Re: MEATBALLS AND MARINARA

Brooklynny · ‎07-08-2010

@momtochloe @Ms X @Chicagoan, I've enjoyed reminiscing! What a fun time it was. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather so I can crank up my kitchen again and try to remember and reproduce some more of my mother's delicious meals.

As an aside...I purchased the Copper Chef pan a while back, but didn't have a chance to "christen" it. For Labor Day weekend and other holiday weekends, I try to make something special for dinner that I wouldn't do during the week. I decided to try deep frying, so I went whole hog.

I made mini calzones and deep fried them rather than bake them or make them in a frying pan as my mother and I usually did because we were a little skittish about deep frying. I have to tell you that I have never had such a great result. I make my own pizza dough in my KitchenAid stand mixer which takes 10 minutes and I don't have to knead it. The dough cooked all the way through, was so beautifully golden, and was SO crispy! They were great, and I love that pan. I'll certainly make them again.

Happy cooking and don't be afraid to experiment and try new things whatever ethnic cuisine it might be.

Chicagoan · ‎03-09-2010

@BrooklynnyThat sounds sooo good, I love anything fried. I am coming over to your house the next time you make them... heehee

may good luck be your friend in whatever you do
and may trouble be always a stranger to you

kathya1119 · ‎04-20-2013

It's not just Chicago -- NYC-area stores have this mixture as a staple in the meat case as 'meatball mix'. All my Italian friends back in NJ used it for meatballs (I'm Irish, but when you lived in my town, you learned to cook Italian food very early on, and Yiddish words pop into your speech by osmosis). I wish I could find it down here in Florida. I have to use half-and-halg ground pork and ground beef, and it's not as good.

It may be a regional thing -- northern as opposed to southern Italian, or Sicilian? The cooking styles are very different.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

@chicagoan wrote:
@Ms X.. I wonder if that is a Chicago thing, I grew up in Chicago's Little Italy and the three ground meats were always used, also used in meatloaf.

NY/NJ here and I use the three when I can find it packaged together at the supermarket. They don't always have it.