Yum-oh Vegetarian Meatballs

So I often times get cravings for foods which I have not had in a long time and are not always easily available, or commonly done vegetarian. For example, hot dogs. Sure they are available in the grocery store but it is not often you find them for quick service. Henry got a meatball sub the other day from Subway and since then I have had a hankerin'. I have never made my own vegetarian meatballs, but I will only make my own from here on out. I made these for Henry and myself for dinner on Saturday along with garlic bread, fresh homemade pasta cut to spaghetti and homemade pasta sauce, however you can make these simply for the meatballs and use them in any way that you choose. I also had leftover the next day in a meatball sub and it was delicious!

The first thing I did was take about a cup of pecans, parsley, about 1/4 to a 1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds, an onion quartered, about 8 leaves of fresh basil, a handful of fresh parsley, a couple pinches of salt and pepper, and put that all in my food processor. I chopped that all up together.

Next I took a bowl and mixed 4 large eggs, a half of a cup of cottage cheese and about 1 1/4 Cups of grated mixed cheeses (I had one of those 4 cheese blends in my fridge, I honestly believe any grated cheese will work) . I then added the food processor mixture into the bowl with the cheese and eggs. I then added about 2 cups of dried breadcrumbs and mixed that all together. My mixture seemed really wet so I then added grated Parmesan cheese to help soak up some of the liquid. It still seamed pretty wet but I could get it to form balls so I went with it. I placed them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and baked them in my preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. They did get a little flat from sitting on the cookie sheet, but they tasted delicious.

 I put the pasta, meatballs, sauce and topped it with cheese and put it back in the oven, cranked up the temperature to 500 degrees F, and baked it until the cheese was melted and a beautiful golden brown.

The recipe made 19 decent sized meatballs, so I put some in the refrigerator and froze a few as well. The next day I took some french bread, heated up my meatballs in the microwave with a bit of sauce, topped with a little cheese, and delicious. My craving was cured! Now I must admit I really enjoyed these however my husband Henry is a carnivore and he said they were "...ok". He did not think there was as much flavor as I did, but you can't win them all.

6 Cheese Baked Ravioli

Woo Hoo the Riddles placed another order, this time Baked Cheese Ravioli. I love when its a vegetarian item because I have the opportunity to taste it before I send it out, hee hee. I feel nervous when I don't know how something tastes that I am selling to them. I don't have an opportunity to know how it could be tweeked, or how to duplicate it. But that's not the case this time so moving on.

I first start on the easy tomato sauce, which I stole and modified a little from Giada, which is a staple in my repertoire now. I take a few cloves of chopped garlic, usually six to eight depending on size, and a chopped onion  with a hefty amount of olive oil, like a half of a cup or so, and saute that in a pot and cook until they begin to become opaque. I then take one chopped celery stalk and two chopped carrots and ass them to the onions, garlic, and oil. I add a generous amount of salt and pepper and cook that all together until the vegetables are soft. 

Then I add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, about 10-12 leaves, and 6 bay leaves. I always use 6 bay leaves so I remember how many I need to pull out of the pot later. I put this on the lowest heat and let it simmer for a few hours stirring it occasionally. I add about 4 tablespoons of butter and remove the bay leaves. I put the mixture into the food processor in two batches and puree the mixture. Voila, tomato sauce made easy and delicious. 

While the sauce is simmering I like to make my pasta dough. I put 6 eggs and 4 cups of flour in my Kitchen Aid  mixer and blend it together. I take out the dough once it is mixed together and knead it for 3-4 minutes, form it into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. I let it sit at room temperature for a couple of hours while the sauce is simmering. 

In a bowl I mix together ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, asagio cheese, white cheddar cheese, and provolone cheese. I add a dash of nutmeg, freshly chopped basil, fresh italian parsley, salt, pepper, and an egg. I mix it all together and taste to adjust seasonings. 

Next, I'm ready to roll out my raviolis. I do not own a pasta roller and have to do this by hand so I hone in on my inner Italian grandmother inside of me( I'm not Italian but we all have a little Sophia Petrillo inside of us). I roll out my dough as thin as I can and then I cut out square that are about 1 inch by 1 inch. 

 I then take those squares and roll them out so they are paper thin. This is a lot of work, but it is where you can put the most amount of love into them. I find it kind of therapeutic and actually enjoy doing them, as long as I don't have a time constraint, lol. I then take a dab of the filling and place it on a paper thin square that I rolled out, place another paper thin square on top of it and press around the sides. 

I take a fork and press around the sides as well to help make a stronger seal. I take the Ravioli and drop them in boiling water with a little bit of salt and cook them for about 4 minutes or so. They float to the top and look more white, I use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water (yes I copied and pasted this from my earlier blog).

I take a 9X13 pan and place a layer of sauce on the bottom. I place the raviolis on top of the sauce and cover with more sauce. I then take a generous amount of all of the cheeses used before minus the ricotta and sprinkle over the top. I place in a preheated 500F and bake it until the cheese is melted to a beautiful golden brown. 

They also ordered garlic bread which I do on a fresh french baguette with a secret garlic spread. Trust me its delicious, but I'm not ready to share that recipe yet. 

Shrimp Ravioli

Ok so the Shrimp Ravioli was a success. Henry, my husband, said they were delicious and I enjoyed them as well. not really too much work and you could modify these so easily.

I took 6 16-20 shrimp and sauteed them with a tablespoon of butter, a few crushed cloves of garlic, a dash of cajun seasoning, a squeeze of lemon juice, and I thinly sliced one leek and cooked them all together. I them transferred them to the food processor to chop it all up together. While that was cooling in bowl I combined about a third of a cup of ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, one egg, a dash of nutmeg, and  salt and pepper to taste. I mixed that together and then mixed in the shrimp mixture.

So now comes in the elbow grease. I made my pasta earlier in the day so it would have time to rest and become more elastic. I use a very simple pasta recipe 6 large eggs(Extra large I would probably use 4) and 4 cups of flour. I put it in my kitchen aid and mix it together until it starts to bind together. I have done this by hand as well by pouring the flour on the cutting board and making the well in the center and mix with a fork until all of the flour is incorporated but honestly I found the same results with the mixer. Anyway, I take the dough and start kneading it for 3-4 minutes. I wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature until I need it that day. If I am not using it that day, then I don't make it that day. I understand I could put it in the refrigerator overnight, but I did that once and there was a black hew to the dough and I ended up not using it. I don't really know if that is ok but I have never tempted the fates with it. Make sure to give yourself at least 30 minutes of rest time for the dough, I like at least an hour, it makes it much lighter of a pasta if you let it sit at room temperature for an hour or two. So now I'm ready to roll out my raviolis. I do not own a pasta roller and have to do this by hand (I am however taking donations to purchase the kitchen aid pasta attachment if you would like to contribute). This is where the workout comes in. I roll out my dough as thin as I can and then I cut out square that are about 1 inch by 1 inch. I then take those squares and roll them out so they are paper thin. This is a lot of work, but it is where you can put the most amount of love into them. I find it kind of therapeutic and actually enjoy doing them, as long as I don't have a time constraint, lol. I then take a dab of the filling and place it on a paper thin square that I rolled out, place another paper thin square on top of it and press around the sides. I take a fork and press around the sides as well to help make a stronger seal. I take the Ravioli and drop them in boiling water with a little bit of salt and cook them for about 4 minutes or so. They float to the top and look more white, I use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water and put them in the sauce I prepared.

So the sauce I prepared is super easy and really complimented the ravioli. I took a few tablespoons of butter, about a third of a cup of white wine( I had chardonnay so that's what I used, but really I think any white wine would work) a squeeze of lemon juice, fresh Italian parsley,  fresh ground pepper, and grated parmesan cheese. I sauteed it all together until it was hot and let it simmer as I added the ravioli's to it. tossed them in the sauce to coat and served.

Yum yum! I didn't take any pictures of this but I will from here on out. I learned my lesson! Lol!

My first blog

Hi There,

So I have decided to start a blog, with the advice of my bestest friend Alyssa (so you have her to thank. Lol!)  to share my cooking experiences and thoughts. She tells me, "It will be great and therapeutic for you and enough people adore you that they will read and share." So I guess let the therapy begin.

I am not a chef, although sometimes I do play one on TV, too cliche right, sorry I will try to lay off that. Ha you must not know me then because I am the cheese to everyones wine. Anyway, I love food, I love to cook food, I love to hear other people say they love my food, and I just enjoy putting the love into it. I have recently started cooking for some friendimaly's(means family that are my closest friends), the Riddles, as their "Private Chef" and I have really enjoyed this experience. I mean really enjoy it to the point where I feel inspired to make something more out of it. I mean really take it to the next level and start cooking for more than one person. I have decided I am more afraid to work for someone else than to fail on my own. Now as for the "private chef" title I really like the sound of it, but what I do is: the Riddles (and eventually insert more customers HERE) will order the night before and then I prepare everything in my kitchen and deliver it to their house. So I am more like private chef take out, which works out great.
Where does my experience come from? My mom, cook books, Bubba Gumps, cooking at home, I was in culinary school for a month or so(I have commitment issues), TV, cooking for friends, I eat food, but mainly my passion for it. My mom does get a lot of credit for making me fearless in the kitchen, she had me melon balling cantaloupe and watermelon before I could walk. I don't ever remember not cooking, and she allowed me to open a cookbook, pick something out, and prepare it. I opened and closed my first bakery business at the age of 10 selling cranberry nut breads, zucchini breads, and banana breads. I even sold a cake that looked like a hamburger at a boy scout auction fundraiser in 1989 for over $40; to my father, lol! What a great man! The point is it is something that is inside me that I enjoy doing, and who doesn't want to do something they really enjoy? miserable people, and anyone who knows me knows I am not miserable; Les Miserables YES but not miserable. The other unique thing that I offer is that I rarely get to taste my food. I am a vegetarian and have been for 11 years or so. I have thought about eating meat again but the fact is I don't miss it and I don't really want to. Now if I the offer was right I would absolutely sell out and do it. I have no problems preparing meat, handling it, or any thing like that, I just choose not to eat it. I already lied, I am not a Vegetarian I am a Pescatarian, I will eat fish - seafood, dairy, eggs, all that jazz. Next question people typically ask: what about chicken? I chuckle and say "no", that is considered meat.

So I think that is about all I am gonna share at this point. I am gonna prepare homemade shrimp ravioli for dinner tonight, so I will let you know how that comes out.
Peace