Study Distractions

Hahaha...I've successfully conned my dearest sister into letting me post on her blog. Oh, the shenanigans I can employ!

In all seriousness, I love cooking as much as the "lawyer to the stars" does. Especially right now. You see, I SHOULD be studying for my second round of law school exams. I should be ordering takeout every night. Instead, I'm honing recipes, because cooking is a LOT more fun than learning the "rules" of property law. Last night, I reworked a recipe that came courtesy of the family of my Little Lady - Sausage Cacciatore.

Start out by sweating two green peppers, one large white onion, and four cloves of garlic (all finely chopped) in 3 tbsp of olive oil. I refuse to say EVOO. Once the aromatics are soft, set them aside. In a large pot, warm one 28oz can of tomato puree, one 28oz can of crushed Italian-style tomatoes, and one 6oz can of tomato paste over medium heat. Once the tomatoes start to bubble, stir in the softened aromatics. Then, cover the entire mixture with mixed Italian seasoning. Yes, I'm serious - cover the entire thing with the stuff. Add salt, ground black pepper, and red pepper flake to taste. (For me, that means 1/4 of a cup of crushed red pepper - I like stuff spicy.) Also, if you like garlic, add another 1tbsp of crushed now - the different garlic flavors are nice. Finally, add two cups of red wine - preferably cabernet, but if that's not available, use whatever is lying around. Reduce the heat to simmer, and let's get to work on the sausage.

Well, would you look at that - I'm short a few ingredients. My future mother-in-law makes this using linked Italian sausage, both hot and mild, but those aren't in my freezer and I'm a law student on a budget. Fortunately, I have venison burger and sausage thanks to "Father to the Stars", so I set out to make me some meatballs. For the burger, I made traditional Italian meatballs. To the 1lb of meat, I added two eggs, 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan, 1/2 cup of Italian breadcrumbs, and a healthy eyeball-full of dried oregano. I rolled these into about 40-50 small (1cm diameter) balls. For the sausage, I wanted something spicy, so for the 1lb of sausage, I only added one egg, 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs, and another 1/4 cup of red pepper flake. I rolled the sausage mixture into about 20-30 larger (1in diameter) balls, so that I could tell them apart. For all the meatballs, I parfried them - not enough to cook them through, but enough to get a nice crust on the outside. Once all were finished browning, I added them to the sauce.

Then you wait and stir. And wait and stir. And two hours later, you are ready to go, with a nicely thickened sauce and deliciously cooked meatballs. Serve over your favorite pasta (I prefer penne) with garlic bread...and a salad, if you are one of those people. This should make a relatively huge batch - enough for 8-10 servings - but will freeze well.

More recipe goodness later this week.