These meatballs were made from a whole brisket where we trimmed off a lot of the fat and ground the beef ourselves. The meatballs came out flavorful but not too spicy just flavorful. They are moist but not mushy. I was told that they are very good! My idea of serving size will differ from your idea of serving size. With a small size scooper this made 76 and two mini taster meatballs. So that makes 15 or more servings (15-20) depending on how many you eat at a time and the size that you make the balls.

3 lbs ground brisket (preferably on the lean side)

1 large sweet onion – minced

1 Tablespoon bomba (Calabrian Italian hot pepper condiment)

1/2 cup parsley leaves

6 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

1 Tablespoon ground black pepper

4 Tablespoons vegetable base (adds flavor and lowers the salt content)

6 eggs – beaten

8 oz whole wheat panko (Japanese bread crumbs that are lighter and airier)

3 Tablespoons dried basil

1 Tablespoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried marjoram

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

4 Tablespoons water ********YOU MIGHT NEED LESS OR MORE depending on how the beef looks…my meat was very lean and I guessed 4 Tablespoons…and it was right. Don’t add too much or they will come out mushy. If you don’t know if you need water do your tester meat ball now (before you add water and see if it is too dry. If you add water add two tablespoons and do another tester meatball….so you can guess better.

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F and spray some baking sheets with non stick spray and set to the side.

In a large mixing bowl add EVERYTHING except for the meat and mix well.

Now mix in the beef till it’s all incorporated.

Do a tester 1/2 size meatball in the oven. It will be done in 6-7 minutes. Let it cool and taste it. Decide if it needs a little more moisture. Add maybe 2 tablespoons water and taste again. Add only 2 Tablespoons more water at a time till you like the meatballs. Use a small scooper and space the meatballs slightly.

Fill up the oven and they will be done in around 15 minutes if you used the small scooper.

Serve with your favorite tomato sauce or the winter tomato sauce recipe from The Forking Truth.

Forking Good!

The dough for these ravioli is based on hand rolled ravioli by Cooks Illustrated Magazine. I did that recipe and had trouble with it due to not using the brand flour they recommended (King Arthur). They did explain that all brands of flour are ground different so you will have a different result with each brand of flour. I’ve found that with other brands that you might need up to 1/3 cup more flour. I do love the recipe very much because it’s easy to hand roll pasta this way and you don’t have to mess with a machine. I did add salt to the original recipe because I felt it needed a small amount of salt. I happened to have spinach and delicious Taleggio cheese to use at home so that is what I filled them with. You have many choices of sauce that would work well with these ravioli. You could do browned butter, a thin white sauce laced with parmigiana, a tomato sauce, a meat sauce. I did something different but delicious. I used some of my tomato sauce. I added the drained spinach water that had lots of flavor in it and I also added the leftover spinach Taleggio ravioli filling to my tomato sauce and it tasted great and went well with the ravioli. This recipe make 12 big ravioli. My idea of serving size will differ from your idea of serving size. I think about 2 ravioli (to be eaten as a starter or side) is a serving but my husband would say that he needs at least 5 ravioli…. see what I mean? This recipe makes 12 big ravioli…Serve it the way you want.

Ingredients for around 3 servings

2 eggs

3 egg yolks (one white needs to be save and mixed well to seal ravioli)

1 cup all purpose flour plus extra to roll *****(with some brands of flour I’ve found that you might need up to 1/3 cup more flour*****)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 pinches sea salt

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (filling)

9 oz spinach (filling)

3 1/2 oz sweet onion – sliced extra thin..slightly chopped (filling)

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane (filling)

ground black pepper to taste (filling)

ground sea salt to taste (filling)

2 pinch ground white pepper (filling)

few grates fresh nutmeg (filling)

1 crushed dried Calabrian chili or a pinch of dried crushed red pepper (filling)

4 oz Taleggio cheese cut in small pieces (filling)

1/4 cup semolina flour or corn meal for laying the ravioli before you cook them

Directions

Heat up a big fry pan on medium high heat with 2 Tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onions. They will cook up like in a minute if you sliced them thin. Then add the spinach and then add the garlic, salt, peppers and nutmeg. Add the Taleggio last and take off heat and place spinach mixture in a colander that is over a bowl to drain. Put this to the side.

Make dough.

Either by hand with a fork with a bowl or in a food processor. Combine eggs, yolks, flour (you might need up to a 1/3 cup more), 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 pinches sea salt. Mix well till it feels like a smooth ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest 20 minutes.

Either roll on a rolling mat or a large cutting board. Cover surface with some extra flour and add a small amount of flour to the top of dough so that the dough doesn’t stick to it. Also you need to line some sheet tray(s) with parchment paper and put a semolina (or corn meal coating for your ravioli to rest on.

Ok now roll out some or all of the dough very thin. You can make them any shape or size you like. Mine were 3 1/2 in ch circles)

Now you use your reserved egg white to use like glue for the ends of your raviolis. Use either a pastry brush or your finger to paint on the egg white on the edges of the pasta. Filll with about a tablespoon of filling (drain the filling as you go). Slightly stretch the top layer like a pizza dough because it needs to be slightly bigger to fit over the filling. Pinch the edges together with your finger or a fork. Each ravioli needs to be placed on a semolina (or corn meal) lined pan or even a towel.

Gently boil the ravioli in either salted water or sauce. They cook up very fast like 1-2 minutes a side. I cooked mine in my tomato sauce (recipe on site) that I added the spinach water and leftover spinach filling. Topped them with some grated parmesan cheese.

Delicious I think everyone will like them!

You need a stand mixer bread flour, salt, water and active dry yeast to make these rolls. The dough will be sticky so you need to knead it with extra flour. They come out DELICIOUS! This recipe make 8 good sized rolls.

Ingredients for 8 rolls

3 1/2 cups bread flour plus extra flour for kneading

1 (slightly heaping) Tablespoon sea salt

1 3/4 cups water

1 1/2 pack active dry yeast (around slightly heaping Tablespoon)

A small amount of semolina, corn meal or flour to rest dough balls on so they don’t stick to surface.

Directions

Everything goes in your stand mixer bowl. Mix everything up by hand so you don’t have flour going all over the place. Use your dough hook and set the mixer on medium high for around 5. minutes or until the dough is like elastic.

Get a large bowl and make a nice little bed of flour for your dough ball.

Make the dough into a dough ball. kneading it till it feels like a nice dough ball.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave it sit out 4 hours. Then punch the dough down and knead it into a dough ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 10 hours.

After ten hours pull out of the refrigerator and punch the dough down and divide the dough into eight by quartering it and cutting each quarter in half.

You need to lay down a large baking sheet or two baking sheets to rest dough balls on. The sheets need either flour, corn meal or semolina on them so your dough balls don’t stick.

The eight pieces of dough need to be kneaded into balls. Place each dough ball on a baking sheet that has either flour, corn meal or semolina on it and let the dough balls double in size.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.

I used my very oiled stone to bake the rolls on but I warn you that I took a chance.

Most bread stones can’t take 500 degree heat and might crack or burst. They make bread stones out of iron now that are more durable.

If I didn’t have a stone I would have used my pizza pan lightly sprayed with non stick spray.

Mine were perfect in 11 minutes…timimg might differ slightly.

Enjoy!

I’m a fan of celebrity chef Richard Blais. I’ve been to his restaurant Juniper and Ivy in San Diego and his fast casual restaurant Crack Shack in Las Vegas. The food was out of the ordinary and was delicious. I saw him recently on the Rachel Ray Show and wanted to try his recipes. I couldn’t make them all yet but have tried his amazing salsa verde recipe and here is his Tomato Celery Leaf Salad Recipe. I think the only changes I made was to add red onion and the other only change was that I crisped up the chickpeas in the oven and added some powdered hot sauce to them so they didn’t just taste like out of the can. (I’m sure the chef cooks his own chickpeas so they taste better). The dressing I made slightly different because I didn’t have Italian seasoning so I guesstimated my own and added different vinegars. I do note that for most people a cup of celery leaves might mean like from three bunches of celery. I happen to have saved a few celery centers and just got a new one so I had enough. My idea of serving size may differ from your idea of serving size. This makes around 6 small salads that I used as a side dish. It comes out very delicious!

Ingredients for around 6 servings

2 cups cherry tomatoes cut in half (I used a 10oz container)

1 cup celery leaves (for me it was from three bunches)

1 cup garbanzo beans

1 cup toasted walnuts

1/2 cup blue cheese – crumbled or cut in small pieces

1/4 cup fresh basil

1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 Tablespoons fruit vinegar (fig, pomegranate and red wine are suggested)

Directions in a big bowl add the tomatoes, celery leaves, garbanzo beans, walnuts, blue cheese and basil.

In small bowl add the Italian seasoning, olive oil and vinegar. Mix well and serve with salad or mix into salad as desired.

My version of the dressing was 1 garlic clove (microplane), 1 teaspoon dry basil, 1 teaspoon dry oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme,1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, 3 Tablespoons olive oil, 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar and one Tablespoon balsamic vinegar. If you want to crisp up your chick peas you need to slightly dress them with canola oil and I sprinkled mine with powdered Frank’s Red Hot sauce. I put them in a 350 degree oven for around 30 minutes.

The salad came out DELICIOUS!

Special THANKS!!! To chef Richard Blais for sharing his DELICIOUS Tomato Celery Leaf Recipe with us.