Mini meatball pasta.
For the mini meatballs,
I just added about a third of a cup or so,
I don't measure it,
but I add about enough milk to moisten
about a cup of breadcrumb.
One cup to one pound,
when it comes to meatballs.
You can do a plant-based meat substitute.
I did beef, pork, and veal mixed.
Your traditional meatloaf mix is what they call it
in the grocery store.
So we have meatloaf mix in here.
And then again, you want about a cup,
or a little bit shy,
of graded Parmigiano Reggiano.
And before the show today, I cooked up,
just so it had time to cool,
an onion and a little garlic
until it was nice and translucent and mushy.
And we're going to add half back to the soup,
and we're going to put half in the meatball.
And we're going to fine grate in a little nutmeg.
I seasoned the beef, pork, and veal mix
with a little salt and pepper.
Going to add a little bit of nutmeg.
About, I don't know, eighth of a teaspoon.
And a little bit of lemon zest.
Oh, maybe a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half.
A little bit of lemon zest.
We'll add the juice of the lemon
to the actual dish at the end.
Okay, a little parsley, handful of parsley, finely chopped.
One egg, I always beat the egg up in a dish
in case you get a little shell.
Big pieces of shell attract shell back,
so you can get it out easily.
And you want to mix it together
so it blends into the meatball
in a little more glorious of a way.
And then we add a little bit of fennel,
ground fennel or fennel pollen.
I have a little fennel pollen.
And if you like, and it's optional,
a little bit of pepperoncini.
This is ground pepperoncini or red pepper flake,
if you like things a little spicy.
And get this all mixed together.
You can pull out a tiny little piece,
make a patty the size of a quarter and taste test it.
And I'm going to make meatballs that are pretty tiny,
about a big old bite full once they cook down, okay.
So we're going to do about, oh, it's a little over an inch,
about an inch and a quarter.
When you quarter all of your protein,
you're going to make four patties.
From each patty you're going to get six rolled balls
of whatever your protein choice was.
I'm going to do that and start browning them
in a non-stick deep skillet.
Deep enough that you can add a pound of pasta to it.
Okay, guys.
A deep non-stick round skillet,
the same one you used for the onions.
We're trying to make a one pan deal here.
Okay guys, when you get your meatballs browned,
in the same pan you cooked the onions and the garlic in,
you're going to add two quarts of stock.
I like to use a combination of chicken and beef
because if I were in Italy, for instance,
I'd roast some veal bones and use veal stock.
But you can use all vegetable.
You can use all chicken.
If you're using plant-based meat, of course.
You can use all chicken or all beef.
But you will need roughly seven to eight cups of liquid
to cook one pound of orechiette.
So now our challenge is to bring this back up to a full boil
so we can cook the pasta.
From that time on, it's only seven minutes.
I'm adding the rest of the onion and garlic.
Remember, we only put half of the cooled onion and garlic
into the meatballs.
So now we're going to cover the pan and crank it,
bring it to the highest level and get that to a boil.
As soon as it comes to a boil, we can add our pasta.
Then the last step we wilt in the greens.
(pasta tinkling)
Okay guys, so I'm taking the last handful of escarole,
we're wilting in the greens.
We have tender crisp greens.
Look, if you like stewed greens,
all you have to do is this,
put a lid on it and cook it an extra five minutes,
and they'll be more tender for you.
We add the juice of the lemon we zested.
I'm going to add one little extra drizzle
of good fancy E.V.O.O. over the top,
and then serve it up in a nice shallow bowl.
A little Parmigiano over the top.
(whimsical music)