Tickled pink...

I loved Nick and Toni's Penne alla Vecchia Bettola so much that I had to make it again. This time, I decided to add small turkey meatballs to the sauce and also threw in some peas for color. When I set out to make the sauce, I realized I didn't have everything I needed so I adapted the recipe using what I already had at home.

Turkey Meatballs and Spaghetti in Pink Sauce
Adapted from Nick and Toni's Penne alla Vecchia Bettola recipe shown on The Barefoot Contessa

Turkey Meatballs

• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1  1/4 lbs ground turkey, 7 % fat
• 2 tbsp minced parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 extra-large egg
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, add the panko bread crumbs and milk. Stir together with a fork until milk is absorbed by the bread crumbs. Then add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mix with your hands until well combined, don't over mix though or it will turn gummy.

Using a small scoop or a tablespoon, make little meatballs and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat.

Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove from the oven and set aside.

Pink Sauce

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• 34 oz can good Italian whole tomatoes, crush the tomatoes with your hands into smaller pieces
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup of frozen peas, defrosted and brought to room temperature

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat up olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the tomatoes and wine, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pot and bring to a boil. When the sauce starts to boil, cover tightly and put pot into the oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove pot from the oven and place back on stove top. Add the cream, salt, pepper, sugar and meatballs. Heat everything back up over medium heat. Once it starts to bubble, turn down heat to a low simmer. Stir frequently for about 5 minutes. Add the peas and cook for another minute. Taste the sauce to see if it needs any more salt and/or pepper.

Serve over 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of thick spaghetti cooked al dente with a side of grated parmesan cheese.

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Mint condition...

If any of you have ever grown mint in your garden, you know that it can get out of control. My hubby was clearing out the overgrowth of mint in our backyard and didn't have the heart to throw it all out. His brilliant solution? Mint chocolate chip ice cream. Just when I thought I couldn't love him more!

The recipe we used is from simplyrecipes.com. It was a little more work than making the non-custard type ice cream but not difficult. The ice cream came out very rich and perfectly sweet. There was a mintiness to it but not at all like the store-bought variety, more subtle and natural. Instead of a semisweet or dark chocolate, I chopped up the milk chocolate chips I had in the cupboard. It turned out pretty tasty. Not the be-all end-all but really good. There is something charming about cooking with things that grow in your backyard.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Note that if you do not have fresh mint, you can make this mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe with peppermint extract. Skip steps 1 and 2, instead heating 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of cream and the sugar and salt until steaming. Continue with step 3. Add 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract in with the chilled custard mixture in step 6.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of fresh mint leaves (not stems), rinsed, drained, packed
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups heavy cream (divided, 1 cup and 1 cup)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate or dark chocolate, chopped fine, keep in the freezer until used

Method

1 Put the mint leaves in a heavy saucepan with the 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of the cream. Heat until just steaming (do not let boil), remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 30 minutes. Reheat the mixture until steaming, remove from heat and let stand for 15 more minutes.

2 While the mint is infusing in step 1, prepare the remaining cream over an ice bath. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal bowl, set in ice water (with lots of ice) over a larger bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the bowls. Set aside.

3 Strain the milk cream mixture into a bowl, pressing against the mint leaves with a rubber spatula in the sieve to get the most liquid out of them. Return the milk cream mixture to the saucepan. Add sugar and salt to the mixture. Heat until just steaming again, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat.

4 Whisk the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl. Slowly pour the heated milk cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the warm mixture, but not cooked by it. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

5 Return the saucepan to the stove, stirring the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take about 10 minutes.

If the custard base does not coat the back of the spoon, it is not ready.
When the custard base coats the back of the spoon, you can run your finger across the coating and have it not run. It is ready and should be removed from heat immediately, and poured through the sieve over the ice bath to stop the cooking.

6 Pour the custard through the strainer (from step 2) and stir into the cold cream to stop the cooking.

7 Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (at least a couple of hours) or stir the mixture in the bowl placed over the ice bath until thoroughly chilled (20 minutes or so). Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

8 Once the ice cream has been made in the ice cream maker it should be pretty soft. Gently fold in the finely chopped chocolate. Put in an airtight container and place in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably several hours. If it has been frozen for more than a day, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften it before serving.
Note that there is no alcohol in this recipe. A few teaspoons of some spirits such as rum or bourbon will help keep the ice cream soft over several days. Even the alcohol in vanilla extract will help. If you have no added alcohol in a homemade ice cream recipe, we recommend that you eat it up quickly, in a day or two; beyond that point the ice cream will quickly get very very hard.
Makes 1 quart.

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Where's the beef?

I've been laying off the red meat for several months now. I only have it about once every two weeks, not more than once a week. It's mainly a cholesterol issue but there are also many environmental ones I think about as well.

When I do have beef nowadays, I try to choose grass-fed and free of steroids, hormones and antibiotics. It costs a little more but since I don't eat it that often, I will splurge on natural, high quality meat. It tastes better and it's better for you. Tonight we grilled up some filet mignon, which is extremely tender and much lower in fat than a lot of other cuts.

 
 
I encrusted the steaks with a Montreal seasoning(salt free) and some ground sea salt. My dad introduced me to Montreal seasoning a few years back and sent me home with about four jars of it.

My hubby, who has become quite the grill master, tried a grilling technique he found online.

When the grill was heated up to about 400 degrees F, he threw on the steaks. Then every minute, for 8 minutes, he turned and flipped the steak (keep in mind the thickness of your steak, ours were 1 1/2-2 inches thick). He was a little skeptical of this method at first but, lo and behold, they were cooked to perfection.

For sides I turned to the genius that is Trader Joe's.

Frozen sweet potato fries that you pop into the oven for about 20 minutes and brussel sprouts that you cook right in the bag...perfectly steamed in about 4 1/2 minutes.

I always have several bags of their fresh veggies in the fridge. They do green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, fingerling potatoes, baby zucchini and butternut squash to name a few. The days of spending a bunch of time washing, trimming and cooking vegetables are over. I mean who wants to cut up an entire squash? You literally grab the bag out of your fridge and pop them in the microwave. It is a revolutionary idea. Thank you, whoever you are!