Thursday, August 11, 2011

My New Favorite......

This has become my new favorite in the store.......



Classic, simply classic. Do I need to say more.......



This is also my new favorite at our table.......






This was an experiment meal, and I am so glad that yet, unfamiliar, I  jumped on board, because it is now my FAVORITE :)

This is a Lamb Meatball Linguine, with a Lemon and Rosemary Cream Sauce.


I thought about Lamb, and I have only eaten it about about ten times in my life. Never like this, but I knew that Rosemary, Dijon Mustard, and Lemon would complement it so I started with that. This is what you will need (minus the cheese to the left. I took this picture with the thought that this is all I would use but opted to omit cheese and glad I did.).............



I don't know if I will EVER make meatballs with beef again! My kids will agree, they prefer the lamb.

Contact Gaucho Farms for your Lamb. $6.50 a pound. I used two pounds. It made around 40 + mini meatballs.


Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of what the mixture looked like before mixing and shaping, but this is what you will do.

Add your Lamb to a large mixing bowl.

Sprinkle with salt ( if you can't tell, I like sea salt and use a grinder, so I am guessing I used about 1tsp- 1 1/2 tsp)

Add two eggs-


My grandmother always taught me to crack the egg in a small bowl before adding to any of your mixtures, in case it was a bad egg (had blood in it).

Then, when ever I have left over baguette bread I freeze it for bread crumbs and croutons(shown below). so you will need to break off about a hand size of your baguette (to make around a cup of bread crumbs), and put in your mini or regular food processor.....



Add to your Lamb Mixture.

Sorry no pics, but you will now add, one LARGE sprig of chopped Rosemary (not the stem), about 2 tablespoons of Dijon Mustard (I just squirt in...sorry not exact)  and 1 chopped Green Onion.


Mix together (I use my hands) and shape into mini meatballs and lay on platter.









After your meatballs are formed, get a LARGE pot of salty water going for your Linguine. I'll say it again, most pasta dishes are bland if the noodles are not seasoned well during boiling. Trust me, I know that literally you can over salt something, but it is VERY hard to over salt pasta noodles.  I used 1 1/2 boxes of the Linguine. I boil my noodles for 10 mins. Drain and DO NOT RINSE!


I have a VERY large skillet (don't know what I would do without it!) but I realize that not everyone does, so you will probably have to cook in batches. Cook your meatballs when your noodles are going.

I heat up my large skillet with 2 cloves of garlic, olive oil and 2 tbls of butter.....




Place your meatballs in the skillet (med high heat).....



Cook about 4 mins on first side.... Flip...


And cook about 3 mins on the other. Lamb needs to be served medium rare. Do not over cook. Emily said when she was eating it, "mom, is it supposed to be a little pink in the middle". YES! Of course this is depending on the size of your meatballs (open one up while you are cooking to check and taste test if you are unsure of doneness..is that even a word, spell check say not??). It should be a light pink through the middle.

Take meatballs out of skillet and place on a plate/platter and move them out of the way. I placed my in the microwave to keep warm and out of the air.



Discard 1/2 of the dripping from meatballs, and return skillet and other reserved drippings to Med. High heat  and add the rest of your stick of butter and 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped.



Then squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon.....





crank the heat up to high heat and pour in 1-1 1/2 cup of white wine, I used a Pinot Grigio.


simmer for a couple minutes and then whisk in 8oz of heavy whipping cream.....



Add one sprig of rosemary (I just ran my knife through one time, didn't want it chopped but wanted flavor to be released from leaves)....



simmer for just a minute and pull your meatballs out and place linguine and meatballs on a large serving dish and pour sauce on top....






The sauce is not heavy in this meal, but it is very rich. It doesn't look like much from the picture, but the sauce did spread underneath the noodles. It it so YUMMY!

serve with a Creamy Caesar salad and toasty bread! Cube your left over stale baguettes and toss in a med high heated skillet with olive oil, butter and sea salt until toasted to make your own croutons......



Enjoy!! 

2 comments:

JMW said...

I can see why that dress is your favorite - adorable! And, I should really avoid reading your blog right before lunch, but it gets my stomach growling! That dish you made looks delicious!

Jessica said...

Looks like you need to open a lunch wing at Bellamia with all your tasty dishes!

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