Real Meatballs and Spaghetti

One of my fave comfort food! This is an Ina Garten recipe and you can get this from the food network website:)

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Ingredients

For the meatballs:

  • 1/2 pound ground veal
  • 1/2 pound ground pork
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 slices, crusts removed)
  • 1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 extra-large egg, beaten
  • Vegetable oil
  • Olive oil

For the sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon good olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For serving:

  • 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
  • Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.

Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don’t clean the pan.

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs

My sister Rosell is in love with short ribs lately that she requested this dish again. ย I’ve been wanting to try the short rib recipe from the Bon Appetite October 2011 issue. ย I think by far this recipe has taken the most prep time yet. ย I tried 3 different recipes already and this was the tastiest by far, so we all agree that it was worth it! So most likely, I will stick to this one and will definitely make this again:)

Ribs
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veggies
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mother and daughter?hehe..i love my Le crueset!
so tender
perfect with garlic mashed potatoes!
so sossoooooo good!
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Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs ( 6 servings; Bon Appetit,october 2011)

5 lb. bone -in beef short ribs, cut crosswise into 2″ pieces

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

3 medium onions,chopped

3 medium carrots,peeled,chopped

2 celery stalks,chopped

3 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 750 ml. bottle dry red wine(preferably Cabernet Sauvignon)

10 springs flat-leaf parsley

8 springs thyme

4 springs oregano

2 springs rosemary

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

1 head of garlic,halved crosswise

4 cups low salt beef stock

1. ย Preheat oven to 350. season short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium- high heat. Working in 2 batches, brown short ribs on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch. Transfer short ribs to a plate. Pour off all but 3 Tbsp. dripping from pot.

2. Add onions,carrots, and celery to pot and cook over medium high heat, stirring often, until onions are browned, about 5 minutes. Add flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly, until well combined and deep red, 2-3 minutes. Stir in wine, then add short ribs with any accumulated juices. Bring to a boil; lower heat to medium and simmer until wine is reduced by half, about 25 minutes. Add all herbs to pot along with garlic. Stir in stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and transfer to oven.

3. Cook until short ribs are tender, 2-2 1/2 hours. Transfer short ribs to a platter. strain sauce from pot into a measuring cup. Spoon fat from surface of sauce and discard; season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in shallow bowls over mashed potatoes with sauce spooned over.

 

Seattle Restaurant Week!

We participated in the Seattle Restaurant week (was on going for 2 weeks) this week mainly because I wanted to experience it without spending so much money. ย We really enjoyed it a lot, although all of us agreed that we can’t eat like this everyday. ย We dined at the Melting Pot in Bellevue, and Sip and Wine Restaurant here in Issaquah Highlands. Melting Pot is always fun to do because it’s a fondue restaurant and we don’t do fondue here at home. ย Hubby mentioned that we should be doing fondue because it’s not that expensive and versatile in the sense that we can do different types of cheeses and chocolates for dessert.

hubby and his drink
swiss fondue in the making!
with my sister!
swiss cheese fondue:)
house salad
greens with gorgonzola and other yummy friends!
entree!
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meat
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meat and seafood
fonduing?!hehe
dessert time...
chocolate fondue

Pepper Steak!

We had this simple stir fry steak last week. ย It’s not really worth writing the recipe because there’s no recipe that I followed in this one. ย I just marinated the sliced beef then marinated it in bottled steak sauce then stir fried it together with bell peppers. ย I just love the colors of the dish because it reminds me of Italy, one of my dream countries to visit:)

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Short Ribs in Red Wine!

A few weeks ago Hubby mentioned that he missed my short ribs dish while I was vacationing in the PI. ย This dish is so easy that I’m happy to oblige his request! ย I know my sister, who is staying with us, is also into short ribs so I was kinda excited to make this and see how she will like it! ย Let’s just say that she said “she doesn’t mind having this once a week!” Thus, I will be making this dish again sometime this week:)

our fave kind of ribs!
browning the meat, the least fave part of the cooking process!
so good!
๐Ÿ™‚ sorry such a blurry pic!
caprese salad! i just love the color!

This is my second time to prepare this dish. The recipe can be found at Food network,under Claire Robinson’s “Red Wine Braised Short Ribs”.

Weekend Fun:Leavenworth, WA (part 2)

Here’s more of our weekend trip to Leavenworth!

Riley you're the cutest!
so pretty
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Leavenworth,WA
who let the dogs out?
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we can Beat the big C!
Beer tasting
with my loves!
dessert wine tasting
cheese and meat platter
family
calamari for the calamariqueen! LOL
dessert: gelato anyone?

 

Weekend Fun: Leavenworth, WA (part 1)

We spent a great day at Leavenworth, WA. yesterday and it was such a nice day to visit the lovely town:) ย It was so nasty going there (pouring rain, foggy, windy) but so worth it when we finally arrived and enjoyed the place during the Fall season! ย We spent our New Years 2010 here and got to see Leavenworth during the wintertime, and let me tell you, it’s really the classic winter wonderland place:) ย I was excited because it’s Rosell’s (my sis) and Riley’s (our cute Schnauzer) first time to see the place. ย It was such a perfect day to be there, sunny and the changing of the leaves colors, so many fun things to experience. ย We did some wine and beer tasting, ate a yummy Italian dinner, and shopped at Smallwood farmers market! ย I’ll have 2 posts of our Leavenworth adventure because Hubby took a lot of nice pictures that I want to share everybody:)

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some kind of a squash?!hehe
crazy name!
all kinds of mustard are here!
dried candy/fruit
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so many kinds of jamssssssss...
cute!
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loving this place
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hello fall!

 

 

 

Flat Iron Grill!

I cleaned our front and backyard this week and wasn’t up for cooking dinner after that, so I declared to Hubby that “I deserved some steak” LOL…so off we go to Flat Iron Grill and used a coupon that I purchased a while ago. ย I always order their Flat Iron 10 oz. with salsa criolla, goat cheese polenta and chimichurri! It’s so good:)

Mt. Towndsend Cheeses: house marinated olives, panzanella crackers & gastrique
Pickled Beet Salad H.F.O. bulls blood beets, arugula, goat cheese, beet chips & white balsamic vinaigrette and Steak Tartare picholine olives, capers, dijon, shallots, crostini & quail egg
Flat Iron 10oz * salsa criolla, goat cheese polenta & chimichurri (I shared with hubby with this dish!)
thank you living social,we got this meal cheap:)

 

 

WIWW

I’m participating again at ThePleatedPoppy for WIWW! It’s been a very nice fall season here in WA this past week, sunny yet chilly so I had to wear lots of sweaters and my super comfy black boots!

Just have to include this pic! so pretty:)
sweater=hollister,jeans=abercrombie,boots=nordstrom,coach bag,scarf=borrowed from sis
same outfit except for the top (from jcpenny)
sweater=tory burch,pants=F21,boots=nordstrom,coach bag

French Onion Soup!

This is the first dish that I prepared after my vacation from PI. ย With the cold weather and fall season officially here, there’s no better time to make some yummy soup! ย I got this from the food network website and looks like Tyler’s recipe got the highest rating:) This is one delish soup!

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caramelizing onions
thank you Tyler!
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 4 onions, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 fresh thyme sprigs
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
  • 3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 quarts beef broth
  • 1 baguette, sliced
  • 1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Directions

Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn’t burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

When you’re ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.

Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.