It was a dark and cold sunday and Shells & I were looking for something warming to make the day feel better. I really just wanted to spend the day in chef pants and a sweatshirt on the couch, so I tried to come up with something that would meet both requirements.
I wandered around Whole Foods looking for inspiration and when I saw the huge line at the meat counter I decided to see what was in the packaged case. I saw the packages of ground meats and that made my decision for me ... I grabbed a 1 lb package of ground pork and a 1 lb package of ground veal.
Now that I had my main course figured out, I worked my way back through the store filling out the remainder of what I would need: white beans, asiago cheese, pancetta, Pomi strained tomatoes, garlic cloves, red onion and brussels sprouts.
I got home and put on the before mentioned chef pants and a chef coat (the sweatshirt would come once this first part was done), put down a cutting board and grabbed my favorite knife. I finely diced the red onion and cut the garlic cloves into slices and then tossed them into a sauce pot that I had heated over medium-high heat with olive oil. I cooked the onion and garlic until lightly browned and then reduced the heat and added the tomatoes and some salt, pepper, dried basil and crushed red pepper.
I put a cup of white beans in a pot with three cups of water and then brought it to a boil. I had to do this because I hadn't made the decision to cook this in time to soak them overnight. Once it reached the boil I reduced the heat.
I left the sauce and beans, covered, on the lowest heat settings and just let them cook for a few hours while I donned the sweatshirt and retired to the couch.
I would eventually get back up off the couch to make the meatballs (pork, veal, bread crumbs, grated asiago cheese, eggs and seasoning) and after cooking them I served them over a bed of white beans, topped with sauce and accompanied by pan roasted brussels sprouts w/ pancetta. Shells prefers hers ordered on a plate (pictured above) while I enjoyed mine all mixed together in a bowl (below) ... try it either way and enjoy!
Typically I lean towards tacos since tortillas never go bad, and it's pretty easy, but another easy thing is a "one pot" meal. For this meal to the right, I tossed whole, uncased, sausages into a 3qt pot with a can of white beans (including the liquid), about 1/2 can of water, diced onion and some chopped basil. I left the pot slightly un-covered and cooked over medium-low heat until the liquid had reduced to a "gravy" consistency. I removed the sausages and sliced them in half and then served them over rice and then topped with the beans. Simple, easy and filling.
