Fennel and White Wine Meatballs

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It seems like The Kid asks for spaghetti and meatballs for dinner every day. I would love to oblige, but I ate a lot of jarred sauce in my early 20's. At this stage in my life, I like to have adult meals every once in a while. So I made these Fennel and White Wine meatballs the last time The Kid asked for "sketti." And guess what--she loved them as much as I did.

To make the meatballs, I used ground pork and some Italian sausage.

Pork and fennel go really well together.

I put a bunch of garlic cloves and some onion in my food processor and chopped them up finely.

Then they were added to the meat mixture.

Some hot pepper flakes will wake your taste buds up (but don't worry, these meatballs aren't super spicy, I promise!)

And of course, some fennel is added, because these are fennel meatballs. For optimum flavor, toast the seeds in a hot, dry pan before adding them.

And, as always, don't forget to add salt and pepper.

An egg will bind your meatballs together.

As will some breadcrumbs.

Regular breadcrumbs would have been more traditional--unfortunately, I was all out and Panko crumbs were all I had. Worked out okay though.

Drizzle in about half a small bottle of white wine. You know those little bottles that they sell in 4-packs? Yeah, those. You'll need two of those for this recipe in total. Or just buy a big bottle of wine and measure it manually.

Finally, some olive oil will add some moisture and richness to your meatballs.

Remove any jewelry you don't want to gunk up with meat, and start mixing!

Wash your hands well and pour some olive oil into a large pot.

Form your meat mixture into meatballs.

Then (very, very carefully!) drop them into the hot oil.

Now, here's the thing about these meatballs. They're very, very delicate. If you're the person who likes to touch their food constantly, open the oven to check on baked goods every couple of minutes, etc., I would put someone else in charge of these meatballs. You need to let them form a nice crust before flipping them, or they'll fall apart.

And flip them carefully. I used my little spatula to slowly lift them, making sure that there was no sticking (if they're sticking, just let them cook a bit longer.) Then slowly roll them over.

You'll also want to make sure that you have plenty of room to flip the meatballs, since there will be no lifting and moving them to other parts of the pot until they're completely crusty on the outsides.

When all your meatballs are golden brown on the outside, carefully remove them and put them in a bowl or plate and set them aside for later.

Oh, and if some of your meatballs break, don't sweat it--they'll melt into the tomato sauce and will ust make it more hearty and delicious.

So anyway, once your meatballs have vacated the pan, add more olive oil if necessary. You'll need it to saute some onions and garlic.

Once the onions and garlic have soaked up the meat bits and are softened, pour in the remaining wine. The rest of the bottle from before, and another whole bottle (and remember, we're talking mini bottles here!)

I decided to use a can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes in the sauce.

Pour the tomatoes in. Sauce first.

Then diced.

To tie the meatball flavors to the sauce, both have white wine and fennel seeds.

Stir the sauce together and then add the meatballs back in to the pot.

Cover and let the sauce poach the meatballs for at least half an hour.












That should give you the perfect amount of time to make some spaghetti to serve under your sauce and meatballs! Long noodles are great for this--the sauce is on the thinner side, but the noodles absorb it so well that you get the taste of tomato in every bite.

Recipe: Fennel and White Wine Meatballs

1 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. ground sausage
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 large onion, peeled
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 egg
2/3 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. white wine (about 1/2 a small bottle)
1 tbsp. olive oil
olive oil, for frying


Recipe: Fennel and White Wine Tomato Sauce:
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 1/2 bottles white wine (about a cup and a half)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp. fennel seeds

BLT Salad

When summer arrives, it seems like salads are the go-to meal accompaniment. This salad is a great side dish to burgers, brats, and hot dogs, and is filling enough to even be a meal in itself. 

The first thing you want to do is prep your pasta. I used radiatori because the ridges are perfect for holding the dressing and the pieces are big enough to be bite-size. Any sturdy, ridged pasta would be fine.

I used half a box. It boiled in well-salted water until just cooked; then I drained it and rinsed it with cold water.

After the pasta's done and cool, you can start the dressing.

A big ol' spoonful of mayo and another big ol' spoonful of sour cream are the base for the salad dressing.

Add enough buttermilk to thin the mayo and sour cream into a dressinglike consistency.

See?

Now grab yourself some bacon. Because without the B, a BLT is nothing.

Well, it's an LT. But who wants to eat a lettuce and tomato sandwich? I think most of us can agree that the B is the best part. The bread, lettuce, and tomato are just there to make it look like we're not just having bacon for a meal.

Cut the bacon into bite-sized pieces. Cook until nice and crispy.

While the bacon is cooking, dice up an onion and throw it in with the dressing.

Halve your tomatoes and throw them in too. Gosh, I love little tomatoes. All sweet and delicious, and they pop in your mouth...mmm.

For some color (and because my chive plants are out of control), I added some fresh chives.

Throw in the now-cooled pasta and toss together.

Now you can add the bacon.
















Serve the pasta on a bed of lettuce, to complete the L in BLT. The creaminess of the dressing, the saltiness of the bacon, the sweetness of the tomatoes, and the crisp of the lettuce makes this salad something else.

Recipe: BLT Salad

1/2 lb. (1/2 box) pasta
salt, for boiling

1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 c. buttermilk
salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 onion
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp. fresh chives, minced

6 slices bacon
1 bag prewashed lettuce


Boil pasta until just cooked. Drain and rinse under cold water.

In a large bowl, combine mayo, sour cream, buttermilk, and salt and pepper. Add onion, cherry tomatoes, and chives.

Cut bacon into bite-sized pieces. Cook until crisp. Add to the dressing. Toss well. Serve salad over a bed of lettuce.

Easy Tomato Sauce

 I opened my pantry and cans and cans of tomatoes fell out. Literally. Apparently I was under the impression that we were in need of canned tomatoes, and picked up a can or two every time I went to the grocery store. It was time to use up some tomatoes. And what better way to use canned tomatoes than with tomato sauce?

Yes, yes, I know, it's the height of summer, why didn't I use fresh tomatoes? My only excuse is that I don't love the texture of the sauce when the tomato skins are left on, and I was feeling too lazy to boil water to peel the tomatoes. Plus, see the commentary about how many cans of tomatoes I had, above.

Tomato sauce is super easy--thus the recipe name. Just a few everyday ingredients and you'll have enough sauce for several spaghetti dinners.

First thing I did was roughly chop the garlic. I love garlic. Lots and lots. So I used 5 cloves. Not everyone likes garlic that much. If that's you, feel free to use less garlic.

The onions got a rough chop, too. I didn't worry much about making the cuts nice and even and small, since I planned on pureeing most of the sauce later.

I know some people are picky about that. If rough chops bother you, just look away and scroll all the way to the bottom to the recipe.

While the onions and garlic sauteed in some olive oil with freshly ground pepper and salt, I got busy opening the cans of tomatoes.

By the way, I really want one of those Pampered Chef can openers that takes the whole top part of the can off. But I don't know anyone who sells PC stuff. I always get invited to the food mixes, candle, and makeup parties--I'd much rather spend my money on kitchen stuff!

I used fire-roasted tomatoes. I usually buy this kind, just for the extra flavor.

Um. Anyway. Once the onions start to soften, you can add the tomatoes into the pot.

Some bay leaves, oregano, and a pinch of sugar got thrown into the mix.

Tomatoes, especially canned tomatoes, tend to be on the acidic side. The sugar will help cut through that.

Here's what it should look like. Like a pot of...canned tomatoes.

I let the pot simmer for a while--at least a couple of hours. I leave the lid off so that liquid can escape and the flavors will become more concentrated. Go flip on a movie, and don't think about the sauce until the very end of the credits.

Also, I use a very deep pot. Simmering tomatoes are very much like volcanic lava. The bubbles are big and they make that plok, plok, plok sound. The plok sound, while fun to listen to, also means your sauce is making big, wet bubbles of tomatoey goodness that likes to jump out of the pot and onto your stovetop and any of the surrounding areas. Using a big pot helps contain the tomato mess.

Here's what the sauce looks like after a couple hours.

Grab a spoon or some tongs and fish out the bay leaves.

Seriously, don't forget this step. I have, before. I don't care for little bits of bay leaf in my food.

Grab your immersion blender and start blending away!

If you haven't got an immersion blender (I loooove mine, if you don't have one, I would highly recommend getting one!), you could use a regular blender. Just be very careful, as the tomato sauce is still really hot.

I threw the bay leaves back in, since it was a little before dinner and I thought I'd just let the sauce simmer a bit more. Right before serving, I splashed in some red wine vinegar and some fresh basil.

The vinegar really adds a finishing touch to the sauce. Give it a try.








I served my sauce over a bowl of herbed pasta and some leftover short ribs (and oh my gosh, it was amazing. I so do love short ribs.) I sprinkled some freshly grated Parmesan over the top, too. This made enough for a big spaghetti meal, leftovers the next day, and enough for another meal in the future (I froze what was left). All it took was some chopping, some can opening, and some simmering. Can't beat that!

Recipe: Easy Tomato Sauce

olive oil
1 onion, diced
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
4 14.5 oz. cans tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. dry oregano
1 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. fresh basil (or 1 tsp. dry)
splash red wine vinegar


In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until softened.

Add tomatoes, bay leaves, oregano, and sugar. Let pot simmer for at least 2 hours.

Remove bay leaves. Puree sauce until as smooth or chunky as you like it. Add bay leaves back in and simmer for another 15-30 minutes.

Right before serving add fresh or dry basil and red wine vinegar.