Habit [hab-it]: an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.
Making good habits can be hard, breaking bad habits can be hard, but a habit by definition is easy enough to keep up once it’s going.
For a few months, I had been going to the gym every weekend, like clockwork. Then I went out of town for one itsy-bitsy weekend and I HAVE NOT BEEN BACK TO THE GYM SINCE. Oops.
Similarly, for several years Chelsea and I were in the habit of blogging. We left jobs, got new jobs, got promotions, moved houses, lost family and gained new family. We weathered a lot of storms and kept on blogging, because we relied on each other and because we had built a habit.
I don’t know exactly what happened that caused us to drop the ball… and to let it keep dropping. Whether it was Chelsea working almost twice as many hours every week than before (!), or me realizing that giving 100% to my infant daughter 24/7 meant I had nothing left to give my work, my husband or even myself.
Chelsea and I would hang out every couple months and rev each other up about starting the blog again. We’d brainstorm ideas and tell each other about all the recipes we had tested and perfected, ready to be photographed. And then… well, life gets in the way.
The trouble is, the more time passed, the more we felt we needed something EPIC to return with. The pressure mounted.
Is this the best set of pictures I have ever taken? No. Is this one of my favourite recipes of all time? Yes.
It’s like starting to go to the gym again, even though you tummy has gotten soft and your arms look more like uncooked sausages than ‘guns.’ It feels like an insurmountable obstacle, starting from the beginning again but, as the saying goes- How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
So, here’s the first bite. The perfect recipe for any time, but especially this time of year. It’s not really summer anymore, but it’s not quite fall. The weather has turned, but the tomatoes are still in the garden, with more ripening every day as the days grow darker. It’s comforting but not rich or too heavy. 
I used fresh tomatoes for this since I am INSUFFERABLE 😉 but definitely use canned if that’s what’s on hand. I only recently got into the habit of peeling my own tomatoes, once I realized how quick and easy it actually is. Plus, what else am I going to do with all these toms?
The garlic bread I serve with this is not 100% necessary but it is very, very encouraged. It might surprise you to know that there is no garlic at all in this recipe (!), which yes, does make it the perfect romantic dinner (hence the name, I decided to marry my husband the first time he made me this). But also… if you both eat garlic it’s all good?
Also, if you’re not putting cheese in your garlic bread, are you really living your best life? Nah.
So, on that note… see you next week! (probably with more tomato recipes)
I promise. <3
| Marry Me Meatballs | | Print |
- Meatballs and sauce:
- Olive oil
- 1½ cups onion, diced (1 large onion)
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp fennel seeds
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 500g lean ground beef
- 500g lean ground pork
- 1 cup panko crumbs
- ½ cup full-bodied red wine
- 1 large (796 ml/28oz) tin diced tomatoes OR 6 large fresh tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped*
- ¼ tsp granulated sugar
- .
- Garlic Bread:
- 1 fresh baguette
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced or crushed
- .
- 500g dried spaghetti
- 1 bunch fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- Fresh parmesan, grated
- Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot and add onions. Cook on medium-high heat until just starting to brown, roughly 10 minutes. Scrape onions out into a small bowl and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine egg, ricotta, fennel, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. Add half of the sauteed onion and the parsley and stir to combine. Add beef, pork and mix with your hands until just combined (over-working the meat can cause it to become a little tougher so don't worry too much about this but do keep it in the back of your mind- this is why using your hands is really... handy).
- Roll meat mixture into large balls- I like a size somewhere between a golf ball and a billiard ball (a healthy handful). Heat your heavy-bottomed pot with another glug of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, brown the meatballs (you may need to do this in a couple batches, depending on the size of your pot). Don't worry if they stick a bit or look imperfect- anything that sticks will be deglazed off and craggy meatballs let more sauce stick to them!
- Remove browned meatballs to a separate plate. Add red wine to the still-hot pan to deglaze, scraping up all those delicious caramelized oniony, meaty bits. Add diced tomatoes and the other half of the sauteed onions. Reduce the heat to medium-low and gently add the meatballs back into the pot, tucking them into the sauce a bit. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, basting the meatballs occasionally with the tomatoey sauce that forms.
- To prep the garlic bread (not mandatory but very, very encouraged), slice the baguette lengthwise, keeping one edge intact. Melt the butter in a small bowl and then add the garlic and parsley and mix together. Using a spoon, drizzle and spread the garlic butter throughout the inside of the baguette. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over one side then close the baguette and wrap it in aluminum foil. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, until the cheese is fully melted and the garlic fragrance is softened.
- Boil spaghetti noodles according to the package instructions, drain and then toss with a small glug of olive oil so the noodles don't stick together when serving. Serve immediately alongside your meatballs (sprinkled with your fresh basil and a bit more parmesan cheese) and some sliced garlic bread (and more wine... you only used half a cup in the recipe, you still have the rest of the bottle! 😉
These really were the Best meatballs I’ve ever made!
Yaaaaay!! So great to hear, Jack!
Do you mix in the panko along with the ground meat in step 2?