Meatball Subs

Jeremy's Sub

Lance's Sub

Well....we're back! We were going to do grilled shrimp po boys, but we changed our mind. This was a quick Dinner Bromantic, as Jeremy was headed to the airport later in the evening to pick up his buddie Chase. Total cook and prep took about 30 minutes, but then again that is with 2 cooks. It's been a while since we got together for this and we think this is one for the win column. It was both our first times cooking meatballs. We hope you all enjoy.

For the Meatballs:

You will need: 2lbs of ground beef, ½ onion (we used red), 1 cup of Italian bread crumbs, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar, 3 jalapeno peppers, a few shakes of salt and some fresh ground pepper, hoagie rolls, and shredded mozzarella cheese.

For the meatballs:

Combine these contents into a mixing bowl and mix well:

-2lbs of ground beef

-2 eggs

-1 cup of Italian bread crumbs

-3 chopped jalapeno peppers

-1/2 chopped onion

-A few shakes of salt (about a tea spoon)

-1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

-About a teaspoon of ground black pepper

Set the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is heating, get a regular size cupcake pan and mold your meatballs into about the size of a racquet ball and put one in each of the cupcake slots. The grease drippings will end up giving your meatballs a “fried” effect. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

For the sauce:

You will need: About 12 large tomatoes, 6 cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt, 1 cup of fresh basil, 1 cup fresh oregano, and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

- Quarter and seed your tomatoes, then puree them in the food processor or blender

- Finely chop about a cup of fresh basil and a cup of fresh oregano.

- Mince 6 cloves of garlic

- Cover the bottom of your sauce pan with a thin layer of olive oil and the 6cloves of minced garlic.

- Turn the burner on medium high heat.

- Simmer until garlic becomes soft.

- Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and salt to taste.

- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and stir occasionally for 30 minutes or until sauce is a deep red color.

Plate it up with a fresh baked hoagie topped with 3 meatballs, sauce

and fresh shredded mozzarella cheese.

Serves about 6-7 six in sandwiches, enjoy!

Jeremy's analysis:

I like it, the sauce isn't quite perfect yet. Maybe it needs something to sweeten it up a bit. I do think we need to try cooking something "not spicy" Maybe it can't be done? The meatball was moist, well cooked, and a great balance of flavors.

Lance's analysis:

It all comes together beautifully. A perfect balance of heat and flavor. The sauce does need something else. I'm just not sure what that might be. Excellent crunch with the onion and pepper. All around, a great dish.

Broday Thursday

This week. Thursday. Grilled shrimp po boys. Stay tuned.

Suprise Dinner for The Wife (the recipe)

Sausage and pasta cooking.

Chopped onion and bell pepper.

Pasta bake ready for the oven.

The finished pasta bake.

So, I went to Harvey's to get some supplies for Amber to make personal apple pies for Thanksgiving. While I was there I got to thinking about cooking something nice for her, something we haven't had in a long time. Years ago, during Amber's first year in Savannah, I invited Amber and her friend over for dinner. A week or so before I invited her over I had made this, what I thought, delicious pasta bake. In the first recipe, five years ago, I used small shells, baby portobello, cilantro, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, ground beef, and Prego pasta sauce. I learned over the years with Amber that she does not care for mushrooms or cilantro, so for this nights recipe I 86ed those. Instead of ground beef I used ground Italian sausage. Instead of small shells I used rottini. Instead of Prego sauce I made the same sauce we used on the pizzas in the previous blog. I added half a red onion, and a whole bell pepper.

You will need:

1lb box of pasta (your choice), 6 medium tomatoes, a handful of fresh oregano, a handful of fresh basil, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1lb of ground Italian sausage, 1 bell pepper, 1 bag of mozzarella cheese, and 1 15oz container of ricotta cheese.

For the sauce:

-Mince your 4 cloves of garlic very fine (I used a food processor) and simmer in a small sauce pot with a tablespoon of olive oil.

-Finely chop a handful of basil and oregano (I used a food processor).

-Quarter and seed 6 tomatoes then add to the food processor and blend finely.

-Add blended herbs and tomatoes to the sauce pot.

-Bring to a boil, and stir occasionally until sauce is a deep red.

For the rest:

-While making the sauce get the pasta and sausage cooking.

-While that is cooking chop half the red onion and bell pepper.

-Preheat the oven to 350.

-Once sauce, pasta and sausage are cooked, combine pasta, sausage, sauce, onion, pepper, 3/4 the bag of mozzarella, and the ricotta in a large bowl and mix well.

-Once your ingredients are mixed place them in a large baking pan, sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top and place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes.

Suprise Dinner for The Wife

It's not the usual brodate but I thought I'd share the recipe anyway. I've got a pasta bake in the oven right now for the wife and I once she gets off work. It's a take on the first meal I ever cooked for her many years ago. Stay tuned!

Pita Bread Pizzas and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original)

Simmering minced garlic in olive oil.

Sauce ingredients just placed in the pot.

The prepared sauce.

Our pizzas ready for the oven!

Pizzas fresh out of the oven!

So... it seems that brodays are now going to be Sundays. Just a fine way to start/end the week. We began our evening with a trip to, you guessed it, Publix. We choose Publix because they have the best selection of ingredients and the best quality of ingredients. Also, the staff at Publix are just delightful. Well, where was I? Right, we made our usual trip to Publix with our list of ingredients:

Pita bread, your choice of toppings (we chose Italian pork sausage, habaneros, fetta cheese, tomatoes, red onion, and Italian 6 cheese blend), 6 fresh tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, olive oil, fresh or dried basil and oregano, and salt.

This evening's Dinner Bromantic was a little different from ones in the past. See, Lance needed a hair cut. So I took Lance to his barber and dropped him off, he got a ride home and I came and got him later from his place. While he was gone I got started on the pizza sauce and cooking the sausage.

Before you start the sauce get a frying pan on medium high heat with your sausage in with a few tablespoons of water. Cover the pan and cook on each side for about 10 minutes.

For the sauce:

- Quarter and seed your tomatoes, then puree them in the food processor or blender

- Finely chop about half a cup of fresh basil and half a cup of fresh oregano.

- Mince 3 cloves of garlic

- Cover the bottom of your sauce pan with a thin layer of olive oil and the 3 cloves of minced garlic.

- Turn the burner on medium high heat.

- Simmer until garlic becomes soft.

- Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and salt to taste.

- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and stir occasionally for 30 minutes.

The sauce should change from a pink color to a dark red. That should tell you it's good to go.

For the rest:

- Preheat the over to 400 degrees.

- Sauce your pita and add the toppings you desire.

- Top with cheese and place directly on oven rack (makes for a crispier crust).

- Bake until cheese is melted 5 to 10 minutes.

Pop in some Turtle Power and enjoy!

Our analysis:

Lance: "On the first bite you definitely get the nice flavor of the homemade sauce. The pita is toasted perfectly. There is a great crunch with each bite. The habanero may be a little too over powering for the rest of the toppings. We may want to use a different pepper next time. Perhaps a banana or red hot chili. All around it's a great dish, and I'd have to say our easiest yet."

Jeremy: "I agree Lance. All the flavors come together quite nicely. I definitely want to stay away from habaneros for a while. I think maybe next time, I should use maybe just a tablespoon of olive oil for the sauce. This is definitely worth having again."

Special thanks to The Barefoot Contessa who inspired this dish. I saw pita bread pizza on her show a few years ago and always wanted to try it.

Another special thanks to: http://inmykitchengarden.blogspot.com/2006/09/another-less-fuss-more-flavor.html for giving me the basic ingredients for the sauce.

Next on Dinner Bromantic

Next time we are making some personal pita bread pizza!