Friday 5ive- September 23, 2022

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

It's hard to believe that summer is over and fall has begun. I know my youngest sister is so happy about that.

1) Fall is here, so it's time to change my seasonal/holiday book display from summer to fall.

2) I went with my cousin to a taping of the Rachael Ray Show last Friday. Rachael's set is one of the loveliest ones I've seen, it's very much in keeping with her Adirondack home style. The crowd is much smaller than it was pre-pandemic and I felt sympathy for Tom Kelly, the substitute warm-up comedian. He really had to work hard to keep the audience energy up with fewer people in the audience. Following the taping, we went to Eataly for a birthday lunch for my cousin. I had my favorite pasta dish, Quadrati , a spinach and ricotta filled ravioli in a butter-lemon sauce topped with pistachios. It was tasty and I liked their two course lunch for $22. 

Photo courtesy of my cousin Mary Beth

Tasty Quadrati ravioli

3) It's Banned Books Week, and this takes on more urgent meaning this year as more people are pushing to ban books they don't like in school and public libraries. Most bookstores (including the Book Cellar where I volunteer) and libraries have dedicated displays of Banned Books. You might be surprised at some of the titles- many of them are considered classic literature. I bought two new t-shirts to wear to work, the #FReadom one benefits a project to highlight the positive work being done by school librarians.

Book Cellar Banned Books

4)  I was happy to see that season six of The Good Fight began on Paramount+. The cast this season is phenomenal, led by Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald. Andre Braugher joins as a new partner, and Alan Cumming returns as attorney Eli Gold, father to Sarah Steele's Marissa. I especially enjoyed seeing Mary Testa as an opposing attorney in episode two, she performed at the ArchCare gala last October and she is wonderful. 

5)  The book I read this week is appropriate for Hispanic Heritage Month. Bárbara Mujica's historical novel Miss del Río is a fictionalized account of the life of Mexican actress Dolores del Río. Del Río escaped with her family from Durango in Mexico, fleeing the revolution led by Pancho Villa. Delores met a director and became an successful actress, but her personal life was less successful. She had a series of marriages that didn't work out, she didn't always choose wisely. Delores' story is told by her childhood friend who becomes her hairdresser, and their lives couldn't be more different. I love reading fictional accounts of real people, and Dolores befriends Frida Kahlo and Marlene Dietrich, and becomes romantically involved with Orson Welles. A good historical fiction always has me wanting more, and I immediately began to search out more information on Dolores del Rio. If you liked Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, (as I did) you'll want to read Miss del Río. My full review posts October 4th.

Have a safe, healthy week. Happy Fall!

Sunday Gravy and Macaroni

When we lived in Auburn, I used to make a big pot of this homemade sauce with meatballs and sausage; my husband and sons loved it, and it was perfect for a big Sunday family dinner. (I told my younger son I was making tonight and he said "oh, I love that" wistfully; poor guy is  2 1/2 hours away at college.)

As I am not Italian, my mother did not teach me how to make 'gravy', or sauce, as we non-Italians called it. This recipe came from Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Get-togethers cookbook, and it is truly easy and tasty. Once you've made your own homemade sauce, oops gravy, you'll never go back to store-bought.

Now I pair it with fresh made penne pasta from Agata & Valentina, and that ups the taste level too.
Since it's supposed to be cold and snowy tomorrow, I'm hoping there will be leftovers for meatball subs for dinner the next day.

Rachael Ray's Sunday Gravy and Macaroni- from Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, for both meats and sauce
• 3 thin cut pork loin chops, 1/2-inch thick, cut in 1/2
• Salt and pepper
• 2 each sweet and hot Italian sausage links
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, for moderate to spicy marinara
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped, 3 for sauce, 2 for meatballs
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, a couple of handfuls of leaves
• Several leaves fresh basil, torn or chopped, a handful
• 1 pound meat loaf mix, ground beef, pork and veal combined, from butcher counter
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 2 handfuls, plus extra for tossing pasta and to pass at table
• 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs, 3 handfuls
• 1 loaf crusty Italian bread, for serving

Directions

Heat water for pasta to boil. Salt and cook pasta 7 to 8 minutes, to al dente.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat a deep skillet or medium heavy bottomed sauce pot over medium high heat. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Halve sausages. Add 1 tablespoon, 1 turn of the pan, extra-virgin olive oil to pan or pot. Place chops in pan or pot and brown 2 minutes on each side, remove. Add another tablespoon oil, 1 turn of the pan, and sausages. Brown sausages 2 minutes on each side and transfer to plate with pork. Add pepper flakes, 3 cloves chopped garlic and onion to the pot and saute 1 minute. Add broth to the pan and scrape up drippings. Add tomatoes and herbs and bring sauce to a bubble. Add meats back to the pot and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer sauce until ready to serve, 12 to 15 minutes.

Combine ground meat, egg, remaining 2 cloves chopped garlic, 1/3 cup cheese, and bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper and roll into balls, 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Place balls on nonstick cookie sheet. Roast meatballs 10 minutes, then slide into Sunday sauce and turn off oven. Add bread to oven to crisp crust.

To serve, place pork, sausages and meatballs on serving dish. Pour 1/2 of the sauce into a serving dish to ladle over pasta and meats at the table. Toss cooked spaghetti with remaining sauce in sauce pot, adding a few handfuls of grated cheese to the pot as you toss it. Transfer pasta to a serving dish.

Manga!

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food!

Lemon Cream Chicken with Champagne Risotto

For dinner the other night, I made a recipe from Rachael Ray’s Big Orange Book, Lemon Cream Chicken with Champagne Risotto and Asparagus. It was the first time I made it, and it turned out wonderfully delicious.

Rachael made her risotto, but I found this packaged risotto made by Scotti at Agata & Valentina, an Italian grocery store in my neighborhood. It is so easy and tastes like the risotto you’d find at a really good Italian restaurant. So I was able to eliminate that step in her recipe. I also added the champagne at the end of cooking the risotto.

I also used regular thick-cut bacon instead of the pancetta, and it made it heartier. The dish looks so pretty plated up, and it got good reviews from my husband and younger son. It’s perfect for a special dinner and it’s going into regular rotation at the LaRue household.

It only makes two servings, so you will have to adjust to serve more. Click on the recipe below for the link to the recipe on Rachael Ray's website.

Lemon Cream Chicken with Champagne Risotto & Asparagus

Lemon Cream Chicken with Risotto

Scotti Risotto

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food!

Meatball and Macaroni Soup

My husband decided that for lunch today he wanted Meatball and Macaroni Soup, or as most people call it, Italian Wedding Soup.

I made a batch a few weeks ago and it was delicious, and I had enough leftovers for lunch for the next few days. I've made this for a few years, since I found the recipe in Rachael Ray's book, Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals 2.  My copy of the book is filled with sticky notes and food stains, so you know I've used it frequently.

Other recipes in it that my family has enjoyed include Marinated Beef, Chicken, Pork or Portobello Mushrooms, which is a simple marinade with a basic pan gravy that anyone can whip up quickly, Cheesy Orzo, a versatile side dish, and Sausage Calzones.


The recipe is below:
 Rachael Ray's Meatball & Macaroni Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan in a slow stream
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves, fresh or dried
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound ground beef, pork and veal combined
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano, a couple of handfuls
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs, a couple of handfuls
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
• 6 cups chicken stock or broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups dried pasta, rings, broken fettuccini or ditalini
• 1 pound triple washed fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 
  

Directions

In a deep pot over medium heat add oil, chopped carrots, celery and onions and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Cover pot and cook veggies 5 or 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the veggies cook, combine meat, egg, garlic, grated cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg.

Uncover your soup pot and add broth and water to the pot. Increase heat to high and bring soup to a boil. When soup boils, reduce heat a bit and start to roll meat mixture into small balls, dropping them straight into the pot. You are making meat dumplings that will cook in the broth. When you are done rolling the meat, add pasta to the soup and stir. Cover and simmer soup 10 minutes. When pasta is tender, stir in chopped spinach in batches. When spinach has wilted into the soup, the soup is done and ready to serve. Adjust your seasonings. Serve soup with crusty bread or grilled 4 cheese sandwiches.

I use Whole Foods Organic Chicken Broth, it really has the best flavor. I also add the spinach to each bowl individually. If you add directly the soup pot, the wilted spinach gets too stringy in the leftover soup.

Soup's on!

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food!