Rao’s Meatballs and Marinara Sauce

From the NYTimes, a simple and delicious recipe. I do not eat veal so I used ground beef and ground pork in the meatball recipe. The Pecorino Romano cheese is light and delicious. I used homemade fresh breadcrumbs that I had in the freezer and only needed 1/4 cup of the water. I refrigerated the meatballs for 30 minutes before sautéing and finished heating them up in the sauce. This would be a great meal for a party as you could make it ahead and serve with pasta or focaccia and a salad.

Marinara Sauce

• ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces salt pork, thinly sliced ( I used pancetta which I cooked and removed)
• 3 tablespoons minced onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 28-ounce cans imported Italian crushed tomatoes
• 6 leaves fresh basil, torn into small pieces
• Pinch of dried oregano
• Salt and ground black pepper
• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, then add the salt pork. Sauté until fat has rendered, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard salt pork. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté just until softened. Add tomatoes with their juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 45 minutes. Add the basil, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 1 minute more.

Meatballs

• 1 pound ground lean beef (80%/20%)
• ½ pound ground veal (see note above)
• ½ pound ground pork
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1½ tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or use oil as needed for frying
• 1 clove garlic, lightly smashed
• Make the meatballs: In a mixing bowl, combine the beef, veal and pork. Add the eggs, cheese, parsley and minced garlic, then salt and pepper as desired. Add the bread crumbs and mix well. Slowly add up to 2 cups water, ½ cup at a time, until the mixture is moist; all the water may not be needed. Shape into 1½ -inch meatballs.
• Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the smashed garlic and sauté until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes, then discard the garlic. Working in batches and taking care not to crowd the pan, add meatballs and fry until undersides are brown and slightly crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Turn and brown the other sides, about 5 minutes more. Transfer cooked meatballs to paper towels to drain, then add to the marinara sauce. Mix gently and serve.

Oatmeal Coconut Cherry Chocolate Pecan Cookie

From the Cherry Republic in MI. My sister, Meg, made a few adjustments to the recipe and we think it is one of the best cookies ever!

• 2 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
• 1 ½ cups Flour
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 cup Unsalted Butter (softened)
• 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (firmly packed)
• 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cups Coconut Flakes (unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup Montmorency Dried Cherries
• 1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Pecans, toasted and chopped

• Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. 
• Combine your oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat your softened butter and sugars until fluffy. Once fluffy, beat in your eggs and vanilla extract. 
• Take your dry ingredients and mix them into your wet. Then stir in your coconut flakes, dried cherries, and dark chocolate chips and pecans. I like to refrigerate my cookie doughs for a few hours, when time permits.
• Drop dough by the spoonful onto your cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. Let cool five minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Roasted Fish with Cherry Tomatoes

From Lidey Heuck, NY Times food writer, who has fabulous recipes. She was Ina Garten’s assistant for years and is out on her own now with a cookbook coming soon. This is an easy, delicious recipe-I used cod but halibut would work or any other mild white fish. I love the little bit of honey and sherry vinegar that cooks with the tomatoes, shallots and garlic before adding the fish.

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• ½ cup thinly sliced shallots (about 1 large)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 large cloves)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 1 tablespoon sherry or red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• ½ teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste
• 4 (6-ounce) skin-on mild white fish fillets, such as cod or halibut
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (from about ½ lemon)
• Chopped fresh basil, for serving
• Chopped fresh mint, for serving

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the tomatoes, shallots and garlic in a 9-by-13-inch nonreactive baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Pour over the tomatoes and toss to combine. Roast until the tomatoes have collapsed and the shallots are translucent, about 15 minutes.
2. While the tomatoes roast, pat the fish dry with paper towels, brush all over with olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper.
3. Toss the tomatoes, move them to the sides of the dish and place the fish fillets, evenly spaced, in the center. Roast until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily with a fork, 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the entire dish with the lemon zest, basil and mint. Serve the fish with the tomatoes, spooning any remaining juices on top.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is a simple recipe that originally came from the treasured Gourmet Magazine, via Epicurious. There are only 5 ingredients for the cake and it comes together quickly. I make it in an 8″ cake pan. If you wanted it deeper, try a 6″. You can garnish it with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces

4 oz. unsalted butter, chopped

3/4 c. sugar

3 eggs, whisked together

1/2 c. sifted cocoa

Over a pan of simmering water (do not let water touch bowl above) melt the butter and chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar. Add the eggs until well mixed and fold in the cocoa. Pour into a greased and lined pan and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and invert on a cake plate. Cool and serve as you wish!

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

From The NY Times, a very fast and easy dessert that is delicious! I used the crescent rolls that Whole Foods sells.

• 2(8-ounce) cans crescent roll dough (such as Pillsbury)
• 2(8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1¼cups/250 grams granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 3 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Unroll 1 sheet of dough (from 1 can) to cover the bottom of an ungreased 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Press the perforations together to seal.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and ¾ cup/150 grams sugar in a bowl on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough in an even layer.
4. Carefully unroll the second sheet of dough over the cream cheese mixture. Pinch the perforations together to seal.
5. Pour the melted butter evenly over the top, making sure no surface area is left untouched. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ½ cup/100 grams sugar with the cinnamon, then dust over the melted butter.
6. Bake until the edges are set, 35 to 40 minutes. When gently shaken, the cheesecake should wobble only slightly at the center. Let cool for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for another 30 minutes or overnight. It’s important to chill the cheesecake or it will be too soft to cut.
7. Run a knife under hot tap water and dry. Slice the cheesecake into 1-by-1-inch pieces (or another size if you’d like), running the knife under hot tap water and drying between cuts. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days until it’s time to serve.

Double Chocolate Caramel Cookies

This recipe comes from the wonderful What’s Gaby Cooking blog. I think it could be one of the best chocolate cookies ever! The. combination of the chocolate, espresso and caramel is perfection! I added the 1/2 cup of roughly chopped chocolate into the batter and I baked the cookies for 13 minutes total. I did not think that slamming the pan on the counter was necessary. Makes 5 dozen delicious cookies!

2 1/2 cups flour (350 grams)

1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder

1 t. Baking powder

1 t. Baking soda

1/2 t. Kosher salt

1 t. Espresso powder

18 T. (9 oz.) Unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 c. + 2 T. Sugar

1 c. Dark brown sugar, packed

2 eggs, room temperature

1 T. Vanilla extract

2 c. Semi sweet chocolate chips, or roughly chopped and divided

1/2 c. Caramel chips (King Arthur sells them)

Flaky sea salt for topping

• In a bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder and set aside
• In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine, about 60 seconds.
• Add the dry ingredients, and mix until no flour streaks remain.
• Mix in the 1 ½ cups chocolate and the caramels. Scoop and roll dough into 2 1/2 inch (3 ounce) balls. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheet trays with parchment paper.
• Place the prepped cookie dough balls on the prepared sheet trays, spacing at least 2 inches apart. Top each ball with a piece of the remaining chocolate, pressing down slightly. Then sprinkle with flake salt.
• Bake cookies for 12 minutes, then lightly bang on the counter to deflate slightly. Return to the oven and continue to bake until cookies are set and chocolate is very melty, 2-3 minutes long

Chocolate Walnut Cookies

This recipe came from Guittard Chocolate, makers of very good chocolate. They are soft and delicious-like a brownie cookie. The batter is very soft, so it needs to be refrigerated so you can scoop them. I refrigerated it overnight and they were perfect.

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate

1 oz. (2 T.) butter

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 t. salt

2 large eggs

1/4 c. flour

1/4. t. baking power

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Melt chocolate and butter over barely simmering water. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, eggs and salt at high speed for 2-3 minutes until light colored. Add. melted chocolate on low speed to blend. Mix in flour and baking power. Scrape sides and mix in walnuts.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill until firm enough to scoop, at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Scoop or drop heaping spoonfuls on to lined baking sheets, allowing 2 inches between cookies. Bake 12-14 minutes or until puffed and crinkled on top but soft in center. Cool on racks 3-5 minutes until cookies easily release from parchment. Store in airtight container.

Curry Shortbread

This is a spicy, sweet, savory shortbread that would be could with cocktails or dessert! You could adjust the heat if you wanted to but I find it perfect as I like spicy! My dough was a little crumbly so I rolled it out in batches. The recipe says to roll them out 1/4-1/3″ so they will not crumble. I got about 30 2″ rounds from one batch.

10 oz. unsalted butter, softened

2/3 c. sugar

360 grams (scant 3 c) flour

1 1/2 T. curry powder

1 t. paprika

1/4 t. chili powder

1 t. turmeric

1/4 t, cayenne

In a mixer, cream the butter on medium speed. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Sift together flour and spices (I added a pinch of kosher salt). Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until a dough forms.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

On work surface, roll out dough (or parts of the dough if crumbly) on parchment or plastic wrap. Cut out the cookies to the shape you like. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Prick each with a fork and bake 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

A super simple and fast recipe from Gourmet Magazine via Epicurious. It makes one 8″ cake

½ cup (4 oz.) fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)

1 stick (113 g) unsalted butter

¾ cup (149g) sugar

3 large eggs

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. Line bottom with a round of parchment paper and butter paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal mixing bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift ½ cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.

Dust cake with additional cocoa powder or powdered sugar or serve with a dollop of whipped cream. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, 1 week.)

Snickerdoodle blondies

From whatsgabycooking.com, a wonderful blog full of great recipes.

• 1 cup butter melted
• 2 cup light brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of baking soda

Topping

• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• ½ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine the melted butter and brown sugar and mix with a wooden spoon or paddle attachment for 1 minute until combined. Add the vanilla and eggs, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix until fully incorporated.
• Add the dry ingredients into the bowl/stand mixer, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda and slowly mix until just combined. The batter will be a bit stiff, but that’s normal.
• Spray a 9×9 baking pan with baking spray and line it with parchment paper. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top and transfer it into the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Once the blondie brownies have baked, remove them from the oven and let cool for at least 2 hours before cutting and serving.