Skip to main content

Gioia di Polpette for Foodie Reads


As we inch towards the final quarter of the Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge, I cracked the cover on a copy of Not My Mother's Kitchen: Rediscovering Italian-American Cooking Through Stories and Recipes by Rob Chirico.* I received an advance reader's copy through a giveaway and was excited to dig in.

On the Page
I have to be honest - I had a hard time finishing this book. When I was given the choice of books from the giveaway, I immediately chose this one because it involved Italian food. How could I not devour the book? I lived in Italy. I learned to cook in Italy. I'll read just about anything set in Italy and anything that includes Italian fare. Well, there were two reasons that reading the book was agonizing for me.

First, his tone bordered on disdainful towards his mother's lack of culinary skills. The first line of the introduction read, "My mother was an assassin." He continued, "Left to her own devices she laid waste to spaghetti, hamburgers, and even salad. 'Fresh' was not a word she used...."

Here's one particularly brutal assessment of his mother's cooking. "Eventually my otherwise stoic father asked her to stop making the horrific combination of cubed round steak and brown water. He confided to me that it was like eating rubber bathed in a street puddle. This is not being fair to 'brown,' which is indeed a color."

I think he meant to be funny, but how many times do we need to hear that his mother was a terrible cook? I got the picture after the first three times. Humor is difficult to write and I don't think this was as successful has he would have liked - at least not with me.

Still, growing up with awful meals, inspired Chirico to become an accomplished cook. And he truly is that. You can tell that he loves food and enjoys creating beautiful meals. Unfortunately that brings me to the second reason I struggled with this book: it has multiple personality disorder. It's part memoir, part cookbook, part kitchen manual. But the transitions between those aren't seamless. It feels simultaneously forced, stilted, and preachy.

These comments are all really just about the narrative. Regarding the recipes, Chirico writes succinctly and his expertise is evident. So, where I'd give his story a single star - out of five - I'd give his recipes four and a half stars, again out of five.

On the Plate
We are a huge fans of meatballs. So I decided to adapt his recipe for what he described as the gioia di polpette - "the joy of meatballs...." I made mine gluten-free and used pork and beef instead of pork and lamb.

Ingredients

  • 1 T olive oil
  • 3/4 C onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 C gluten-free panko breadcrubms
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
  • 3 T fresh parsley, chopped + more for garnish
  • 1 t fresh tarragon, chopped
  • 1 C grated cheese (I used a combination of pecorino and parmigiano)
  • pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • freshly ground salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 4 C roasted tomato sauce (my recipe here)
  • 1/2 C red wine
  • gluten-free flour for dusting
  • 1/2 C canola oil

Procedure
Heat 1 T olive oil in a large, flat-bottom pan. Cook the onions until softened and beginning to turn translucent. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Place all of the ingredients - to the eggs - in a large mixing bowl, including the cooled onions. Mix well, by hand, until everything is well-combined. Place flour in a shallow bowl. Form meat mixture into walnut-sized balls and roll them in flour to coat.

In a large pot, bring tomato sauce and red wine to a simmer.

In the same pot that you cooked the onions, heat 1/2 C canola oil. Brown the meatballs in batches until cooked completely through. Once the meatballs are cooked, place them in the simmering sauce. Simmer together for another 10 to 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed and sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.



Here's what everyone else read in October 2016: here.

Comments

  1. Well, I think I will pass on the book and just see if I can find his recipes on line.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry it wasn't great but at least the recipes were decent.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah dang, too bad about the narrative. But these meatballs look amazing! It is 9:20 am here and I'm already craving Italian food, thanks a lot :P

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce