Sunny With A Chance of Meatballs

After an invigorating class about Galileo, I hauled myself to the market, for I was very low on peaches and tomatoes. Heading to the mother/daughter green grocer stand (they were as wonderful and patient as ever as I asked for my produce), I filled my basket with tomatoes, peaches, and beautiful bell peppers (they are called pepperoni here in Italy – very confusing for people expecting a meat product). After collecting my bags, I spotted a door that I had never seen before. I went in the door and I entered into a meat wonderland.

I was surrounded by cases upon cases of meat. It was a really weird experience. The food was really fresh and a lot of the meat had parts on it that one does not find in American grocery stores. Some of the things I saw made me a little green and start seriously considering becoming a vegetarian (which is probably more environmentally conscious). But then I stopped in a pasta stand, took a deep breath, and looked at the meat market with fresh eyes. Yes, the products were being displayed in a manner not found in the USA; but it showed that the Italians utilize everything the animal has to offer, making every scrap, thus every cent, count. It is very environmentally conscious and very resourceful. I was in a world of locavores, people who live and eat by the seasons and what is available. How can I argue with that?

I walked up to a populated meat counter (lots of locals probably means good product) and looked at the offerings. I saw that ground beef was inexpensive and looked very fresh. It also seemed less threatening. When I was my turn, I politely asked for a kilo of ground beef (in Italian… very exciting). In my joy of ordering ground beef in a foreign language, I totally forgot that a kilo equals 2.2 pounds. I had too much ground beef. As I walked home with my purchases, I wondered what would be a good use for all that meat. I decided that meatballs would be the best bet.

With email guidance from my mother, I set out to make my version of meatballs. I sautéd onions and garlic, and added it to half the meat, bread, egg, salt and pepper. I divided up all the meat into the correct proportions, and filled the pan with oil on the stove. I put all the meatballs into sauté and I freaked when they started to fall apart. I called my friend via internet and told her that my meatballs were falling apart and dinner was going to be horrible. She calmly told me that if they fall apart, the sauce will turn into meat sauce instead of meatballs. With this new wave of confidence, I finished searing my meatballs and made a version of tomato sauce (with some Chianti) and set it all to bubble away happily. I poured it over pasta and my roommate and I dug in.

I have to admit that it came out really well. The meat balls were really good (nothing like my mom’s though) and the sauce was sweet and tart at the same time. My first major culinary experience was a success, giving me confidence to try something a little more complicated, yet still sticking to fresh, local ingredients. So I still have half a kilo of ground beef left – what to do? Any suggestions, my dear readers?

Ciao!