Autumn Meatballs with Linguine and Delicata Squash

I'm currently just shy of being three thousand miles away from my home.  Three thousand miles away from my yellow chair.  Three thousand miles away from the little corner where I attempt to make my sleepy face look a little more human each morning.  Three thousand miles from my Trader Joe's.  (Oh yes, of course there are Trader Joe's where I am, but not my Trader Joe's.)  Three thousand miles removed from my routine.  

Since childhood I have been a lover of routine.  Sameness.  Ah, just hearing that word gives me goosebumps - the happy kind. 

Change?  No. No. Definitely no.  Please no.  I can't.  No. No.  PANICKING!!  

Yeah... As you can see, my sentiments for that word are not exactly fond...

Temporary change however, is most welcome, as long as I can plan for it several weeks in advance and absolutely know that my beloved routine will await me when I decide that I have had my fill of newness.  

Blah.  I sound so boring.  I know I have some sympathizers out there, right?  

Boring or not, I am comforted by routine and even when I am thousands of miles from my regular day to day life, I try to find little pieces of familiarity to cling to when the homesickness sets in. 

Pasta.  Pasta can make any place feel familiar and homey.  

Oh please, do not even pretend to be surprised.  You knew I was going to make this about carbs. I will always make it about carbs.  That is why you're here, right?

For this recipe, I changed up my meatball parts list a bit to give them more of an Autumnal vibe.  A heavy dose of sage and thyme did the trick and mixed perfectly with the sweet delicata squash.

I like delicata squash because it is fantastic when simply roasted with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  It's sweet and flavorful on its own and requires little to no adornment.

Depending on your squash, you may want to peel it before roasting.  Sometimes the skin can become leathery if it is too thick.  I leave the choice to the discretion of the chef. 

I wanted to add a little extra texture to my pasta so I toasted up some panko breadcrumbs in a bit of sage butter.  I love the crunch that it adds. 

Just before serving, I added a bit of fresh baby spinach to the pasta to let it wilt slightly.  

This dish is a bit involved, but the steps are simple, and I find it to be almost as pleasant to prepare as it is to eat.  

No matter where you are, this dish is sure to make you feel at home.

Three thousand miles ain't no thing when you have your favorite sweater and a big bowl of pasta to take you to your happy place. 

Sincerely, 

  Pedantic Foodie.

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Autumn Meatballs with Linguine and Delicata Squash

for the meatballs

• 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs 
• 1 large egg 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano 
• 2 cloves garlic, grated 
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 
• 1 teaspoon sage chiffonade 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme, leaves stripped from stems

In a large bowl combine all ingredients.  Use your hands or a potato masher to mix, until the ingredients are well combined.

Shape the meat into 1-ounce balls and place on a lined baking sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.  While the meatballs are chilling, prepare the squash.  

for the squash

• 1 small delicata squash
• olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
• freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Slice the squash into 1/2-inch rings and then slice each ring in half, forming half circles.  Drizzle the squash with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.  

Lay the squash evenly out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake for 30 minutes, or until fork tender.  While the squash is roasting prepare the pasta and bread crumbs. 

breadcrumbs and assembly

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 1 sage leaf 
• 1/2 pound of linguine 
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 1-2 teaspoons olive oil 
• grated pecorino romano, for finishing 

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

In a medium frying pan, melt butter over medium heat.  When the butter has fully melted, add sage leaf and cook for 1 minute - this will allow the flavor of the sage to release into the butter.  Add panko breadcrumbs and toast, stirring frequently for about 3-4 minutes or until golden.  Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add linguine.  Boil for about 10 minutes, until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, place a heavy frying pan over medium high heat.  Coat the pan 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil.  When the oil begins to glimmer, add meatballs, several at a time to the pan.  Cook, turning often, for 4-6 minutes.  Be careful not to let the pan get too hot, otherwise the meatballs with burn on the outside before the meat can cook through.  Transfer the meatballs to an oven-safe pan, cover with foil, and place in the oven to keep them warm until all the meatballs are cooked. 

To assemble, drain the pasta and toss with spinach and a bit of olive oil.  Cover the pasta for about 2 minutes, to allow the spinach to wilt slightly.  Toss in meatballs, squash, and breadcrumbs just before serving, then top with a bit of pecorino romano for good measure.  Serve immediately. Enjoy!

A Year in Review...

I’m giving 2014 one of those long, drawn-out goodbyes.  You know the kind I mean.  It is the goodbye where you hug at the door, then talk about how much the person means to you, then hug again.  You walk them to their car, not caring about the fact that the ground is covered in freshly-fallen snow and you are only wearing socks, and you wave until their vehicle is long out of sight.  

Those are the farewells that are painful, yet heartening.  As that great philosopher Winnie the Pooh once said, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

The past year was filled with lots and lots of baking and I utterly refuse to count the number of pounds of butter that were creamed, melted, and browned in my kitchen over the past twelve months.  

I wanted to look back through some of my favorite recipes from 2014.  I had forgotten so many of them and I hope this will be a delightfully delicious memory jog for all of us. 

Remember these Cocoa Dusted Vanilla Rose Meringues?  Oh. My. Goodness.  Turns out I like eating roses just as much as I enjoy admiring them.  These little puffs of crispy sweetness are perfumed with rose water and vanilla and are finished with a dusting of cocoa.  I feel like these are what fairies eat.  I don’t know...

Breakfast and I became close friends this past year.  These Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes were light and fluffy and filled with tiny pockets of soft, creamy ricotta.  Lemon French Toast was a refreshing take on a favorite of mine.  I need lots of powdered sugar on my French Toast, seriously, just give me the whole pound. Raspberry Cream Cheese Croissants.  I can’t even.  The cream cheese turns cheesecake-like when baked and the raspberry jam provides the perfect amount of tang and sweetness.

I utterly adore a good plate of pasta and meatballs.  Please keep it simple and please give me extra parmesan.  These Classic Meatballs are my favorite meatballs. 

Garden Bruschetta and Grilled Romaine Salads were my jam last summer.  Vegetables + cheese - I dig.

As I looked back over my archives from 2014 I noticed a shocking lack of cookies.  This will be changing in 2015.  However, there was one cookie which could proudly stand alone and keep my cookie cravings content all year long.  These Salted Pistachio Cookies with Cherries and Dark Chocolate are, quite frankly, ridiculous.  So good, so good...

I am fairly certain that I ate my weight in brie last year.  No guilt.  Just hand me another baguette. This Baked Brie with Caramelized Apples is my go-to snack, appetizer, or lazy weeknight dinner for two.

I shared with you my favorite cups of Coffee and Chocolate this year.  I hope you loved them as much as I do.

Thank you for all of your support, I appreciate you.  I am going to preheat my oven now and get ready to share more recipes with you in 2015. 

Sincerely, 

  Pedantic Foodie

Classic Meatballs

Life is all about balance.  Balancing the ratio of doughnuts to spinach.  Laughing to crying.  Sweet to salty.  Salad to meatballs.

There are a few rules I follow when it comes to my meatball game.  

1.  Bread crumbs should not be bought from a supermarket.  

We can add a lot of extra flavor to our meatballs by taking a few extra steps in the bread crumb department.  If you are anything like me you can rarely finish an entire french baguette before it becomes stale.  Save that stale bread - you can always freeze it until you have enough to use.  I cut my bread into cubes and toss it in garlic paste, olive oil, salt and pepper, then move it into the oven.   

P.S. Try not to eat all the toasted bread before you get it into the food processor.

2.  Stay simple.  Our job is to enhance the meat, not suffocate it. 

No bacon.  No sausage.  This is the time for purity. 

3.  Parmesan, always.  

Duh.

I like to brown my meatballs in a piping hot skillet.  The exterior gets really brown and crisp before we finish cooking them in the sauce.  I used Smitten Kitchen’s tomato sauce recipe and I love how simple it is.  I prefer a slightly sweeter sauce, so I added two tablespoons of sugar.

Voila!  Balance is the ratio of meatballs to pasta.

Sincerely, 

  Pedantic Foodie

Classic Meatballs 

makes about three dozen meatballs 

• 4 cups stale baguette, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic paste
• 3 tablespoons freshly basil, chiffonade
• 2 lbs ground beef, 80/20 
• 3 large eggs
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced 
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan 
• kosher salt
• olive oil  
• 1  pound dry linguine pasta 
• butter for pasta

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

In a medium bowl whisk to combine 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt, pepper and garlic paste.  Toss bread cubes in the olive oil mixture and spread out onto a lined baking sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and golden.  Place the toasted bread cubes and basil in the work bowl of your food processor and pulse into fine crumbs.  

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom of a medium skillet until it shimmers.  Add onion and 1 teaspoon salt.  Sautee over medium heat until the onions begin to brown on the edges.  

Whisk eggs with a fork in a small bowl.

In a large mixing bowl combine ground beef, bread crumbs, eggs, onion, and parmesan.  Work the mixture lightly to roughly combine before transferring to the food processor.  Pulse several times until the mixture is smooth.  

Form the meat mixture into 1 ounce balls.  Place the balls on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  

While the meatballs are chilling prepare the tomato sauce.  The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, I added some sugar for a bit of sweetness.  

- 28 ounces canned, whole peeled tomatoes

- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved 

- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, if desired

- Salt to taste

In a small saucepan combine tomatoes, onion and butter over medium heat.  Bring the sauce to a simmer and reduce heat.  Allow the sauce to simmer slowly for 30-45 minutes.  Stir often, mashing the tomatoes against the side of the pan.  Remove the onion and salt and sugar to taste.  

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.  

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet.  Cook the meatballs until the outside is browned.  Add tomato sauce and simmer the meatballs in the sauce for 5-7 minutes or until cooked through.  Serve over buttered pasta.  Enjoy!