New York Thymes

It was a Wednesday. In fact it was the Wednesday of the first week that I had allowed myself to take off work since Christmas. The week off had included a very enjoyable adventure to the North, a buffet that featured exotic Hummus, an evening pint in the local watching the sun go down and a tactical Trout that broke up a walk deep in the country.

In among all this I decided it was time to make some new recipes for the blog and I settled on making some New York Style Meatballs with a twist. The twist was the Meatballs in question were vegetarian. However the sauce, with its proliferation of cheese, owed a serious debt to the famous Italian-American recipes made in New York.

The ingredients for this dish were as follows:

6 Vegetarian Meatballs, to be cooked from frozen.
A tablespoon of Oregano.
A tablespoon of Chili Powder.
A tablespoon of Smoked Paprika.
A teaspoon of Tomato Puree.
A tablespoon of Dried Thyme.
A tablespoon of Malt Vinegar.
2 Garlic Cloves, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
2 Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
3 Spring Onions , topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
A tin of chopped Tomatoes.
Seventy Fives Grams of Mozzarella Cheese.
A tablespoon of grated Parmesan Cheese.
Seventy Five Grams of Penne Pasta.

On the player was Eurythmics' second effort from 1982 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" . Apart from the famous title track, the record is a veritable cornucopia of memorable electronica with the dynamic opener "Love is a Stranger"just pipping the title track as the best song on the album.

For this dish I couldn't use my Le Cresceut as it was engaged in the preparation of some Red Cabbage Chutney, of which more on a future blog entry. Instead I started by frying the Herbs, Tomato Puree, Spices, Vinegar, Garlic, Shallots and Spring Onions on a medium heat in Olive Oil in a frying pan for around fifteen minutes. I stirred the ingredients well to blend them together and to stop them sticking them to the pan.

After twenty minutes was up I added the Vegetarian Meatballs and fried them with the other ingredients for around another fifteen minutes. I turned them regularly and kept stirring them into the other ingredients to get them thawed out quickly. While I was doing this I simmered the Penne in boiling water for around twelve minutes. It was then drained and set to one side.

After the meatballs were ready I added the tin of Chopped Tomatoes to the frying pan and stirred them in. This stopped the other ingredients  sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Next I added the Parmesan and, after first cutting it into pieces, the Mozzarella. Once these had melted into the mixture it was time to serve the dish.

The melted cheeses naturally made this dish very rich, while the Paprika and the Herbs plus the Vinegar ensured it was very flavoursome. It was also surprisingly light for a hot summer teatime.

Part 1- frying the vegetables, herbs, spices and meatballs. 

Part 2- adding the Chopped Tomatoes and Mozzarella 

Part 3- after melting in the Grated Parmesan, the dish is served with the Penne Pasta.