Pasta & Fresh Tomato Sauce

Last week was busy. We had extra drama performances, a spring concert, baseball practices (and games) and the school play. My mother-in-law was in town, too, for a chance to cheer on her grandsons.

Despite all of this activity, I managed to cook dinner — twice. This is one of the meals I made.

In the time it takes for water to boil and pasta to cook, you can make a fresh and light tomato sauce instead of opening a jar. This recipe uses the same method as my recipe for Halibut with Tomato, Orange and Olives.

Cooking the tomatoes yourself is an easy way to dish up a healthy topping for pasta. A little lemon juice brightens up all those fresh flavors.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Pasta & Fresh Tomato Sauce

3/4 pound pasta (any shape; my son Sam picked out rigatoni)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 pints cherry or grape tomatoes (I like a mixture of red and yellow ones)
1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Fill a large pot with water and 1 tablespoon oil and set over high heat until it boils.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 5 to 7 minutes, until onion just starts to get light brown. Add tomatoes and let cook for a few minutes.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook per package directions. Place in serving bowl after draining.

Continue to cook tomatoes, stirring occasionally. They will begin to burst. You can also gently press down on the tomatoes to release their juices. Cook until all tomatoes have burst and sauce thickens, about 15 to 20 minutes total.

Add lemon juice, parsley salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Pour tomato sauce over pasta and gently mix to coat all of the pasta. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese or your favorite Italian cheese.

I served my pasta as a side dish with grilled baked halibut and asparagus. It makes a terrific main dish, too, along with a nice green salad.

Happy Hot Dinner Anniversary, Amy and Andrea!

It has been one year since Amy and Andrea joined our virtual dinner party here at Hot Dinner Happy Home. I know I speak on behalf of all the HDHH readers when I say we've been thrilled to have these ladies at the table!

In celebration of their blog-iversary, I'm sharing my favorite recipes from both of these gals. Without further ado...

My favorite recipe from Amy has to be Spring on Toast. Crisp bread topped with tender asparagus, runny eggs, and creamy, tangy goat cheese. I might be a bit biased about this dish because I was lucky enough to share it with Amy when I lived in Charlotte last year. Spring in Charlotte is lovely, and I'm missing the southern sunshine as I sit here in the Seattle drizzle. I think it's time to add Spring on Toast to my menu!

My favorite recipe from Andrea is Homemade Tomato Sauce, a.k.a. Sunday Gravy. Here's a true confession: I'm a little bit jealous of Andrea's Italian heritage. Most of my ancestors hail from Sweden and Ireland. You don't often hear people hankering after lutefisk or boiled potatoes. I love that Andrea's grandmother made Sunday Gravy every week for family dinner and that her various family members each add a twist to the traditional recipe. It makes me want to create food memories with my kids. And this rich, hearty Sunday Gravy is the perfect place to start.

Thanks for cooking with me, ladies!
Erin

Baked Ziti

Baked ziti is the Italian-American version of mac & cheese. The dish is filling, cheesy and so easy to make.

Growing up, baked ziti was a staple at every event — family reunions, birthday parties, any gathering, really. The meal is even immortalized in many episodes of HBO's The Sopranos.

This is also the dinner to bring to a potluck or to deliver some cheer to a favorite family. Add a bottle of wine and a green salad or dessert and you'll truly make someone feel loved.

Baked ziti is perfect for a friend with a newborn, the new neighbors down the street, or a fellow parent with kids who needs a night off from having to prep dinner (friends, you know who you are!) Since I live too far away from Erin to bring a freshly-cooked meal to her door, let's consider today's blog post my way of sending her some virtual home cooking in celebration of baby Elaine's arrival!

Keep in mind that baked ziti is designed to serve a crowd. Each 13 x 9-inch tray will satisfy a group or feed a family of four more than once. Baked ziti is also great for stocking your freezer.

This recipe is made for customizing. I like to add provolone cheese to mine. You can change the pasta shape, but do note: the tubular ziti traps the sauce and cheese inside the pasta, which makes it taste even better.

You can't really mess up this meal. Any sauce and cheese combination that you and your family love will taste delicious baked up with some ziti-shaped pasta.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Baked Ziti 

1 pound ziti pasta
2 to 4 cups of homemade tomato sauce or 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
2 to 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 pound (or less) ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded provolone, or 4 to 5 slices, cut into thin strips
1 or 2 teaspoons basil
1 or 2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Spray a deep lasagna pan or baking dish with cooking spray. The pan should be at least a 9x13x2-inch size. If your family is small, divide the recipe into two deep 8 x 8 pans. Cook one and freeze the other.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well. Place pasta in large bowl.

Add 16 ounces tomato sauce and all other ingredients except the Parmesan cheese and a 1/2 cup to 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Feel free to add more or less tomato sauce and cheese to suit your taste.

Mix well so that everything is combined.

Tip: My mom and my brother just mix everything up right in the baking pan, but whenever I do that I end up accidentally shooting a few spoonfuls onto the floor. So I use a bowl.

Transfer pasta mixture to prepared baking pan. If you like, top with more tomato sauce (I skip this step.) Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. You can throw in some provolone here, too.

For freezing: Wrap baking dish in foil and freeze for another day. When you are ready to cook the baked ziti, follow the instructions below after it has thawed in the fridge.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes to an hour or until the ziti is browned on the edges and bubbly. If the cheese on top starts to brown, cover it with foil for the rest of the cooking time.

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 or 15 minutes. Serve with a side of extra tomato sauce and your favorite wine.

At my house, my husband and sons fight over who gets the crunchy corner pieces, like this one.

Family Lasagna

If you've made our Sunday gravy and traditional Italian meatballs, then roll up your sleeves, because you are ready to tackle old-fashioned, Old World lasagna.

Fear not — if you mastered the tomato sauce and meatballs, you're practically Italian already!

I call this "family lasagna" for two reasons: It's more than enough to feed a crowd of relatives (or friends) and you can put everyone to work helping you make it. The process might seem a bit much, but I remember having lots of fun as a kid, sitting around the kitchen table with my parents, my siblings and sometimes my grandparents, chopping meatballs and sausage and mixing up the ricotta cheese filling before building the lasagna.

Yes, there are many short cuts, like using no-boil lasagna noodles or cooking ground beef with some Italian seasonings instead of making meatballs. But trust me. I've made lasagna the quick way numerous times. The final result just can't compare to the real thing.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Family Meat Lasagna

20 wavy lasagna noodles (usually 1 and 1/2 boxes)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 (15 ounce) containers of ricotta cheese
5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese, divided
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
6 cups or more of homemade tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked meatballs, chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked Italian sausage links, chopped (mild, sweet or hot)

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, adding 1 tablespoon olive oil to water to prevent sticking. After draining noodles, place them on parchment paper.

While lasagna noodles are cooking, mix together ricotta, parmesan cheese, eggs, salt and pepper.

Set up a lasagna prep station, with all ingredients in easy reach.

Cover bottom of a deep 13 x 9 inch casserole dish with 1 cup tomato sauce. Layer 5 lasagna noodles on top, slightly overlapping them.

Top noodles with 1 cup ricotta mixture, 1/2 cup chopped meatballs and 1/2 cup chopped sausage. Top with 1 cup shredded mozzarella and 1 scant cup tomato sauce.

Layer another 5 noodles on top of first meat and cheese layer. Repeat the cheese, meat, mozzarella and tomato sauce layering two more times. Top final noodle layer with tomato sauce, ensuring that corners are covered with sauce. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese on top.

Cover lasagna with foil lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake in 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil and cook for 15 minutes more. Lasagna is done when it is bubbly.

Depending on your oven, it can take as long as 90 minutes to cook. You can also bump up the temperature to 400 degrees — just check the lasagna more frequently.

Remove from oven and let lasagna sit for about 15 minutes. Then slice and serve.

**Note on make-ahead preparation: You can prepare the lasagna the night before. Just refrigerate and bake within 24 hours.

**Note on freezing lasagna: If you plan to freeze an entire lasagna, it's best to freeze before cooking. Thaw, then cook as directed above.

Sunday Gravy (Tortora family tomato sauce)

Confession time. I rarely make my own tomato sauce – or 'gravy' as us East Coast Italians call it – because it takes time to develop the deep, rich flavor that is its signature.

When I was a kid, my grandmothers made gravy nearly every Sunday, to go with the 'macaroni' we were having at that week's family gathering. When Amy asked for the Tortora tomato sauce recipe, I finally put it down on paper. In the process, I discovered many family variations: My brother adds grated carrot for sweetness. My Dad pours in some red wine. My mom tosses in a pinch of thyme and maybe a dash of sugar. My Grammy Marie always spiced it up with lots of red pepper.

The one component no one ever changes is what makes this gravy special. The tomato sauce simmers for hours with browned Italian sausage links and homemade meatballs. For special occasions such as Christmas, browned beef short ribs and brachiole (thin slices of beef rolled with parmesan cheese, parsley and basil, and tied with kitchen twine) are added.

Prefer chicken? Do what my Grandma Lucy sometimes did: Brown some chicken breasts and thighs and add them to the sauce instead of meatballs and sausage.

Vegetarian? Simply skip the meat.

If you happen to overdue it on one of the spices, as I may or may not have done recently with the red pepper flakes, fear not! Just toss in another can of tomatoes (crushed, diced or sauce) to dilute the strong flavor. You will be rewarded with extra gravy to use for making lasagna or another meal.

Finally, a warning: This recipe makes A LOT of tomato sauce. I use a 22 quart pot. This ensures plenty of room for the meatballs and sausage. If you don't have a pot this large, cut the recipe in half.

My recommendation? Buy or borrow a giant pot, invite your friends and family to dinner and make room in your freezer.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Sunday Gravy

1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil to cover the bottom of a large pot
About 2 cups diced yellow or white onion
3 to 5 minced garlic gloves
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 to 2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
3 (28 ounce) cans of crushed tomatoes
2 (14.5 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can of unseasoned tomato sauce
1 (8 ounce) can of unseasoned tomato sauce
1 cup dry red wine, optional
12 or more large cooked meatballs, optional
1 or 2 pounds of browned or baked Italian sausage links, optional

Warm oil in bottom of pot. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent. Add in spices and salt and pepper and cook until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir, cooking until mixture is caramelized. Taking the time to brown the aromatics gives the gravy a richer flavor.

Stir in all cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce. (Note: You can vary the types of tomatoes you use. For example, if you like a chunkier sauce, substitute diced tomatoes for the canned tomato sauce.) Add red wine, if using.

Bring gravy to a boil, stirring occasionally. Lower heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring a few times. Add meatballs, sausage, etc., and continue to simmer on lowest setting for at least 1 hour but preferably more (you can simmer it all day,) stirring occasionally to prevent sauce from burning in the bottom of the pot.

I recommend tasting the gravy here and there. It's OK to add in more spices as the sauce simmers to achieve the flavor you prefer.

Serve hot with your favorite pasta.

Traditional Italian Meatballs

Meatballs – easy to make and easy to use. And oh so easy to eat. Pop a few on top of spaghetti or pizza, bake some into a lasagna or cover them in cheese inside a warm submarine roll.

Meatball subs are exactly what my family eats on frenetic nights when we are rushing from after school meetings, to sports practices to church activities and somehow need to sandwich (pun intended) in a quick and tasty meal.

One thing I love about making meatballs is that my boys can help. They get a kick out of rolling the meat mixture into golf ball-sized yumminess. My youngest, Sam, helped me with our latest batch. Meatballs freeze well, too. After one recent Christmas, my freezer was stocked-full for months with the dozens of meatballs left from the 90(!!) prepared by my Mom and Grampy.

So make a double batch and store some for later. When you need a fast meal, warm in the microwave, in the oven or in a pot of your favorite tomato sauce.

This is my family's traditional Italian meatball recipe, with one slight change. My Mom uses 1 cup of breadcrumbs for every 1 pound of meat. Too bready for me, so I use fewer breadcrumbs. Feel free to add your own touches here by using ground turkey or chicken, adding chopped onion, experimenting with different seasonings or swapping out some of the dry herbs for fresh herbs you have on hand.

Meatballs are very forgiving and fun – and that's the point!

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Traditional Italian Meatballs & Meatball Subs

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal (you can replace with beef or pork)
4 eggs
1 1/2 to 3 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 tablespoons garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Place meat in large bowl and make a well in the center. Add all other ingredients into the well and mix thoroughly. I recommend using your hands. The consistency should not be too wet or too dry.

Form large or small meatballs and place in foil pans or pans lined with aluminum foil. This is where the kids can help. If you make the meatballs the size of a golf ball you should get about 36.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or longer if your meatballs are larger.

If you plan to serve these meatballs with tomato sauce, let them simmer in the sauce for a bit before eating. This nicely flavors both the sauce and the meatballs.

Meatball Subs

4 submarine or hoagie buns or a large baguette (a softer bread works a little better here)
3 to 4 golf ball-sized meatballs per sandwich
Tomato sauce
Sliced or shredded provolone and/or mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice buns lengthwise. Scoop out some of the inner breading to make a pocket for the meatballs.

Place buns on cookie sheet. Put 3 to 4 meatballs and some sauce inside each bun. Top with cheese.

Toast sandwiches in oven until cheese melts. Enjoy with a green salad.