Love is... Italian Meatballs

If for some cruel reason I was forced to choose only one food to eat for the rest of my life without a second thought meatballs would be on my plate! Since birth I have enjoyed Italian meatballs in a way that many (if not all) would understand.

So just in case you invite me over for dinner, let me help you prepare a meal to win me over. First thing to do here is get your ground beef into a large mixing bowl & add salt, pepper & moist bread crumbs.

Next you want to cut up your veggies... onions, green peppers & mushrooms.

Now it's time to mix all of the above. Hand mixing works best for this step.

You can't have tasty Italian meatballs without garlic...

Place at least a spoon full of garlic in a frying pan with just enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Cook on low because the garlic will burn FAST!

Use your clean, wet hands to make golf ball sized meatballs & brown in the pan of olive oil & garlic.

While those are browning, get your pasta sauce ready. I'm a fan of Bertolli. You don't have to add anything to it. It's like pasta sauce perfection in a jar.

Pour some of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Avoid clay because it stains.

By now the meatballs should be browned. Not cooked through yet, so don't go sampling quite yet.

Add the browned meatballs to the baking dish & add some extra sauce to the top. Bake until done in the oven set at 350 degrees. The time it takes will vary from oven to oven.

When they are done cooking, accompany with fresh pasta (spaghetti) & enjoy!

That's What I Call Prime

Just when I said I was going to stop or at least limit my red meat consumption, I found myself face to face with a dilemma... a 7 pound dilemma.

This past weekend was supposed to be spent with my parents. Due to an unexpected loss in the family, my day had to fly up to NY asap & plans quickly changed. One thing that did not change however, was a 7 pound prime rib that needed to be roasted. This is where I stepped in.

Cooking prime rib is actually easier than one may think. There are only 4 ingredients needed, including the cut of meat. To cook a 5-star quality prime rib all you need is: Kosher salt, freshly grounded pepper, balsamic vinegar & of course the prime rib.

I recommend you use a large enough metal bowl so that your entire cut of meat can fit within it. After placing the meat into the bowl, add enough balsamic vinegar to coat the all sides & rub it in well.

Without making a mess & dripping vinegar all over the place... take the meat out of the bowl & plate. Carefully add the kosher salt to both sides of the meat but AVOID covering the fat. (No matter how prime, there is fat in this cut of meat.) Adding salt to the fatty sections of the meat will cause the meat to be very salty after roasting.

After coating the meat with the kosher salt, place the meat on a roasting rack. Be sure that the meat DOES NOT touch the bottom of the pan.

Roasting (cooking) time varies based upon your oven... mine took almost 3 hours. The internal temperature you are looking for is 125 degrees. (Cooking thermometer needed.)

After the meat reached 125 degrees, take it out & wrap it in aluminum foil so that it can continue to cook.

After about 30 minutes of cooking in the foil, it's time to eat.

Now that that is done... I'm vowing to stay off red meat for a bit.