Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Frank Sinatra is a complex man. I learned this when I recently read an essay written in the 1960s for Esquire magazine by writer Gay Talese. It was called "Frank Sinatra has a cold." Seems kind of like a stupid subject for an essay but it was a very amusing and observant piece about an icon of our culture. Super cool, tied to the Rat Pack, the mafia, the church, and lots of dames, a fascinating and intense man who never forgot his roots, partly because his mother Dolly, would not let him. So let's look at how Mrs. Sinatra made him happy.
Ingredients for meatballs
1 pound ground beef
3/4 pound ground veal (or pork)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
4 ounces freshly grated Romano cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
3 ounces stale Italian bread, crumbled
4 ounces lukewarm water
olive oil
Procedure
Combine the minced beef and veal(or pork) in a large bowl. Add the crushed garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.
Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture. Slowly add the water. The mixture should be moist but firm enough to make meatballs. Shape into meatballs. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Fry 5-6 meatballs at a time until browned and cooked. Place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.
Makes approx 18-20 meatballs, depending on size. Serve with spaghetti and Dolly Sinatra’s Marinara sauce
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Ingredients marinara
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
3 garlic cloves (crushed)
1 can tomatoes (chopped or crushed with a crusher)
1 Tb tomato concentrated purée
1 tsp oregano
Handful chopped basil
Half a glass of red wine
Salt and pepper
Procedure
Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion until tender. Add the garlic for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, herbs and purée. Simmer for 30 minutes.Next add the wine. Cover the saucepan with a sheet of parchment paper – I find this trick makes the sauce perfect in texture — and simmer till thick and yummy.
