meatball mania

a couple of weeks ago, on a cold and rainy night, I cooked beef meatballs for natalie thrall and myself to eat for dinner (along with a caramelized cauliflower gratin and roasted brussels sprouts...just sayin') because Josie and Josiah had cooked Grandma Wolfson's meatball recipe the night before and it looked so good (it had raisins in it! wtf?!). I apparently need to read more food blogs, however, because I was enough of a rube to think that Josie and I were out here in Bushwick makin' meatballs and therefore blazing some kind of new culinary trail in the comfort-foodie world, but Annie put me in my place by informing me that meatballs are already trendy.

Undaunted, I bought a pound of ground veal at Marlow and Daughters last weekend and made some really simple, really delicious meatballs in a red wine-tomato sauce the other night. I just mixed the (local, sustainable) veal with parsley, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and eggs. I don't feel I need to explain this in great detail to you, like give you measurements, because I certainly didn't use any, and if you really don't know how to make a meatball maybe you should email me and we can start with the basics, like, what a stove is, how to turn it on, etc.

I browned the meatballs over medium-high heat and then put them aside on a plate, let the pan cool down a little, then sauteed some garlic and onion in the drippings until tender. I added some sliced (local!) cremini mushrooms and let them brown up, then added some red wine and let it reduce, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, added canned tomatoes and a bit of local ricotta, brought it to a simmer, put the meatballs back in there, and cooked covered and at a low simmer until they were still pink in the middle but well heated through. I served them over polenta, which is so easy to make it's kind of ridiculous, as Mark Bittman can explain to you.

Madison made a delightful mixed-greens salad with avocado, diced raw beet, cucumber, red pepper, gorgonzola, and a lemon vinaigrette.

But what to do with all those leftover meatballs? I think we here at 28 lawton made the right decision, which was to hang out the next night and make meatball subs and watch 21 jump street. Not kidding.