Read The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook Online
Authors: The Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Tags: #Cooking
The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (90 page)
SERVES 4 TO 6
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute 6 tablespoons plain yogurt thinned with 2 tablespoons milk. When forming the meatballs, use a light touch; if you compact the meatballs too much, they can become dense and hard.
MEATBALLS
2 | slices hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed, bread torn into small pieces |
¹⁄ | cup buttermilk
|
12 | ounces 85 percent lean ground beef |
4 | ounces ground pork |
¹⁄ | cup grated Parmesan cheese |
2 | tablespoons minced fresh parsley |
1 | large egg yolk |
1 | garlic clove, minced |
³⁄ | teaspoon salt |
¹⁄ | teaspoon pepper |
Vegetable oil |
TOMATO SAUCE
2 | tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil |
1 | garlic clove, minced |
1 | (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes |
1 | tablespoon minced fresh basil |
Salt and pepper |
1 | pound spaghetti |
1 | tablespoon salt |
Grated Parmesan cheese |
1. FOR THE MEATBALLS:
Mash bread and buttermilk in large bowl using fork. Let stand 10 minutes. Mix in ground beef, ground pork, Parmesan, parsley, egg yolk, garlic, salt and pepper using hands. Pinch off and roll mixture into 1¹⁄
2
-inch meatballs (about 14 meatballs total).
2.
Add oil to 12-inch skillet until it measures ¹⁄
4
inch deep. Heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Carefully add meatballs in single layer and cook until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove meatballs with slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel–lined plate. Discard remaining oil.
3. FOR THE SAUCE:
Heat oil and garlic in now-empty skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often and scraping up any browned bits, until garlic turns golden but not brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, bring to simmer, and cook until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Gently nestle meatballs into sauce, bring to simmer, and cook, turning meatballs occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. (Sauce and meatballs can be cooled and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
4.
Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve ¹⁄
2
cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to pot. Add 1 cup sauce (without meatballs) to pasta and toss to combine. Add reserved cooking water as needed to adjust consistency. Serve, topping individual portions with more tomato sauce and several meatballs and passing Parmesan separately.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Making spaghetti and meatballs to serve a crowd can try the patience of even the toughest Italian grandmother. We sought an easier way. We found that roasting our meatballs on a wire rack, rather than frying them in batches, made our recipe faster and cleaner. Adding some powdered gelatin to a mix of ground chuck and ground pork served to plump the meatballs and lent them a soft richness. Prosciutto gave the meatballs extra meatiness and a panade, which we made with panko, kept the meat moist and prevented it from getting tough. To create a rich, flavorful sauce, we braised the meatballs in marinara sauce for about an hour. And to make sure the sauce didn’t overreduce, we swapped almost half of the crushed tomatoes in our marinara recipe for an equal portion of tomato juice.
SERVES 12
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute 1 cup plain yogurt thinned with ¹⁄
2
cup milk. Grate the onion on the large holes of a box grater. You can cook the pasta in two separate pots if you do not have a large enough pot to cook all of the pasta together. The ingredients in this recipe can be reduced by two-thirds to serve 4.
MEATBALLS
2¹⁄ | cups panko bread crumbs |
1¹⁄ | cups buttermilk |
1¹⁄ | teaspoons unflavored gelatin |
3 | tablespoons water |
2 | pounds 85 percent lean ground beef |
1 | pound ground pork |
6 | ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped fine |
3 | large eggs |
3 | ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1¹⁄ |
6 | tablespoons minced fresh parsley |
3 | garlic cloves, minced |
1¹⁄ | teaspoons salt |
¹⁄ | teaspoon pepper |
SAUCE
3 | tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil |
1 | large onion, grated |
6 | garlic cloves, minced |
1 | teaspoon dried oregano |
¹⁄ | teaspoon red pepper flakes |
3 | (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes |
6 | cups tomato juice |
6 | tablespoons dry white wine |
Salt and pepper | |
¹⁄ | cup minced fresh basil |
3 | tablespoons minced fresh parsley |
Sugar |
3 | pounds spaghetti |
2 | tablespoons salt |
Grated Parmesan cheese |
1. FOR THE MEATBALLS:
Adjust oven racks to lower-middle and upper-middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees. Set wire racks in 2 aluminum foil–lined rimmed baking sheets and spray racks with vegetable oil spray.
2.
Combine bread crumbs and buttermilk in large bowl and let sit, mashing occasionally with fork, until smooth paste forms, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over water in small bowl and allow to soften for 5 minutes.
3.
Mix ground beef, ground pork, prosciutto, eggs, Parmesan, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, and gelatin mixture into bread-crumb mixture using hands. Pinch off and roll mixture into 2-inch meatballs (about 40 meatballs total) and arrange on prepared baking sheets. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes, switching and rotating baking sheets halfway through baking.
4. FOR THE SAUCE:
While meatballs bake, heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato juice, wine, 1¹⁄
2
teaspoons salt, and ¹⁄
4
teaspoon pepper, bring to simmer, and cook until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.
5.
Remove meatballs from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Gently nestle meatballs into sauce. Cover, transfer to oven, and cook until meatballs are firm and sauce has thickened, about 1 hour. (Sauce and meatballs can be cooled and refrigerated for up to 2 days. To reheat, drizzle ¹⁄
2
cup of water over sauce, without stirring, and reheat on lower-middle rack of 325-degree oven for 1 hour.)
6.
Meanwhile, bring 10 quarts water to boil in 12-quart pot. Add pasta and salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve ¹⁄
2
cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to pot.
7.
Gently stir basil and parsley into sauce and season with sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Add 2 cups sauce (without meatballs) to pasta and toss to combine. Add reserved cooking water as needed to adjust consistency. Serve, topping individual portions with more tomato sauce and several meatballs and passing Parmesan separately.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Popular versions of this recipe too often produce bland chicken and dreary broccoli, both drowning in a fatty cream sauce whose only flavor is that of old chopped garlic. We needed a clean, fresh sauce that would enhance the flavors of fresh, crisp broccoli and tender chicken, all tossed with pasta that still had a bit of a bite. Lightly browning chicken breast strips in butter started building flavor. We kept the chicken tender and added more flavor by letting the chicken finish cooking in the sauce, and we kept the broccoli fresh and crisp by blanching it in the boiling pasta water and then putting it aside until the dish was assembled. But our real breakthrough in developing this dish was to replace the cream sauce typically used with a broth-based sauce, which we rounded out with a few tablespoons of butter, a handful of Asiago cheese, and some sun-dried tomatoes.
SERVES 4 TO 6
Be sure to use low-sodium chicken broth in this recipe; regular chicken broth will make the dish extremely salty. The broccoli is blanched in the same water that is later used to cook the pasta. Remove the broccoli when it is tender at the edges but still crisp at the core—it will continue to cook with residual heat.
4 | tablespoons unsalted butter |
1 | pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and sliced crosswise ¹⁄ |
1 | small onion, chopped fine |
Salt and pepper | |
6 | garlic cloves, minced |
2 | teaspoons minced fresh thyme |
2 | teaspoons all-purpose flour |
¹⁄ | teaspoon red pepper flakes |
2 | cups low-sodium chicken broth |
1 | cup dry white wine |
2 | ounces Asiago or Parmesan cheese, grated (1 cup), plus extra for serving |
1 | cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, patted dry and cut into ¹⁄ |
1 | tablespoon minced fresh parsley |
1¹⁄ | pounds broccoli, florets cut into 1-inch pieces, stalks discarded |
8 | ounces penne, ziti, or campanelle (2¹⁄ |
Lemon wedges (optional) |
1.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, break up any clumps, and cook, without stirring, until meat is browned at edges, about 1 minute. Stir chicken and continue to cook until almost all of pink color has disappeared, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to bowl; set aside.
2.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in now-empty skillet over medium heat. Add onion and ¹⁄
4
teaspoon salt and cook until softened and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic, thyme, flour, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in chicken broth and wine, bring to simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened slightly and measures 1¹⁄
4
cups, about 15 minutes. Stir in cooked chicken, Asiago, tomatoes, parsley, and remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cook until chicken is hot and cooked through, about 1 minute. Season with pepper to taste.
3.
Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add broccoli and 1 tablespoon salt and cook until broccoli is crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Remove broccoli using slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel–lined plate. Return water to boil, then add pasta and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve ¹⁄
2
cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to pot.
4.
Add sauce and broccoli to pasta and toss to combine. Add reserved cooking water as needed to adjust consistency. Serve immediately, passing Asiago and lemon wedges, if using, separately.