Uncle Richard and his son, Rich, in their fully equipped basement kitchen – because what’s an Italian home without two kitchens?
Today is my Uncle Richard’s 89th Birthday. To honor him, I’m posting my most prized possession, my video of him showing me how to make meatballs and sauce. (It’s at the end of this post.) It was the highlight of my year!
Most people’s bucket lists are filled with things like: Stay in a Scottish castle, or dance in the sand in Greece. But at the top of my list has always been: Cook with Uncle Richard and learn the secret to his meatballs and sauce. The opportunity has eluded me for years, but every time I’d visit Pennsylvania, I went hoping it would happen.
To understand why, you have to know this man. He is spry, sweet and sarcastic, with a wacky streak I love!
The way he rolls his eyes when I walk in the door and says, “Oh God, look what the damned cat dragged in,” is his way of saying, “I’m happy to see you.” Then he wraps me in a tight hug and we end up sitting at his dining room table drinking wine and eating home made Sopressata with chunks of sharp cheese while he tells me stories. Aunt Blanche used to hover in the kitchen, constantly putting food on the table, and never sitting. Now, sometimes she sits with us, but because her eyesight’s bad and she’s very deaf, she interrupts a lot without realizing it. She’s adorable though. And because Uncle Richard is her hairdresser now, her hair was an interesting shade of purple when I saw her last. God bless them both.
I love hearing my uncle’s stories about growing up in Italy during World War II. He tells the remarkable story of how he blew two fingers and part of his thumb off playing with an igniter for explosives left behind after the war. (You’ll see it hasn’t stopped him at all!) He has dozens of stories and remembers details like it was yesterday.
He is a wonder, with more energy at 89 than people half his age. And he is still a fabulous cook, but when I’m home I’m always so busy visiting people, I’m never able to make the time to cook with him and learn his secrets. You have to cook alongside him to learn, because he says he doesn’t use a recipe. And, if you’ve spent any time with Italians, you know, none of them measure. I don’t even measure, but I force myself to for this blog!
Uncle Richard’s meatball
Every time I’d ask how he makes his sauce or his meatballs, he’d emphatically reply, “I DON’T HAVE A RECIPE, I JUST MAKE IT!”
But I got lucky over Labor Day weekend. I knew he was making pasta for a party, so I couldn’t wait. I called him within an hour of my arrival, to ask if I could finally be his sauce apprentice. He said he’d be cooking on Sunday and he’d call me when it was time.
Finally circumstances came together perfectly and I was going to get the chance I’d waited for, for decades! The Holy Grail of sauce was near.
I didn’t hear from him Sunday morning, so I called at 10 a.m., hoping he hadn’t started. When he said he wanted to begin soon, I said, “I’m not showering, I’m coming right over!”
“I don’t want you stinking up my kitchen!’ he said, “Go take a shower, I have to take one too.”
When I arrived, we started in his garden with gigantic, red tomatoes.
It was only then that I realized he was letting me in on his famous meatball recipe too. I could hardly contain myself. (I know, I need to get a life.)
Once the herbs, garlic and bread were processed, he scraped them into a bowl with about two pounds of beef, two pounds of pork and a few Italian sausages he said he’d had in the freezer for 17 years. (Let’s hope he was kidding.) He mixed them together, added a dash Worcestershire sauce, a dash of hot sauce, two eggs, some breadcrumbs, a sprinkling of cheese, some salt and pepper.
How much of any of this? Well, I’m going to approximate, but if you can eyeball it from the video or photos, better than my guess, more power to you. I tried to get it all on videotape, but my battery kept running out. I think I deleted 10 apps just to get as much as I did.
The video only gets most of the meatball action, I didn’t get to show our meatball taste test, or how he rolls the meatballs in wine, then flour, then fries them. And while I was rolling the meatballs in wine and flour, he started on the sauce, so I couldn’t tape it all, but I did my best. And the woman in the video is his daughter, my cousin, Nancy.
When it comes to special people in my life, Uncle Richard, or Zio Riziero is one of my absolute favorites. The My Sauce is Better Than Yours apron is really perfect for him, and was inspired by my mom and the Six Simple Words That Can End Your Life blog post. Just click on My Sauce is Better Than Yours, in the above sentence to order the apron.
His sauce is simple, creamy, almost gravy-like, and just wonderful. I can’t believe I actually got to cook with him and he’s finally sharing his recipes. I am a firm believer that moments like this are to be treasured. I hope you enjoy him as much as I do. His recipe (or as close as I could come with an Italian) is below and at the bottom is his video. I know I’m partial, but I think he’s pretty adorable. Happy Birthday Uncle Richard. I wish you many more years filled with the good health you enjoy today. Cent’anni!
Uncle Richard's Famous Meatballs
Mix together the basil, parsley, garlic and rosemary in a food processor. Then add the soaked, drained bread and process until combined. Next, mix together the three meats and add the processed bread and herb mixture. Then add the Worchestershire sauce, hot sauce, pepper, salt, bread crumbs, cheese, and eggs. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Then take a small piece and fry it in some oil in a frying pan. Taste it and see what it needs. We discovered it might need a little more salt when we did ours, but this is all to taste, so you can decide.
Once you think they taste good, start rolling them into balls about 2 inches in circumference. Then roll the meatballs in the red wine, then the flour. Then start frying them. Once they are fried, add them to your tomato sauce and let them cook for about a half hour to an hour.
Ingredients
Uncle Richard's Famous Sauce
Be sure to read this recipe carefully, because you can either use the homemade tomato sauce (which almost no one has) OR you can use the Cento canned tomatoes, which are the closest I've ever come to my mom's or Uncle Richard's canned tomatoes. But don't use both.
Pour the olive oil in a large, deep pot and saute the garlic and herbs for a minute. Then add the whole tomatoes, pulverizing them with a masher. Then let the mixture cook down until some of the water boils off. Then add the canned sauce and stir to combine.
Once you've fried all the meatballs, then fry the pork neck bones in the same oil and add the pork to the sauce. Add the fried meatballs (you don't have to add them all, you can save some in the freezer for your next sauce). Add the pork to the sauce and let it cook with the meatballs for about an hour, or until the pork is tender.
Ingredients
