Spaghetti and Meatballs with Vodka Cream Sauce

This is a fairly simple recipe, but it's a classic. Rustic and all fancy at the same time.


Start with the tomato sauce. I stole this recipe here and changed it up a bit.

Tomato Sauce


Ingredients:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 32 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 32 oz. can diced tomatoes
4 to 6 fresh basil leaves
2 dried bay leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
Heat a large pot on medium high heat. Add oil. Then immediately add onion and garlic until soft. About 5-10 mins. Add both cans of tomatoes, bay leaves, and basil. Reduce heat until to low, cover, and simmer for an hour. Then add butter.

Next start on the meatballs. I grabbed this recipe here.

Meatballs

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound ground pork
6 ounces unseasoned dried bread crumbs
4 large eggs
4 ounces whole milk
6 ounces grated Romano
3 ounces grated shallot
2 ounces finely diced fresh garlic
2 ounces finely chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet.

Mix all the ingredients with your hands. The meatballs should have a soft consistency. Add bread crumbs if needed. Don't overwork the mixture. Try to keep it a little loose.

Roll meatballs loosely about the size of a golf ball and place on baking sheet. Place into preheated oven for approximately 35 to 40 minutes.


Now to add the cream and vodka to your sauce (skip this step and just have the tomato sauce if you'd prefer)

Cream Vodka Sauce


Ingredients:


1 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
Add vodka to your tomato sauce and simmer over low heat until the mixture reduces by 1/4, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Stir the cream into the sauce. Stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted and well blended.

Combine meatballs and sauce and simmer to meld the flavors.

Finally, cook your spaghetti in salted water (water should be as salty as the sea). And serve. I like to keep the meatballs and sauce separate from spaghetti so I can have meatball sandwiches the next day. When you serve, just take a spoonful of sauce and put it on the plate or bowl and spaghetti, then spoon meatballs and sauce on top. Top with a little parmesan and basil. So good.

Biscuits

Biscuits are a way of life in Texas. It's proper cowboy cuisine. My grandfather taught me how to make them, taught all the grandkids how to make them, at an early age. It's a great memory and I wanted to share it with Nicky. So, I've come up with my own recipe.

As I often do, I started out by ripping off Alton Brown. And tweaking it.

Alton Brown Recipe

Ingredients:


2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk plus splash of lemon juice or Vinegar OR 1 cup buttermilk
Honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

If you're subbing out for buttermilk add the lemon juice or vinegar to your milk now and let it curdle a little.

In large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients with butter. Use your hands. And break up the butter into large crumbs in the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Add your milk.

This is a sticky dough. You'll want to work it as little as possible. Just get everything incorporated. Try to keep the butter solid and in large crumbs.

Liberally flour your a rolling surface. Put your dough on and liberally add more flour. Lightly kneed the dough. Flour again.

Roll out once into a thin sheet (1/8"). Fold the dough back on itself as high as it'll go. Reflour. Push it back down flat to a 1/4" with hands or roller.

Cut out 1" squares. (I don't use a cutter, because you have to reform the dough. I like this because you get perfect squares that are all fluffy.)

Paint top of biscuits with honey.

Grease a baking sheet.

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.