After a month of limited cooking, it felt good to make my shopping list, grab my reusable canvas bags like a true Park Sloper, and head out to the market for the ingredients for a mushroom ragu. My first recipe of 2010 is not a complicated one, but it is a satisfying, simple dish that reheats well the next day. It can also be doubled (or tripled) to serve as a layer in a vegetarian lasagna.

Before I get to the recipe though, I want to do a quick follow-up on my New Years resolutions. I admit I have not brought my lunch to work this week and I have not written in my journal since Monday. However, I’ve made dinner four nights and I made an appointment to have my wisdom teeth removed. (Can you hear the joy in my prose?) If you have any suggestions for good post-wisdom tooth removal recipes, I’d love to hear them. Now, on to the recipe.

Mushroom Ragu
Makes 2 sizable servings
-8 oz white or cremini mushrooms (or a mix of both), cut into 8ths
-1 small yellow onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 12oz can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
-1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
-2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
-2 tbs. olive oil
-Dash of cinnamon
-Dash of sugar
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, stirring often. Add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds.

2) Add the diced tomatoes, thyme, sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and then add the chicken broth. Simmer for 8-10 minutes over medium heat, or until most of the broth has evaporated and the sauce has thickened. Taste and season as desired.

3) Serve over pasta with a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan.

Ramsey and I have been trying to keep our weekly grocery bills under fifty dollars without sacrificing too much flavor and variety in our weeknight meals. A well stocked pantry of dry goods, new cooking methods, and planning weekly menus are three great techniques to achieve this, but sometimes you just stumble upon a combination of cheap, (mostly) fresh ingredients that create a great dish.

A prime example of this took place this evening when I made a simple dinner of spinach fettuccine with peas. While it sounds boring, the addition of onion, lemon zest, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese resulted in an expensive-tasting meal for four that cost $5.68.

Fettuccine with Peas
-1 lb. spinach fettuccine ($1.79)
-5 oz. frozen peas (.89)
-1/2 cup unsalted butter ($1.25)
-1/2 medium yellow onion, diced (.25)
-1 tsp. lemon zest (.50)
-Parmesan cheese for sprinkling ($1.00)

1. Put the water on to boil in a large pot. As the water is heating, melt the butter in a large skillet and add the diced onion. Stir often until tender and remove from heat.

2. Add the fettuccine to the boiling water and cook according to box directions. Add the frozen peas two minutes before the pasta is done.

3. Drain the pasta and return to the pot. Add the onion, melted butter, and lemon zest. Stir until the pasta is coated.

4. Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

There are two basil plants thriving on the mantle in my bedroom. I picked them up at the farmer’s market in February and they have not only been a great help to my recipes, but my wallet as well. Rather than spending two dollars for a small box of fresh basil leaves at the supermarket, I just walk ten feet, cut a few leaves off of the plants, and I’m ready to go.

The plants recently reached a stage of being weighed down by the amount of leaves that have sprouted. For the good of the plants and my dinner plans, I decided to have a basil harvest this week. It started with a simple Tomato and Basil Pasta.

Tomato and Basil Pasta
-1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
-2 cups tomatoes, diced
-3-4 oz. goat cheese, depending on your taste
-1 lb. linguine
-Black pepper to taste

1. Cook the linguine according to box directions in salted water. Before draining, reserve one cup of the pasta water and set aside.

2. Return drained pasta to the pot and add goat cheese. Stir gently until melted, then add the tomato and basil. If the tomatoes don’t provide enough additional liquid for the sauce, add the pasta water 1/4 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. You may need to put the pot over very low heat.

3. Add a dash of black pepper and serve.

Coming later this week: Pizza.

Remember the classic children’s book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, about a town where food falls from the sky for each meal? I found out recently that they’re turning it into a computer animated movie. Although the creators of “Clone High” have written and directed it, I highly doubt it will satisfy a generation for whom the book carries such strong feelings of nostalgia. I don’t know about you, but for me the book inspired many crayon drawings of houses and trees covered in a variety of foodstuffs. (I also understand they’re aiming for the twelve and under set rather than the jaded twenty-somethings in my peer group. The studios are betting we’ll all just go see the film version of Where the Wild Things Are, drawn in by a Dave Eggers screenplay, Spike Jonze’s direction, and a trailer that includes an Arcade Fire song. They’re betting right in my case, but such is life [link probably NSFW].)

Looking up information on a movie about meatballs falling from the sky naturally led me making meatballs in my kitchen. I’ve made meatballs only once before and while they turned out okay, they were far from great. After seeing a number of recipes around the web that combined ground beef with a number of other meats, I decided to try mixing ground beef and pork to create a more flavorful meatball. An additional twist was my use of whole wheat breadcrumbs instead of the traditional Italian breadcrumbs, which I believe added a very subtle nutty and sweet flavor. The recipe and more photos after the jump. Warning to vegetarian/vegan readers: raw meat photos ahead.

Basic Meatballs
-1/2 lb. ground beef
-1/2 lb. ground pork
-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
-1 cup homemade whole wheat bread crumbs (white bread is also fine)
-2 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
-2 tsp. dried oregano
-1 tsp. garlic salt
-1 tsp. kosher salt
-1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
-1 egg, lightly beaten
-2 tbs. olive oil

1. Mix together all of the ingredients except the olive oil together in a medium bowl. Use your hands to create the meatballs, making them just a bit larger than a ping pong ball.

2. Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a large saucepan over medium heat. You’ll use this pan later to create the sauce and simmer the meatballs, so make sure the sides are tall and that it has a cover. Carefully place the first batch meatballs in the pan using a set of tongs or long wooden spoon, leaving ample room around each meatball. Turn each meatball every few minutes, or until fully browned, for a total of approximately 10 minutes. Place the cooked meatballs on a plate covered with a paper towel.

3. Once all of the meatballs are cooked, pour out the oil, but don’t clean the bottom of the pan. Start the sauce.

Sauce
-2 tbs. olive oil
-1 small yellow onion, diced
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-12 oz can pureed tomatoes
-12 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes
-4 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped (2 for sauce, 2 for garnish)
-1 tsp. kosher salt
-1 tsp. black pepper
-sprinkling of red pepper flakes
-dash of sugar (optional)

1. Heat the olive oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat, then add the onion. Saute until translucent (about 5 minutes), then add the minced garlic and stir until fragrant (about 30 seconds).

2. Add the can of whole tomatoes with their juice and mash them in the pan using a wooden spoon or potato masher. Mix in the pureed tomatoes, parsley, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and sugar (if desired), and bring to a boil.

3. Add the meatballs to the sauce, gently stir to coat them, and turn down the heat to a bare simmer. Cover and cook for 25 minutes.

Pasta
-1 lb. spaghetti

1. While the meatballs are cooking, make the spaghetti according to package directions.

2. Serve the meatballs and spaghetti topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.