).
4. Sprinkle the balls with sesame seeds.

These were incredibly flavorful and gorgeous. Don't you agree?

To serve, I made a quick Three Pepper Salad: yellow, red and green peppers mixed with red onions, cilantro, sesame seed oil, a bit of salt and sesame seeds.

This was a filling and pretty lunch!

What would you have done with ground pork?

2/27/13

What to do with Pomegranate Molasses: Pork in Pomegranate Molasses, Ginger & Garlic Marinade

I'm a cultural Jew. This means I don't observe Kosher laws, nor do I fast for Yom Kippur. I do like Jewish food and culture, and have visited Israel twice. Still, I'm always happy that I wasn't brought up in a strict Jewish home, because then I would not have been able to make and eat this Pork in Pomegranate Molasses, Ginger & Garlic Marinade recipe.

I came up with this recipe a few weekends ago and finally get to share it with you. Hope you make it for yourself and your family soon!

Pork in Pomegranate Molasses, Ginger & Garlic Marinade

Ingredients
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
4 garlic cloves, microplaned
1" ginger, peeled, microplaned
salt & pepper
2 boneless pork loin chops (1 pound total)
oil
to serve sauteed cabbage with carrots or rice
garnish pomegranate seeds

Directions
1. In a glass container combine the first four ingredients. Add pork loin chops, turning them around in the marinade until they are fully covered. Marinade the chops for at least 2-3 hours in the refrigerator.

2. Take the pork from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.
3. Heat oil in a stainless steel skillet and cook pork for 3-6 minutes on each side depending on how pink you want it to be in the middle. {Remember that the pork will continue to cook after you turn the heat off. Try to get the internal temperature around 135F.}

4. Allow the pork to rest for about five minutes before slicing.
5. Serve on top of sauteed cabbage and carrots and garnish with pomegranate seeds.

The pork remained juicy and had a great sweet and sour flavor from the pomegranate molasses and a bit of heat from the ginger.

Have you cooked with pomegranate molasses before?

9/11/12

Grown Up Spaghetti & Meatballs: Post to End Childhood Hunger

I was invited to create a dish to help out Romano's Macaroni Grill and their national campaign to end childhood hunger. Did you know 1 in 5 children are hungry in America?

"Macaroni Grill, in partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, is doing something about it. Their goal is to connect kids to 1 Million Meals in the month of September – and they will do this with the help of bloggers nation wide."

If you would like to get involved, you can visit Romano's Macaroni Grill and donate $2, which will get you $5 off your next meal. You can also share a photo from Mac Grill Give on their Facebook Gallery to connect a kid with 1 meal.

And now let's talk about Grown Up Spaghetti & Meatballs. What makes this a grown up dish? First, the meatballs are made from pork and have sorrel pesto*** in them. Second, the sauce starts with a can of tomatoes and then gets perked up by fresh ingredients. And finally, I used wholewheat spaghetti.

*** I made sorrel pesto by combining sorrel, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt

Grown Up Spaghetti & Meatballs

Ingredients
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
28 ounces can crushed tomatoes
10 basil leaves, torn
optional: sugar
1 pound ground pork
1 egg
1/4 cup panko crumbs
3 tablespoon sorrel pesto {or whatever pesto you have}
salt & pepper
cooked wholewheat spaghetti
shaved Parmesan cheese {I just use a vegetable peeler for this. You can also just grate yours.}
fresh basil for garnish

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add an onion, carrots and garlic and saute for five minutes.
2. Add tomatoes and torn basil and simmer covered for twenty minutes. Taste and adjust the flavor by adding sugar, salt, and/or pepper.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine pork, egg, panko crumbs, pesto, salt & pepper. Make meatballs.
4. Brown meatballs in a separate pan in a bit of olive oil {I actually used bacon fat from the bacon I cooked earlier the day}.

5. Add browned meatballs to the tomato sauce and simmer covered for fifteen minutes.
6. Serve meatballs and the sauce over cooked spaghetti topped with Parmesan and fresh basil.

This is a mild flavored dish perfect for the upcoming cooler weather. The sauce is chunky because of the chopped onions and sliced carrots. If you prefer a smoother texture, you can puree the sauce before adding the meatballs to it.

This dish is perfect for leftovers: I've eaten it three times already and have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

INSTAGRAM

Looking for something?

Jewelry

Stats