The Case for Giant Meatballs

Plus: Dario's Olive Oil Cake with Oranges and Pine Nuts, Better Challah French Toast, Aromi Pizza.

Hey everyone,

I had one of my big cooking Sundays yesterday. It’s always nice to know you’re having friends over on Sunday night because it gives you an excuse to play around in the kitchen all day — otherwise, I’d just be laying on the couch watching PBS Cooking Shows. Actually, speaking of cooking shows, how much do we love Nelly on The Great British Baking Show?

She’s my favorite (though I was rooting for the gay farmer). Who’s your fave this season?

Back to cooking.

Yesterday I hosted our friends Kip and Patrick their friend from Brazil Ciao and our friend Lucie.

I decided to make meatballs and polenta only I took a big leap and made GIANT MEATBALLS.

Why giant meatballs? Why not?!

I used a mixture of recipes and mixed together 1 1/2 pounds of ground pork and 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef, plus bread that I soaked in milk, plus 1 cup of Parmesan, plus — and this is the wild part — RICOTTA.

This worked out to about 1/2 pound of meat per person. I’d give you the specific recipe but I can’t say it was better than any other recipe; it was just sort of improvised except the meatballs were huge. The hardest part was frying the meatballs and keeping them in round shapes. They ended up looking a big like pyramids or torpedos.

Served on cheesy, buttery polenta with a big ladleful of meat-infused tomato sauce on top? They were a huge hit. (I’ll make a video of the process tomorrow and put it on Insta.)

Speaking of videos on Insta, here’s a video I just posted about Dario Cecchini’s Olive Oil Cake with Whole Oranges, Pine Nuts, and Rosemary.

amateurgourmet

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The funny thing about this video is that I thought I was posting something new but apparently I made a similar video in November last year. That must mean I really like this cake! (I put the recipe in the caption.)

The main difference between the two videos (and the two cakes) is that this time I didn’t sprinkle 1/4 cup of granulated sugar on top — it looked too sandy last time. This time I only did two tablespoons and I think the cake came out perfect.

I may have a little nibble right now!

Remember how in my last newsletter (or two newsletters ago) I made challah French toast with homemade challah? Well I froze a bunch of that challah and this weekend I made it again, only this time it came out better.

What’s the diff? I used a non-stick skillet this time (I used cast iron last time). The non-stick was a better choice because as the crust formed, I could lift and look and see how it was doing without tearing the bread. Or maybe the slices were smaller and didn’t crowd the pan as much.

The point is I just wanted to post that picture of that really sexy challah French toast.

And just in case you think this newsletter doesn’t have enough carbs, on Friday night we checked out a lovely little pizza spot called Aromi on Court Street.

The pizza was great — light and airy — and the atmosphere was vibrant and cozy. It’s right across the street from a new gay bar in our hood called Loafer’s (as in “light in the loafers”) that we were checking out. Drinks at Loafer’s and pizza at Aromi? Now that’s my kind of Friday night.

Hey let’s look at some links:

• I’ve seen a bunch of Wonders lately and I’m grateful Matt Schneier ordered from there to see whether it’s any good (NY Magazine);

• The 16 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2024 (Eater);

• The 17 Best Bagels in NY Right Now (NYT);

• The Best Bagels in NY… another new list (Eater NY).

That’s all for today, folks!

See you back here on Thursday….

Your pal,

Adam