Homemade Ricotta Cheese

[Clipper]

Kit, I don't think Kathy has a specific recipe for her meatballs. Most of the recipe is simply using the following ingredients and measuring by eye. She uses a pound of ground chuck and a pound of lean ground pork, two or three slices of bread, torn up and soaked in milk ( she wrings it out before putting it into the meat mixture), Italian seasoning, dried parsley, grated Parmesan cheese ( She grates it fresh from a wedge), a couple of eggs, a couple of medium sized cloves of fresh garlic finely chopped or put through a garlic press, and salt and pepper. She also makes a variation that uses a pound of bulk Italian sausage rather than the ground pork. THAT makes a delicious meatball for sandwiches as well as with pasta. When she makes a batch of meatballs as described above, it makes a lot of golf ball sized meatballs. She also makes a large quantity of sauce at a time, and she freezes some of the sauce with meatballs and Italian sausage included right in the bag with the sauce. She normally sears the meatballs in a frying pan, and then allows them to cook the rest of the way in the oven. She simmers the sauce on low heat all day, and often tosses the meatballs and sausage in for the last hour or so.

[kit]

True enough, Dave. There are many different types of people in this world and consequently many different preferences. Some are shared and some are not. That's what makes the world go around.

One thing I hope we all agree on is to wish each other a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving tomorrow. In the face of all the negativity in the world today, we still have much to be thankful for (and Kathy's meatballs are only one of them).

Thanks Clipper for Kathy's technique. I've noticed a big difference in the taste of the sauce if the meatballs or sausage balls are first browned in a skillet then cooked by simmering in the sauce for a few hours. Either way, they sound delicious. And I'm getting hungry.

By the way, there are two stores locally (Rosa's on Genesee St. and Maria's on Oneida St.) owned by Italian gals who cook various Italian foods using their grandmother's recipes and techniques. They're not restaurants, they're stores where you buy the foods and take them home to eat. If I don't feel like cooking on a particular day, I can be confident of getting the 'real deal' at one of these stores.

[Deleted]

Nov 25, 2014 12:37:30 GMT -5 Clipper said:

Kit, I don't think Kathy has a specific recipe for her meatballs. Most of the recipe is simply using the following ingredients and measuring by eye. She uses a pound of ground chuck and a pound of lean ground pork, two or three slices of bread, torn up and soaked in milk ( she wrings it out before putting it into the meat mixture), Italian seasoning, dried parsley, grated Parmesan cheese ( She grates it fresh from a wedge), a couple of eggs, a couple of medium sized cloves of fresh garlic finely chopped or put through a garlic press, and salt and pepper. She also makes a variation that uses a pound of bulk Italian sausage rather than the ground pork. THAT makes a delicious meatball for sandwiches as well as with pasta. When she makes a batch of meatballs as described above, it makes a lot of golf ball sized meatballs. She also makes a large quantity of sauce at a time, and she freezes some of the sauce with meatballs and Italian sausage included right in the bag with the sauce. She normally sears the meatballs in a frying pan, and then allows them to cook the rest of the way in the oven. She simmers the sauce on low heat all day, and often tosses the meatballs and sausage in for the last hour or so.

My Mom made her meatballs, both versions, the same way as Kathy. Be curious as to how Kathy makes her sauce.

[Clipper]

Her sauce was much better when we lived in Utica Alan and she had San Marzano plum tomatoes available from Casa Imports. She makes sauce now with whatever imported plum tomatoes we can find in the local markets or at Sam's Club, and a good heavy concentrated tomato puree. She crushes the tomatoes with her hands, or she buys diced tomatoes. She uses a variety of spices. Sometimes she uses fresh herbs and sometimes dried herbs. The sauce seems to remain rather uniform and not much different with fresh herbs. That surprised me a bit. She uses basil, oregano, rosemary, a small amount of crushed red pepper. When she starts to cook the tomatoes and puree down, she adds finely grated carrot (usually one or two decent sized fresh carrots, grated on the box grater, depending on the size of batch she is making.) She adds finely diced yellow onion, and several cloves of finely chopped garlic. When she doesn't have individual herbs available or is in a hurry, she uses the dried Italian Seasoning mixture. She does little measuring. She puts some in when the sauce is started, and as it goes along, she tastes it and adds seasoning or more herbs to her taste.Of course there is also salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

She also makes a simpler marinara sauce that she uses for chicken or veal Parmegiana, or for a quick supper of calzones made with pre-made dough from the supermarket. That very simple sauce is not as spicy. She makes that with tomatoes, a little bit of carrot, onions, garlic and a small amount of sugar to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. It is sweeter and doesn't have the herb flavor of her spaghetti sauce. She makes a few quarts of that and we freeze it in ziploc bags for use as needed. That is also the sauce we use for a home made pizza when she makes home made dough and we make a large rectangular pie on a sheet pan.

She has those recipes down pat and does most of the seasoning as she goes along, strictly by tasting and adding it a little at a time. She makes enough to keep some in the freezer for quick access. Thaw it in the microwave, boil some pasta and supper is ready. The sauces are always cooked for 6 hours or more on a low heat until they reach the desired thickness.

I wish I could give you recipes with defined measurements in teaspoons, tablespoons and cups, but she doesn't seem to cook that way, haha. Sometimes she makes 2 or 3 quarts, and sometimes she makes 10 or 12. When tomatoes are in season, if we get a deal on a bushel or two of fresh ones, she will start with fresh tomatoes and make a couple of batches using her large soup pot to cook the stuff down. Usually when we get fresh tomatoes in summer, the sauce is canned rather than freezing. She hasn't done that in a couple of years due to her back problems and surgeries.

[Clipper]

Of all the sauces and recipes Kathy uses, we still don't have a good recipe for Utica style tomato pie. I know it is made with tomato paste, but we have never attempted to make it since we moved here. I always buy a box when we are there, and that is what we eat all the way home in the truck. None of it ever makes it much beyond Maryland or Northern Virginia, hahaha. Do you have a recipe for the sauce used on tomato pie Alan?

[kit]

I do, Clipper. I got this recipe from Dan Falatico, the best sausage maker and one of the best cooks in Utica. As with most Italian recipes, 'simpler is better.' Assuming that you're familiar with pizza dough or pre-made crusts, here's the recipe for the sauce.  This makes enough for 2 pies.

Utica Tomato Pie

3 Tbsp good olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes (without added spices)
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste
Pizza dough or crust (depending on your preference)
Fresh grated real Parmesan cheese

Saute garlic in olive oil on low until just golden (don't let it burn). Add tomatoes and oregano and stir. Bring to boil, reduce heat, partially cover (or use screen) and cook 30 or more minutes until quite thick, stirring occasionally.  Add salt and pepper to taste and let cool until just warm.

Cover pizza dough with sauce and bake at 475 degrees for 20-30 minutes until edges are brown. Sprinkle with grated cheese and cool to room temperature. Cut, eat and enjoy.

[dave]

I'm getting hungry again, and it's still early morning. Well, kind of early.

[Clipper]

Thanks Kit. I appreciate that. Who better to get a recipe from than Dan Falatico. We ARE familiar with pizza dough and ready made crusts. I would think this would be even better on home made or dough prepared by a pizzeria. We can buy dough in a ball from a local pizzeria. It is a real time saver for making a home made pizza. I can run to Blountville (3 miles) and buy a ball or two of ready to use dough from our local pizza joint for about $3 for a portion of dough that will make a 16 inch pizza. It cracks me up because it is one of the best pizza places around, and the owners are Egyptian rather than Italian. We DID finally have an Italian from NYC open a NY style pizza joint downtown with thin crust pies about 24 inches in diameter, loaded up with goodies for about 16 bucks. No more Pizza Hut for us, haha.

We don't see the packaged balls of fresh dough in a plastic bag like you do in your area. I think it was DiOrios that we used to buy in Utica.

I see a tomato pie on the not too distant horizon. It will be stuck in my head for a couple of days until I can't resist the urge any more and I buy the ingredients and have Kathy put one together!

[Deleted]

Clipper your area doesn't have San Marzano tomatoes'. Holy cow.

Kit that is the best Tomato Pie.

[Clipper]

Sometimes we can find San Marzano tomatoes and sometimes not. Not a very big concentration of Italian people here, so when I find them I buy quite a few cans, but it is a crap shoot. They are nothing special to the folks around here. For THEIR recipes, almost any tomato will do I guess. haha.
The biggest use for tomatoes here seems to be chili and barbecue sauce. In all actuality, I am not that much of an expert when it comes to judging Italian sauces. I KNOW that Kathy's sauce is good, no matter what type of tomato she uses. In a land where there are few Italians, and almost no GOOD Italian restaurants, It is either Kathy's best effort, or Prego. Not much in between, haha. I haven't seen any An Marzano tomatoes in quite a while now, but the last one's I bought were at Big Lots of all places. Can you believe that? Our markets don't seem to carry them on a regular basis.

Kathy made home made pizza last night. She makes it on a rectangular sheet pan like O'Scuinnizo's. We put sausage, peppers, mushrooms and pepperoni on it. It was great. Probably will eat the left overs here shortly for supper. After posting the other day, pizza was stuck in my head, so I bought a couple balls of dough from the place in Blountville. A neighbor told me that Domino's will sell just plain dough, but who the hell wants Domino's dough? Not I.

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2014 19:01:54 GMT -5 Clipper said:

Her sauce was much better when we lived in Utica Alan and she had San Marzano plum tomatoes available from Casa Imports. She makes sauce now with whatever imported plum tomatoes we can find in the local markets or at Sam's Club, and a good heavy concentrated tomato puree. She crushes the tomatoes with her hands, or she buys diced tomatoes. She uses a variety of spices. Sometimes she uses fresh herbs and sometimes dried herbs. The sauce seems to remain rather uniform and not much different with fresh herbs. That surprised me a bit. She uses basil, oregano, rosemary, a small amount of crushed red pepper. When she starts to cook the tomatoes and puree down, she adds finely grated carrot (usually one or two decent sized fresh carrots, grated on the box grater, depending on the size of batch she is making.) She adds finely diced yellow onion, and several cloves of finely chopped garlic. When she doesn't have individual herbs available or is in a hurry, she uses the dried Italian Seasoning mixture. She does little measuring. She puts some in when the sauce is started, and as it goes along, she tastes it and adds seasoning or more herbs to her taste.Of course there is also salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

She also makes a simpler marinara sauce that she uses for chicken or veal Parmegiana, or for a quick supper of calzones made with pre-made dough from the supermarket. That very simple sauce is not as spicy. She makes that with tomatoes, a little bit of carrot, onions, garlic and a small amount of sugar to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. It is sweeter and doesn't have the herb flavor of her spaghetti sauce. She makes a few quarts of that and we freeze it in ziploc bags for use as needed. That is also the sauce we use for a home made pizza when she makes home made dough and we make a large rectangular pie on a sheet pan.

She has those recipes down pat and does most of the seasoning as she goes along, strictly by tasting and adding it a little at a time. She makes enough to keep some in the freezer for quick access. Thaw it in the microwave, boil some pasta and supper is ready. The sauces are always cooked for 6 hours or more on a low heat until they reach the desired thickness.

I wish I could give you recipes with defined measurements in teaspoons, tablespoons and cups, but she doesn't seem to cook that way, haha. Sometimes she makes 2 or 3 quarts, and sometimes she makes 10 or 12. When tomatoes are in season, if we get a deal on a bushel or two of fresh ones, she will start with fresh tomatoes and make a couple of batches using her large soup pot to cook the stuff down. Usually when we get fresh tomatoes in summer, the sauce is canned rather than freezing. She hasn't done that in a couple of years due to her back problems and surgeries.

My Mom always used 2 large cans Hunts tomato puree and two small cans tomatoe paste. She started by browning garlic and onion then adding the tomato puree and paste and a can of water. Then fresh parsley, oregano and fresh basil, salt, peper. little sugar and a tip of a teaspoon of baking soda--gets the gas out. Then she fried her meatballs ans sausage. She added that to the sause along with some of the oil that she fried her meatballs, stc in. Then she three in a hunk of beef. I think it was top round. All that cooked for several hours.

[Clipper]

That sauce your mom made is very similar to the sauce MY mom made. Kathy seems to have picked up on the East Utica "gravy" recipe and made it her own. I can't remember where she found it, but the shredded or grated carrot really adds a little sweetness and flavor to the sauce and you can't taste any actual carrot flavor after it cooks down.

Incidentally, I misspoke in my earlier post. She DOESN'T use rosemary. She uses parsley, as your mom's recipe shows. My mistake. That is what happens when you depend on memory, and you have reached that age when memory is not always dependable, hahaha!

[clarencebunsen]

All of the sauce recipe sound great. I thought my wife had her own recipe until I asked her how to make it once when I had to prepare dinner. She then showed me where to find it in the cook book I normally use. Since I've never seen her use it and it didn't turn out quite the same when I made it I assume she makes some modifications on the fly.

Accourding to my son most of the places making tomato pie in Utica don't make their sauce but buy it. I assume he knows since he started in the Casa Imports warehouse opulling orders for customers, worked his way up to billing customers and now sell to many of those same customers.

A tidbit about Cora tomato products I picked up from him in an earlier conversation. Each summer one of the Casa owners (Phil, I think) goes to Italy and approves each lot of tomatoes purchased at the farm level. He then stays through the processing and canning. The who product line depends on the tastes of one man.

[Clipper]

Phil is a great guy and Casa is a great place to work in the warehouse. The truck drivers however have a much rougher life. I once thought I would like to get off the over the road merry go round and stay local. I was hired at Casa and lasted two days. I had to be in the yard at 4 AM to deliver a route down route 8 to New Berlin, over the hill, through Cooperstown, Oneonta, back up route 51 to route 20 and back along 20 to Bridgewater and back to the yard, arriving exhausted at 8:30 PM. I ended up with blisters on the bottom of both feet from holding back a hand cart with 300lbs of pizza flour while I guided it down the ramp from the truck and then down cellar stairs into basements at several pizza joints. We had several pallets of pizza flour in 50 or 100 pound bags. I can't remember which. It was probably the only job I was forced to quit without notice, simply because I could not walk with the sore feet. Phil was understanding, and simply said that not everyone is cut for that sort of work, lol. Some of their drivers have been there for a long time, but most come and go. Casa used to have an ad for drivers in the OD every day of the year, due to the turnover rate. I imagine working in the warehouse is a much better environment, as the folks that run the place seemed very nice, and the warehouse folks seemed happy.

[clarencebunsen]

My son-in-law worked in their warehouse a couple years ago for about 2 weeks and couldn't manage the pace. My son started in 2003 a week after he finished high school and has thrived there. Part of the reason is that he has been willing to do anything asked (including plowing the lot when necessary to get a truck in or out) and part of it because they have been willing to let him try things he wasn't technically qualified for (including plowing the lot). Besides the warehouse he has worked in their cash & carry store, done the daily reconciliation and deposits, bought and sold seafood, bought & sold seafood, beef, pork & chicken for a time. Now I think he mostly concentrates on seafood & chicken.

Phil has been his mentor in wine making for the last few years. I know the product is a lot better that the batch I helped him with the first time he tried.