Who doesn't love meatballs? Well, maybe Mark, as you'll hear. But we're making meatballs even Mark will eat!

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, the authors of three dozen cookbooks and tens of thousands of original recipes. We've been in the food business for almost twenty-five years. This is our podcast about our passions: food and cooking.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:32] Our one-minute cooking tip: Try roasting white chocolate for a deeper, more caramelized flavor.

[02:48] We’re making meatballs! Here's the recipe:

Start by soaking 1/2 cup or 45 grams FRESH bread crumbs in 1/4 cup or 60 milliliters milk (of any sort) for about 20 minutes in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl you'll use with an electric mixer.

Crumble in 1 pound or 450 grams lean ground beef, 1 pound or 450 grams sweet Italian sausage meat (no casings), 1 large egg, 2 tablespoons dried minced parsley, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper. Mix at low speed until well and evenly combined.

Clean and dry your hands, then oil them with olive oil. Form the meat mixture into 12 balls, each about the size of a golf ball.

Put them on a lipped baking sheet and roast in a 375F or 190C convection or fan-on oven until brown, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely chop 1 small yellow or white onion (peeled), 1 large cubanelle or Italian frying pepper (stemmed and seeded), and 2 medium garlic cloves (peeled).

Warm 3 tablespoons or 45 milliliters of olive oil in a Dutch oven set over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon chopped FRESH rosemary leaves, 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon anchovy paste. Stir until fragrant, then add the chopped vegetables. Cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes.

Add 1 pound or 450 grams sliced brown button or cremini mushrooms plus 1/2 teaspoon table salt. Cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms give off their moisture and evaporates to a glaze, about 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup or 120 milliliters of dry vermouth, dry white wine, dry sherry, or unsweetened apple juice. Scrape up all the brown bits, then pour in one 24 1/2-ounce or 700-gram jar of tomato passata, preferably the Mutti brand. Fill the jar of Mutti with water, swirl it around to get every speck of passata, and pour it into the pot as well.

Bring to a simmer, add the browned meatballs, and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally but very gently.

To finish off, add 12 torn-up FRESH basil leaves and lots of ground black pepper. Taste for salt and dish it up.

[17:53] What’s making us happy in food this week: Santa Rosa plums and ice cream.

Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein and this is the podcast

2

cooking with Bruce and Mark.

3

Mark: And I'm Mark Scarborough.

4

And together with Bruce, we have

written over three dozen cookbooks.

5

This is our podcast about food

and cooking, our passions in life.

6

In this episode of the podcast, we've

got a one minute cooking tip about,

7

of all things, white chocolate.

8

We're going to be making.

9

Meatballs during this episode.

10

And we'll tell you what's making

us happy in food this week.

11

So let's get started.

12

Bruce: Our one minute cooking tip.

13

Want to be a pastry chef in your own home?

14

Try roasting white chocolate.

15

What, what, what is

roasted white chocolate?

16

When you melt it in the oven

on a sheet pan, it caramelizes.

17

It takes about 40 minutes and the sugars

caramelize and it comes out a deep.

18

It's almost like making dulce de

leche out of sweetened condensed milk.

19

Okay, so just back up.

20

So what do you do?

21

Take your white chocolate, whether

it's 6 ounces, 8 ounces, 12

22

ounces, 2 pounds, whatever it is.

23

Chop it up, put it on a baking tray.

24

Mark: A lipped baking tray.

25

Sure.

26

And you know No, not sure.

27

No, not sure.

28

Bruce: Okay, a lipped baking tray.

29

And you're going to place it in

an oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

30

And you're going to stir it

around every 5 or 10 minutes.

31

It'll take about 40 minutes until

it's all golden and caramelized.

32

Then what I like to do is

scrape it onto a piece of paper.

33

parchment, spread it out and let it cool.

34

Then you could break it up and eat it.

35

You could melt it again and use it for

desserts that call for melted chocolate.

36

You can pipe it onto things.

37

You could dip strawberries into it.

38

You can make ganache out of it.

39

It's a real.

40

big pastry chef.

41

Can you then, uh, cool it and break

it up and store it in your pantry?

42

You can, you can even mix nuts into that

and make a caramelized white chocolate

43

bark, which I think sounds really good.

44

Okay,

45

Mark: well there you are,

um, roasting white chocolate.

46

Before we get on to making

meatballs in this podcast, let me

47

say that we do have a newsletter.

48

It comes out, I don't know, maybe

twice a month, maybe once a month,

49

twice a month, something like that.

50

You can sign up for that

newsletter on our website.

51

BruceAndMark.

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com or CookingWithBruceAndMark.

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com.

54

You can then get our newsletter, which

is unrelated mostly to this podcast.

55

And I should also say, if you go

out to our website, BruceAndMark.

56

com or CookingWithBruceAndMark.

57

com, we started putting up recipes.

58

And we're currently on a jag of chocolate

chip or chocolate cookies on Twitter.

59

tiktok videos and those recipes

are going up even as we speak.

60

Check that out and find out free

recipe content on our website.

61

So up next, we're going to make meatballs.

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Bruce: Meatballs are like chicken soup.

63

Every cook makes their own version.

64

Everyone grows up thinking that the

way their mother or grandmother made

65

them is the only way they should be

66

Mark: eaten.

67

So, I have to make a confession.

68

And, um, if you don't know, if you

haven't listened to this podcast enough,

69

you don't know that I have an aversion

to, uh, well, what we called loose meat

70

growing up, but that is ground beef.

71

Or, quote unquote, ground beef.

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hamburger.

73

And if you know me, I eat hamburgers,

but I eat them blood rare.

74

And mostly I don't like ground beef.

75

I know it's this thing.

76

And I really don't like meatloaf.

77

And I

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Bruce: don't get it.

79

I don't understand that meatloaf aversion.

80

I could tell you something.

81

Mark is going to go visit his

mother in a week and I'm going

82

to be alone for four days.

83

I plan on making meatloaf.

84

Oh, good.

85

You

86

Mark: eat it all up.

87

But here's the thing about,

uh, and, uh, don't even get me

88

started on hamburger casseroles.

89

Oh, no, but that is loose meat.

90

That's

91

Bruce: disgusting.

92

Mark: Oh, God.

93

Oh, I grew up on that stuff.

94

Um, anyway, uh, I don't really

like it, but here's the thing.

95

I like meatballs.

96

And it's a really weird

thing because mostly I don't

97

really care for ground beef.

98

But, uh, But I love meatballs and I

think it has to do with the browning.

99

So we'll get

100

Bruce: to that.

101

But what I have here is beef and sausage.

102

Now, we're going to start already.

103

People are going to say, no,

meatballs have to have veal or beef.

104

They could be only beef

or only beef and pork.

105

In our house, it's a

combination of lean meat.

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Ground beef and fatty

Italian sweet sausage.

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And how much?

108

I have a

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Mark: pound of each.

110

Okay, so a pound of each.

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And also, we should say that we prefer,

and this is a big controversy in the

112

food world, but we have fresh sausages.

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breadcrumbs here.

114

So here's what happens.

115

Let me tell you way too much about our

lives as I'm staring at these breadcrumbs.

116

Uh, the, our dog gets acid reflux.

117

I know this is ridiculous to

tell you, but okay, here it is.

118

Our colleague gets acid reflux.

119

And so in order to stop that from

happening every night before bed,

120

he gets half a piece of breadcrumbs.

121

toast.

122

Um, just literally white

whipped sandwich bread toast.

123

He gets half a piece and

that helps calm it all down.

124

But we end up with a lot of

crusts from all this white bread.

125

So we always have tons of crusts in

the freezer that Bruce can then grind

126

up into fresh, not dried breadcrumbs.

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Yes, our dog likes us to cut

the crusts off his bread.

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Don't, please don't write us about that.

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So we have a half a cup

of fresh breadcrumbs.

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And by the way, you can look

for fresh breadcrumbs at most

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supermarkets at this point.

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And we've got them in

a quarter cup of milk.

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It doesn't matter what kind

of milk, whether it's low fat,

134

skim, or full fat, or all fat.

135

Oat or almond.

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Just no

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Bruce: sweetened, gross.

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And it's been sitting 20 minutes.

139

So that's nice and soft.

140

Now.

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A lot of people I know were taught

that you lift the bread out and

142

you gently squeeze the liquid out.

143

No, don't do that.

144

It's only a quarter cup and you want

that moisture In to the meatballs.

145

And here's the thing, those

breadcrumbs and milk have been

146

sitting in the bowl of my stand mixer.

147

And that's another thing that

I find is a fabulous tool.

148

So we'll talk about that as

we put this stuff in here.

149

What we're putting in here is

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Mark: that pound of ground beef and a

pound of fatty, sweet Italian sausage,

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and we're putting it in the stand mixer

with the milk and the breadcrumbs, and

152

then we're also adding a large egg.

153

Okay, so what do we need to

154

Bruce: do before we mix?

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We need to add our spices,

and they're all in here.

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Always the same.

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I keep these the same because

I want my meatballs to be

158

consistent every time I make them.

159

Two tablespoons dried minced parsley.

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Dried parsley?

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I love dried parsley in this.

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Oh my god, what are you, my grandmother?

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Yep.

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Two teaspoons of oregano, a

teaspoon of salt, and a half a

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teaspoon each of grated nutmeg.

166

And a half a teaspoon of pepper.

167

Now, see, this is, uh,

168

Mark: this is the difference

between the chef and the writer.

169

He put dried oregano in

there, but he didn't say dried

170

oregano, so I'm gonna add it.

171

Dried oregano, but dried parsley?

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Bruce: Yeah, I love dried parsley.

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Okay, I'm turning the mixer

on, I'm letting this go now.

174

I love using the stand mixer for

ground beef, And it stems from my

175

experience making Chinese Dumplings,

where you're supposed to only mix, maybe

176

you don't know this, but when you make

Chinese dumplings, you're supposed to

177

mix the meat in one direction only.

178

What?

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What?

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What?

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And you keep stirring.

182

No, it's true.

183

Only in one direction

184

Mark: until My physics brain is

speaking loudly right now, and I don't

185

have much of a physics brain left.

186

And you do that But it's speaking

187

Bruce: loudly.

188

Until the meat mixture starts to

develop little stringy bits, and they're

189

kind of all going in one direction.

190

And then You want it to be

pasty with stringy bits.

191

Look, that's what I learned.

192

I learned it from the internet.

193

And it's true.

194

I

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Mark: learned it from the

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Bruce: internet.

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Actually, okay, let's go.

198

I'm gonna turn this off.

199

We're gonna look at this.

200

You got The stringy stuff's

happening with the meme.

201

Did you learn

202

Mark: this part from the internet, too?

203

Mmm, yeah.

204

And now,

205

Bruce: the fun part.

206

Mark: I learned it.

207

I'm not over.

208

I learned it from the internet.

209

A.

210

How old are you?

211

I mean, really, honestly.

212

Very.

213

Very.

214

Yes, you deserve to be on Facebook.

215

And two.

216

Holy crap, don't we know that the

internet is a cesspool of misinformation?

217

We're on the internet.

218

Well, yeah, and, uh, we are.

219

Bruce: We're

220

Mark: part

221

Bruce: of the cesspool.

222

So, I have now oiled up my hands

with olive oil and I am forming

223

like golf ball sized balls, right?

224

And I am rubbing them with

oil and making them smooth.

225

And I am putting them on a roasting pan.

226

And Mark has turned the oven on for me.

227

What'd you turn it

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Mark: on to?

229

To 375.

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And it's on convection because we

want as much browning as possible.

231

And while we're doing this, and while

he's making these, I just want to say that

232

what I find so funny is that my New York

City husband knows what a golf ball is.

233

This just tells you how long we've

lived in the country with country clubs.

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Bruce: I grew up.

235

In New York City, going to

miniature golf, putt putt.

236

So I knew about golf balls, they were

pink and green and blue and yellow.

237

And you had to get them through

the clown's nose and all of that.

238

So I

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Mark: knew all about golf balls.

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So did you go to the putt putt that had

the Our Lady of the Bathtub like I did?

241

No,

242

Bruce: this was Jewish putt putt.

243

Jewish putt putt?

244

Yeah, it was like, you had to

get it through the menorah.

245

Oh.

246

That is absurd.

247

But it was right across the

street from the best diner that

248

ever existed in Queens, New York.

249

Yeah, I'm not

250

Mark: talking anymore to you because

you're talking about Jewish putt putt.

251

The Seville, you've been to that diner.

252

I have.

253

You have.

254

Um, okay, so what I'm gonna do is, uh,

get away from Jewish putt putt because

255

it's just the, there's too much anti

Semitism waiting to happen right there.

256

Okay.

257

I'm gonna talk about what I'm doing, which

is I am chopping a small yellow onion.

258

And I have one of those green.

259

You can also use a small green

bell pepper if you want, but, um, a

260

cubanelle or italian frying pepper,

I've stemmed it, I'm cutting it away,

261

and I'm chopping it, and I'm gonna

also chop up two cloves of garlic.

262

Bruce: And while you're doing that, I have

put a flame under my pot, and I've put

263

in three tablespoons of olive oil, and to

that, this is the way I like to do things.

264

I'm adding a tablespoon

of chopped fresh rosemary.

265

Oh, suddenly it's fresh.

266

We

267

Mark: don't have to use the dried stuff

268

Bruce: anymore.

269

One and a half teaspoons of fennel

seeds, a teaspoon of chili flakes,

270

and a teaspoon of anchovy paste.

271

And I put those aromatics

and spices into the oil.

272

And they fry up and they get

very flavorful and delicious,

273

but I don't want to burn them.

274

And then we're going to throw all those

veggies that Mark chipped up into the pan.

275

Mark: Right.

276

And so all this goes in the pan.

277

And if you're worried about anchovy

paste and you think, Gross, I

278

don't want that in meatballs.

279

Trust me, it just cooks down

and becomes this wildly Savory

280

background taste in everything.

281

It makes it so much more delicious.

282

So we're going to step away from

this for a moment and let it reduce

283

Bruce: and come back.

284

The onions and peppers are

all browned on the edges.

285

Everything is wilted down.

286

It's absolutely gorgeous.

287

So we're reducing the heat

and we're adding one pound

288

of sliced cremini mushrooms.

289

That is brown button mushrooms

or baby portobello mushrooms.

290

And here's a trick.

291

Now is the time to add salt.

292

A half a teaspoon will help draw

the moisture out of these mushrooms

293

and that moisture will evaporate.

294

I want the mushrooms to reduce and

brown just like the onions did.

295

About five minutes.

296

We got to come back to that.

297

So wait, before we do that, wait,

298

Mark: wait,

299

Bruce: wait.

300

I think

301

Mark: that this is a

really important thing.

302

Um, you do have to let mushrooms

sweat and you have to let that

303

liquid come out and then reduce down.

304

Otherwise you can have

a really watery sauce.

305

Mushrooms are So loaded

with water and moisture.

306

You really need to let that come out.

307

And plus that also, as it reduces,

adds a ton of flavor to the sauce.

308

So, okay, we're going to

cut away and come back.

309

Now it's time to deglaze the pan.

310

So we have about a half

a cup of dry vermouth.

311

You could also use unsweetened apple

juice if you don't want any liquor.

312

If you want to get fancy, you

can use dry white wine, use

313

dry cherry, use more salad.

314

You can use masala, you can get really as

315

Bruce: fancy as you want.

316

Just don't open up the a hundred

dollars bottle of Barolo.

317

Mark: Don't, no, do not deglaze with that.

318

And don't deglaze with bourbon.

319

Or if you don't wanna

burn your house down.

320

So you pour that in, scrape

and you scrape everything up.

321

And now it comes.

322

The big thing, the jar of

323

Bruce: Moody tomato sata, which

is a tomato puree from Italy.

324

We have talked about Moody before.

325

It's been one of the things

making us happy in food this week.

326

Ever since I discovered

Mutti, it is all I use.

327

In fact, this summer, it is just about

getting tomato time, and I don't even

328

think I'm going to put up my own tomatoes

this year, because there's Mutti.

329

And while I thought Mutti passata was

the best thing I ever found, I found

330

a level of Mutti that's even better.

331

It's this Toscana Mutti.

332

It gives the name of the farm

where the tomatoes are from.

333

It gives the varietal of tomatoes.

334

If you could find Mootie and you

can find this Toscana mootie, use

335

it that's been poured in and I'm not

wasting a drop of it It's very thick.

336

So I'm rinsing the jar out

with some water and pouring

337

Mark: that in Okay, and that really

honestly is the bid and so now what

338

we're gonna do is we're gonna take those

Meatballs, they have browned in the

339

oven for how long they've been in there

about 15 minutes And we're gonna take

340

them out of the oven and we're gonna put

them in this sauce and cover it reduce

341

the heat to low And let it simmer for

one hour long time It's gonna simmer

342

some of that brownie coating on the

meatballs is gonna come off into the

343

sauce It's all gonna get much richard.

344

You want this at a really slow?

345

Simmer not too much.

346

It

347

Bruce: always amazes me when people

throw meatballs right into a sauce

348

like this without browning them.

349

I don't understand that

you just boiling them.

350

They've got to be browned.

351

If you don't want to brown them in the

oven, I sure you could brown them in

352

another skillet if you want, but that

takes such a mess and so much time.

353

I have even in my life

done them in the air fryer.

354

Mark: If you, if you don't brown

your meatballs, um, just to be

355

gross, you end up with meat pudding.

356

You end up with this like really.

357

Soft meat pudding balls.

358

Oh, I just, gross.

359

Soft meat pudding balls.

360

Oh, my.

361

Okay, so this is going to go

about an hour, and we will be

362

back to taste it and dish it up.

363

Bruce: It smells so good in here.

364

The tomatoes have reduced a bit.

365

The sauce is thick, but not too thick.

366

And the last thing I want to do before we

eat it is tear up some fresh basil leaves.

367

I have like 12 basil leaves here, and

I'm going to Put those in, stir them in.

368

I want that fresh basil

flavor when we eat these.

369

We're going to ladle this up.

370

These are hot, so we're gonna

have to like do something Mark

371

hates, which is blow on your food.

372

No,

373

Mark: I'm not blowing on it.

374

I'm just waiting.

375

So what you do is you dish it up, you

coat it, you put as much grated Parmesan

376

cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, please,

into the bowl, and then I add a ton.

377

of cracked black pepper, and I

continue to salt because salt

378

is my, my weakness in life.

379

Bruce: Yeah, I think to me that the cheese

is going to add enough salt to this.

380

No, not nearly enough.

381

I am, I'm going to blow on

this because I want to try it.

382

Oh, this is so hot.

383

Savory.

384

It's hot.

385

It's hot, but it's hot.

386

It's delicious.

387

It's so savory.

388

Wow.

389

The problem with tomato sauces for me

is sometimes they could be too sweet.

390

Yes.

391

And the is not we.

392

The moti is not sweet.

393

We didn't add any sugar.

394

Yes.

395

Onions are sweet and even

mushrooms have a sweetness to them.

396

And we use sweet sausage.

397

Oh.

398

And ground beef is sweet,

but it's not sugar.

399

Sweet.

400

These are.

401

A savory deliciousness.

402

Mark: Yeah, it's really good.

403

And I just want to say that,

uh, Bruce buys the Moody.

404

It's expensive.

405

And so if you don't know this,

um, you can often find it on

406

sale at places like World Market.

407

Um.

408

Home Goods.

409

And Home Goods.

410

You can often find it there discounted.

411

And if you do, just buy it up.

412

In fact, Bruce looks at

the World Market sales.

413

And when he sees Moody on

sale, he orders a case.

414

And, uh,

415

Bruce: goes and picks it up.

416

Not only that, World Market has the thing

where if you order online and then you go

417

to pick it up, they take 20 percent off.

418

So, not only do I get a great sale,

I get even more discount on it.

419

Yeah, so,

420

Mark: it's just worth the

effort to get better tomato

421

passata, to get the real thing.

422

I know, it's crazy.

423

sounds really funny, but there's nothing

really extraordinary in our meatballs

424

other than maybe, uh, the anchovy paste.

425

Yeah.

426

There's nothing really crazy here.

427

The deal is the passata.

428

It's all about that tomato.

429

It is all about the tomato.

430

It is.

431

And we eat this not with noodles,

uh, I just should tell you.

432

We eat this with grilled baguettes.

433

Pieces, grilled bread pieces.

434

Slice them in

435

Bruce: half, rub them with olive oil, salt

them, and put them either on the grill or

436

in the air fryer until they're crunchy.

437

You can even rub the bread with

garlic and turn it into grilled

438

garlic bread if you want.

439

These are a fabulous dinner.

440

These will last us for a couple of meals.

441

And this is worth making

any time of the year.

442

Mark: Let me just say, before we get

to the last segment of the podcast,

443

it would be great if you could rate

this podcast, if you could give

444

it a review, even great podcast.

445

Thanks so much for that, because we are

unsupported and choose to remain that way.

446

And we would like to remain that way.

447

So the way that you can help us and

support us is by giving us a rating.

448

If you haven't ever done that, just

go out to whatever platform you're on.

449

And dare I ask it, give us five stars and.

450

Just a comment, like nice podcast.

451

If you can't, that really

helps things in the analytics.

452

And it's the way we can remain supported.

453

Okay.

454

As is traditional, the final

segment of this podcast, what's

455

making us happy in food this week.

456

Bruce: My sister's generosity.

457

She's the best.

458

sent a 20 pound box of Santa

Rosa plums from the tree in

459

her backyard in California.

460

She does it every year.

461

And I opened that box and I made

a 10 jars of Santa Rosa plum jam.

462

And I have cut up the.

463

Other half of them.

464

And I'm about to make Santa Rosa plum.

465

Yeah,

466

Mark: she just goes and gets a

flat rate box and shoves it full of

467

plums and mails it from California

and it shows up every year.

468

And in fact, she asked if we wanted a

second box and I might take her up on it.

469

Yeah, I know.

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It's crazy how much fruit they produce

in their backyard from these plum trees.

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And it is really good.

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What's making me happy in food this

week is something that's kind of weird.

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Um, I'm sure you can hear it.

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I'm all stopped up and

I'm a little coffee.

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And that's because yes, I have

had the plague COVID and it's

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been disgusting to have it.

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And, uh, I was my first time.

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I thought I was going to get to

donate my body to science as the first

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COVID free body, but no, I caught it.

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Um, from a very, very thoughtless

friend who chose to go out to dinner

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with us while she was testing positive.

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Um, that's a whole different subject,

but what's making me happy in food this

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week is that I've gotten to eat a lot

of ice cream and I love ice cream and

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ice cream is my go to sick food and I

have been eating ice cream like Crazy

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over the last week because it's just the

go to comfort food in the world for me.

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And yes, I prefer swirly ice creams.

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So chocolate swirls and caramel

swirls and salt caramel.

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That's all the stuff that I

really go for is the swirly ice

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creams with chocolate and caramel.

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And I've just been

indulging myself like crazy.

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And it's been really fabulous

to eat really good ice cream,

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even if I had to get the plate.

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So that's our.

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Uh, podcaster for this week.

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Thanks for being a part of

our time on the internet.

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We appreciate your being on this

journey with us, and we certainly

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appreciate your spending time

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Bruce: with us.

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And every week we tell you

what's making us happy in food.

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So go to our Facebook group, Cooking

with Bruce and Mark, and tell us what's

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making you happy in food this week.

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And we look at those, we share them.

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Sometimes we make them and talk about

them here on Cooking with Bruce and Mark.