Italian baked meatballs with mozzarella

The recipe for Italian baked meatballs appeared a year ago in January 2016 edition of Delicious magazine. I don't buy every issue of Delicious, as my house is overflowing with cooking magazines as it is.
If anything, I need to declutter, and I have started to mercilessly recycle dozens of magazines, just leaving a few cutting from each issue, as we are running out of space. I have to be ruthless, though I am keeping some of the older issues of BBC Good Food and I am definitely keeping all Taste Italia magazines, as they are just too good to be recycled.

Delicious magazine runs a regular competition Cook the cover. Last year I did take part about 3 times, and a few times the year before, but have never been lucky. I am not even sure they see all the entries, as when you post a photo on Instagram with a hashtag, they don't seem to acknowledge it at all. Sainsbury's magazine runs a similar competition, where you need to post a photo of the dish from the current issue on Twitter, and they usually either like the photo to show you that they have seen it, or even tweet back to you.

Italian baked meatballs was the cover recipe a year ago, and this post has been in my draft since then. I have adapted the recipe to suit my list of ingredients, but if you fancy reading the original recipe, just follow the link above.
It is a proper Italian comfort food, perfect for cold weather, though also quite high in calories, so perhaps not for people on a diet. You could use leaner beef mince and skip mozzarella to make it less calorific, and use the oil spray.

Italian Baked Meatballs with Mozzarella
Ingredients:
For the tomato sauce:
4tbsp olive oil + more for frying the meatballs
2 anchovies (optional)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely crushed
2 tins of peeled plum tomatoes (Cirio tinned tomatoes are highly recommended)
a pinch of dried thyme
1tbsp ketchup
a pinch of brown sugar

For the meatballs:
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1tsp dried basil
500g beef mince
125g fresh mozzarella
zest of 1/2 lemon

First prepare the tomato sauce - heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan, add the anchovies, onion and garlic and fry over the gentle heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tinned tomatoes, thyme, ketchup and sugar. Bring to boil, then lower the heat and cook for half an hour, stirring often.
Make the meatballs by mixing all the ingredients except the mozzarella cheese together.
Using hands, roll the meatballs the size of walnuts.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the meatballs, and cook on all sides until well browned. Transfer the meatballs in a deep baking dish, pour the tomato sauce over them. Tear the mozzarella into pieces and scatter over the meatballs and sauce. Bake for 10 minutes at 180c until the cheese has melted.
Serve with a nice crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

The original recipe suggested cooking a garlic baguette, but I think there were robust flavours going on without the garlic bread.

As always, when you cook tomato-based sauces, source the best tinned tomatoes, for example, Cirio, which are well known for high quality and flavour.

Have you ever taken part in Cook the cover competition? Were you a lucky winner?

Swedish meatballs for Karlson on the roof and Smidge - #ReadCookEat

Karlson on the Roof by Astrid Lindgren was one of my favourite childhood books. For some strange reason it is not well known here, in the UK. If you mention Astrid Lindgren, most people would remember Pippi Longstocking, and that's all, which is truly sad. Lindgren is the most wonderful author who wrote so many books for children. As a child, I loved Scandinavian literature - the amazing Moomins by Tove Jansson, the Little Red Rascal by Jan Ekholm (another book which you cannot find anywhere apart from a couple of private sellers on amazon who charge crazy money for it)... Just last week I found an old copy of When the robbers came to Cardamom Town by T.Egner, and bought it so that Eddie can enjoy it too.
In the last week or so I have been reading to him Karlson on the Roof before bedtime. For me it is a real trip down the memory lane.
It is a wonderful story about a 7-year-old boy Smidge who goes on all sorts of mischievous adventures with his best friend Karlson. Karlson is an extraordinary creature who has a propeller on his back and can fly. He is extremely selfish, egocentric, quite greedy and very very childish. He also happens to have a little house on the roof.
There are three books in the series, which as a child I read in one thick volume.
Alas, this version published by OUP is not the best one. It is translated by Sarah Death who went for the simplistic way of changing most of the Swedish names in the book into English names. For example, Smidge's siblings Bosse and Bettan become Seb and Sally. Poor Svante aka Smidge is turned into Steven. Just why? Isn't it rather patronising for the translator to presume British children won't be able to understand the Swedish names? This unfortunate change makes the book less authentic.
I also don't like the nickname Smidge. It is Lillebror in Swedish which means "little brother". In Russian translation it comes as a lovely cute "Malysh", and it is much closer to the original than Smidge.
The illustrations by Tony Ross are a great disappointment as well, if you compare them to the original artwork by Ilon Wikland.

Eddie's been listening with great interest to the story of the mischievous duo.

Karlson loves his food, and there are quite a few mentions of traditional Swedish meals, like meatballs.

"Just then, Smidge caught the first waft of frying meatballs from the kitchen... It's never a good idea to disturb mothers when they are frying meatballs...
Karlson had finished strutting. He was standing there, sniffing the air like a retriever.
"Meatballs, he said, I do like dear little, yummy little meatballs"...
Smidge slipped out into the kitchen. Mum was standing at the stove, wearing a checked apron and enveloped in the most wonderful smell of meatballs. She was shaking the big frying pan over the gas flame, and the pan was as full as can be of lovely little brown meatballs, all jumping about.
"Hello, Smidge, said Mum. We'll be eating soon"
"Please, Mum, can I have a few meatballs on a saucer, to take into my room?" said Smidge in his persuading voice."

I have searched for the Swedish meatballs recipes online. There were a couple of recipes which looked very good - check out Swedish Meatballs on AllRecipes and Swedish Meatballs on Simply Recipes.

My version is an amalgamation of several recipes found online, as I have adapted it to what I had in the kitchen.
Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients:
2 slices of slightly stale white bread, thickly sliced and with crusts removed
100ml double cream
1tbsp milk
2tbsp butter + more for frying meatballs
1 medium sweet onion, finely sliced
a pack of lean beef (454g)
1 medium egg
1/2tsp nutmeg
1tsp sea salt
350ml fresh beef stock
1 tbsp cornflour, to thicken the sauce
3 heaped tbsp soured cream

First break the slightly stale crustless bread into big crumbs, place in a medium bowl, pour cream and milk over it, and let it soak for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime fry the finely sliced sweet onion in butter, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, until the onion is golden brown. Remove from the heat.
In a big mixing bowl mix together now soggy bread with the onion. Add the minced beef, break in an egg, season with salt and nutmeg. Using hands, pinch pieces about 1tbsp of mince, roll each meatball.
Melt the butter - about 2tbsp - in a big skillet. Fry the meatballs, in two batches, until the meatballs are well browned on all sides. Remove from the heat. At this stage, the meat inside will still be pink.
Now you can either cook them further on the hob in a deep frying pan, or cook in the oven - like I did - in a deep ceramic pot.
Place all the meatballs carefully into the pot. Pour all the remains of butter from the frying pan inside, and add half of the beef stock. Cook in the oven for about 40 minutes at 180C. Half an hour into the cooking, mix 1tbsp of cornflour with 100ml of cold beef stock, and pour the mix into the pot.
In the last 5 minutes, add the soured cream.
Serve with mashed potatoes.
Oh my goodness, this is a feast of gods. The meatballs and mash are a marriage made in heaven, soooo delicious.

When Karlson ate the meatballs cooked by Mum, he said "Delicious. Mighty tasty meatball! You might almost think the world's best meatball maker had made it, though we know he can't have done" (Karslon is most convinced that he himself is the best at everything).
While I've not cooked them exactly like Smidge's Mum (i.e.just on the stove), I hope Karlson would approve of these delicious meatballs too.

Have you read a book recently which inspired you to run to the kitchen and cook to your heart's content?

I hope you are inspired by books to join in the #ReadCookEat challenge.

The idea is to choose a book, either a world classic or modern fiction, or even memoirs and pick up a dish mentioned or described in that book and then recreate it in a recipe. Please say a few lines about your chosen book, and maybe even do a quote from the book.

If you decide to take part, please add the badge to your post and link up back to me, and either use a link-up tool or add the url of your post as a comment. Alternatively, email me with the link to your post (my email is sasha1703 at yahoo dot com).

I promise to Pin all blogs posts taking part in this challenge, as well as RT and Google+

Easy midweek dinner: fusilli with meatballs in tomato sauce

Midweek dinners are often quick and easy meals in our family. As much as I enjoy cooking, I don't want to spend ages every afternoon, preparing an evening meal, especially that most of the time I tend to cook several different dishes for my guys. For the last couple of months our younger son refuses to eat anything but pasta with ketchup for dinner. In fact, not just any pasta. It has to be fusilli. He's a funny guy like that. Last year he used to request plain rice for dinner. Yes, you read it right. Plain basmati rice, without anything else. Then after several months of eating rice for dinner he thankfully got bored with it, so now we're on pasta.
The other day I was reading The Guardian's 10 rules for eating in restaurants with young children and chuckled to myself, as it really sounded very familiar:
"Make sure they serve something familiar. Since I had my baby, my favourite restaurants are the ones that include "Penne in Red Crap" on their kids' menu. I don't care if they've got poor TripAdvisor reviews or are unethical about sharing their tips... All I want is Penne in Red Crap because I know my son will definitely eat Penne in Red Crap".
On our recent trip to Brighton we had dinner in an Italian restaurant Donatello's, and guess what our Eddie wanted? yes, you got it right, he asked for fusilli with ketchup. I told him they only make fusilli with lots of other things in it, so he opted for a safe Margherita pizza. Oh bless those unadventurous eaters!
When we were in Italy for Easter, and our master Eddie asked his Nonna for fusilli with ketchup, I think she was left deeply shocked, though she did go to the local supermarket and found a ketchup for him.

I usually buy the basic supermarket own fusilli for Eddie (his choice, not mine), and I had to beg him to try a different type of fusilli which was delivered with May Degustabox. As it happened, it was an excellent Garofalo pasta. He did one small bite and made a face, as if I offered him a wriggly worm and asked "Could I have my fusilli, please?" sigh, I tried and I failed.
My husband and I though enjoyed this pasta very much, and he even asked for a second helping.

Fusilli with meatballs in tomato sauce
Ingredients:
a pack of 4 chorizo burgers
2tbsp olive oil
1 tin of Cirio peeled plum tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
a pinch of dried thyme, basil, pepper
1tbsp ketchup
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey BBQ glaze (optional)

For the speed of cooking I used a pack of chorizo-flavoured burgers (quite a few supermarkets have their own chorizo burgers) to make the meatballs. Basically break each burger into 6 parts and roll into meatballs, using hands. Heat up 2tbsp of olive oil in a deep pan and brown the meatballs on all sides, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. Add a chopped clove of garlic, and cook for another couple of minutes, then pour in the contents of a tin of peeled plum tomatoes (break/squash the tomatoes with a wooden spoon), dried herbs, a tbsp of ketchup, balsamic vinegar and Jack Daniel's Tennessee honey BBQ glaze. Simmer on low for 25-30 minutes. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of water to thin it.
Cook fusilli al dente, as per instructions on the packet, in boiling salted water.
Serve pasta with sauce and meatballs added to it, and add a couple of mini mozzarella balls, or grate some parmesan or Grana Padano.

This is an easy and quick midweek meal, very tasty and flavourful.

If you cannot find Garofalo pasta, use any other fusilli, though the Garofalo pasta is shaped like a corkscrew and looks prettier than the standard fusilli pasta.

I used a tin of Cirio peeled plum tomatoes in my recipe, as it is a quality tomato product, and works perfectly well in many Italian-style recipes. It is a great kitchen staple, which allows you to cook a tasty pasta dish any time you fancy a tomatoey pasta. Actually any tinned tomato product from Cirio would work in this recipe, not just peeled plum tomatoes.

Disclosure: I received some Cirio products for the purposes of using in recipes on my blog. All opinions are mine.

Mama's borscht

It's that time of the year, when Mum comes to visit us. Every time she stays with us, I ask her to cook a few of my favourite Russian dishes, like borscht, pirozhki or cutlets. Mum's culinary repertoire is very much Southern Russian rather than the Northern one which is local to my home town. I was born and grew up in a big city in the North East of Russia, called Perm. My parents were sent there as young specialists when a new chemical factory was open in Perm in the late 1960s. You might know my home town featured as Yuryatin in Doctor Zhivago. My Mum brought her love of Southern food and recipes with her, as well as her Southern accent, which was a cause of amusement for the locals. 

There are as many recipes for borscht as there are cooks, and even my Mum varies her borscht, depending on the season and also on which meat she cooks with. She makes a vegetarian version or two as well..
This time she cooked a borscht with meatballs.

Borscht
Ingredients:
400g minced beef
1 medium egg
3 medium potatoes
3tbsp vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower oil)
3 medium carrots
2 beets
3 big tomatoes
1 sweet pepper
1/2 cabbage (about 300g)
beet leaves from 2 beets, finely chopped
1/2 onion
1tbsp tomato paste
salt, pepper

First make the meatballs by mixing the minced beef with a raw egg and a peeled and grated potato. Roll into meatballs about 4cm in diameter, the size of a walnut. Cook the meatballs in salted boiling water for 10 minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon. Filter the broth in which the meatballs where cooked via a mesh strainer.

Chop all the vegetables. First add the chopped beets to the frying pan with 1tbsp of sunflower oil (you can use the olive oil as well, or the rapeseed oil). Cook, stirring, on low for about 10-15 minutes, sweating the veg. This brings the sweetness out, and the beets acquire a deeper flavour.
You might skip the frying bit and put all the sliced vegetables together, but you won't get the same depth of flavour. Remove the cooked beets and add them to the broth.
Repeat the process with the chopped carrots. Slightly fry them with the finely sliced onion and garlic.
Plunge whole tomatoes in the boiling water, then into cold one, so that you can peel them easier. Chop the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes to the pan with the tomato paste.
All the vegetables in the pan should be immersed in broth. If there's not enough liquid, add some hot water. Cook for half an hour.
Add the chopped potatoes and chopped beet leaves, cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot, with a few meatballs in each serving and a generous spoonful of soured cream.

Spaghetti and meatballs & Sloppy Joes (Summer Sorted)

Summer holidays... You eagerly await them and whoop with joy when they arrive, but after a while the task of entertaining kids non-stop becomes more and more taxing. Many family activities cost a lot of money, and don't even mention going away on holidays. Our staycation in Cornwall costed us an arm and a leg, though we had a truly fabulous time. Recently Sainsbury's has launched a Summer Sorted campaign to help families get the most out of their summer holidays. This campaign runs until the 24th of August, and offers ideas to parents as well as an inspiration for simple solutions  on how to keep children well fed and entertained this summer. It also offers a practical advice on how to manage the budget with some great promotions in store.
You can read more about the campaign on Summer Sorted page.
As a foodie blogger, I was asked to test one of the tasty recipes from the campaign. I was pleased to be asked to cook Spaghetti with meatballs and Sloppy Joes.

Sloppy Joes

We eat lots of pasta, and spaghetti are always eaten with great enthusiasm.
If you haven't seen the campaign yet, have a look at the recipes and cook one of them. As part of the campaign, Sainsbury's has launched a fun competition to encourage readers and their families to upload a "platie". Take a photo of your meal (Choose from Apple Thins, Pitta Pizzas, Meatballs and Sloppy Joes, Yoghurt Buttons), then tweet an image to @Sainsburys with a hashtag #Platie #Summer Sorted for a chance to win a £200 grocery shop.

The Summer Sorted recipes include Apple Thins, Pitta Pizzas, Meatballs and Sloppy Joes and Yoghurt Buttons.

Sainsbury's have offered a budget recipe which stretches one meal into two. For example,

Tonight’s dinner - Spaghetti & meatballs

Tomorrow’s lunch: Sloppy Joes

Spaghetti and meatballs (recipe reproduced with kind permission from Sainsbury's)

Description: Tasty meatballs made from tender beef mince flavoured with herbs, served with a mixed vegetable tomato sauce and spaghetti

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4, plus leftovers for Sloppy Joes for lunch the following day

Ingredients:

500g pack extra lean beef steak mince by Sainsbury’s

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs by Sainsbury’s

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

500g jar tomato and herb pasta sauce by Sainsbury’s

4 medium carrots, chopped

2 sticks celery, chopped

350g spaghetti by Sainsbury’s

30g mild British Cheddar, finely grated

Method:

1 In a large mixing bowl, mix together the mince, mixed herbs and garlic until combined. Season with freshly ground black pepper then, using your hands, shape the mixture into 12 balls. 

2 Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the meatballs and cook for 10 minutes, turning regularly, until golden all over.

3 Drain off any excess from the pan, then pour in the pasta sauce. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes. If the sauce is a little thick, add a few tablespoons of boiling water. 

4 While the sauce is simmering, bring a medium pan of water to the boil, add the carrots and cook for 7 mins until tender, adding the celery to the pan for the final 4 minutes of cooking time. Drain then stir into the pan with the meatballs.

5 Meanwhile, fill another large pan with water and bring to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until tender. Drain.

6 Divide the spaghetti between bowls, top with the meatballs and tomato sauce, and serve scattered with the Cheddar.

I have slightly adapted the recipe by cooking the chopped carrots and celery with the meatballs, as I like them slightly caramelised rather than just boiled. You can add a bit of water while they're cooking in the frying pan. 

Cook’s Tip:

To make enough meatballs and sauce to have Sloppy Joes for lunch the next day, simply use a 750g pack mince, a 700g jar tomato and herb pasta sauce and 2 extra carrots. This will be enough for 20 meatballs  – use 12 for dinner (or 3 meatballs per person) and use the remaining ones for lunch the following day. Serve them warm in white finger rolls. 

Due to the generous amount of chopped carrots and celery, there was plenty of sauce for pasta. My family agreed that it was very tasty.

And today for lunch we had some Sloppy Joes.

Disclosure: I received a selection of Sainsbury's products to prepare the meal. 

My photoshoot for Aldi

A few weeks ago Bella magazine was running a competition to create a recipe for Aldi supermarket, using one of their beef products. As I enjoy cooking, I thought a simple dish of Italian style meatballs with pasta could work well. Nothing fancy, something that even people who don't cook "foreign" food would like to try, saying "I can do this". I cooked the meatballs with pappardelle pasta, took a photo and sent to Bella. The photo below is the dish I cooked for our dinner and to enter the comp.



I was surprised when Avril from Bella called to tell me my recipe was chosen as a winner and would I agree to have a photoshoot in my kitchen. I started panicking, what have I gotten myself into. Now, people who've been to my house know that our kitchen is rather dated.
On a set date a food stylist arrived. She is a lovely chatty lady, who immediately put me at ease, as I was rather worried on how it was going to be. She brought all her cooking utensils and food for the photoshoot with her. An hour later a local photographer appeared and started taking photos of me rolling the meatballs, pouring the pasta sauce etc etc We later moved to the garden, where I was posing sitting with a glass of wine and a plate of pasta in front of me. I actually found it utterly hilarious. As if that's how I have my usual lunch. That's how myths and legends are created.
Eddie was as good as gold. It started to drizzle, and we ended the photoshoot with the rain falling on the pasta dish.


I haven't yet seen the brochure with photos, hope there are some better ones of me. I must say, I am a tad disappointed with the one that was chosen for the supermarket website. I think there must have been a better one from many taken.


You can find the recipe here
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/product_range/7195.htm


The photo at the top is meatballs with spaghetti (prepapred by someone at Aldi, not during the photoshoot at my house). My original recipe was for pappardelle, but spaghetti would be fine as well. You could see the dish that was cooked at home in the photo of the two of us in the garden.