Sources and resources (or how to inspire and inform yourself)

Recipes: Chipotle meatballs with spaghetti, Wedge salad, Homemade blue cheese dressing

Where can we find inspiration for growing our skill in cooking? Some are lucky enough to have a mother, or a grandmother, who passes down cherished recipes from generation to generation of good cooks. Others, like me, learn from people they haven't met yet, but who they grow to emulate and even feel intimate with -  the people who pass their knowledge on by writing cookbooks, or blogs, or articles for magazines, or by making TV cooking shows and YouTube videos.

I like to learn by reading cooking books, and when I say "reading", I mean really reading. I read cookbooks from cover to cover like a novel (such fun!), concentrating especially on the front sections. Here you'll find information on food preparation and cooking processes, and about tools and menu planning. Here you'll learn about the author-chef's philosophy of cooking and eating - talk about inspiration! Right away you'll get a feel for whether or not you'll like this author-chef's recipes, and as you read on you'll know whether the format the recipes are presented in works for you.

Many recipes are presented in an Ingredients-List-and-Cooking-Instructions format. Others, especially simple recipes, are presented in a story format, with the ingredients embedded in the story. You may prefer one over the other, and that's something to know and consider when deciding whether to purchase a particular cooking book.

Cooking books are a source of pleasure and inspiration, and are also a resource when you just can't think of what to make for dinner. You have beef stew meat and shrimp in the fridge. Which should you make and what should you do with it? You pull out one of your favorite cooking books and you look up "shrimp" in the index, then you look up "stew" or "beef stew". Can't find anything that looks good? Pull out another book and do it again. Hey, there's shrimp with pink cream sauce and pappardelle noodles. Yum! And it only takes 20 minutes to make. Now that's inspiration!

Note to you: Just because you're looking at cookbooks full of recipes, it doesn't mean you have to slavishly follow each recipe as is. Usually it's a good idea to follow a recipe the first time you make it, and then it's yours and you can tweak it or totally re-do it even. But the original is where you start, so that's the Source. Just remember to keep notes, maybe writing them in the book right next to the recipe, or you'll never remember that fabulous thing you did that was so delicious.

There are a few cooking books that I use all the time, and then there are a few more that I use quite a bit, or rely on for certain kinds of food. And then there are a few more that I use specifically for one or two dishes that I like. You don't need hundreds of books. You only need some you really like. Here are my top five recommendations, the ones I love and use all the time:

Marcella Cucina by Marcella Hazan. I've mentioned Marcella before. She's my favorite for Italian food, although she's not by any means the only Italian cook I follow. This book is where I go for braised chicken dishes, pasta sauces, vegetable dishes, and how to think in Italiano about food.

The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. Alice has got fresh taste and simple preparation down. Her recipes are scrumptious and surprisingly easy to prepare. Well, yes, it really is "simple food". I go here to figure out what to do with certain vegetables, and for Alice's roast chicken (the very best), braised pork shoulder with chilis, and other meat dishes. Also her philosophy of food and life is delightful and very relevant - as always, check out the front of the book.

The Family Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen. I use this big looseleaf binder cookbook for everything. It's my go-to source if I want to make something like blue cheese dressing (see below), or split pea soup with ham, or shrimp diavolo, and don't know how or just want to refresh my memory. The homemade BBQ sauce we did in an earlier post is there. The recipes are really good, they're healthy, and they're easy to follow. As an added bonus, there are lots of tips in this book about products and cooking methods that are interesting.

Jamie's Dinners by Jamie Oliver. The Naked Chef has put down some terrific ideas in this book. His recipe style is very casual and in the story format, encouraging you to be creative and to have fun cooking (what could be better??!) by presenting several simple and different ways of making things with each ingredient. Take corn, for example. I'm in love with his sauteed corn with chilis, ginger, and soy sauce. On the same page is a lovely creamed corn, plus plain old sweet corn with butter. His baked potatoes with several toppings (smoked salmon and sour cream, beets and cottage cheese) are fun and fabulous. Besides, he's kind of wild which is fun too! Total inspiration.

Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless. This book is tops for easy, fresh, and delicious Mexican food that'll wake up your taste buds. I go here for quick dinners that have lots of taste: Tortilla soup, quick tostadas, and chipotle meatballs, for example. I go here when I'm just hungry for Mexican, which happens a lot.

As a matter of fact, we're going to make some of Rick's chipotle meatballs for dinner! Enough of this chatter about books, OK? Let's cook.

Chipotle meatballs with spaghetti

I've altered this recipe since I started making it to include spaghetti, which makes it kind of a Mexican spaghetti and meatballs. Or an Italian spaghetti and meatballs in a Mexican chipotle sauce. Or maybe just an American mutt combination of Mexican and Italian cooking to make something beautiful.

I've also cut the original recipe in half. I've made the whole recipe just for the two of us, but it does produce 16 good-sized meatballs. They are super-delicious and, as I've mentioned before, my better half loves to have protein leftovers in the fridge. That said, that many meatballs are hard for us to consume in a timely manner. Half the recipe will probably yield enough for plenty of dinner for two, plus a few leftover meatballs to be sliced into sandwiches. You'll love it, both hot and cold.

For the meatballs:

• 2 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup dried bread crumbs or panko
• Sea salt
• 1/2 pound ground turkey or ground pork
• 1/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves

For the chipotle sauce:

• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 chile from a can of chipotle chiles en adobo plus 1 tablespoon of the chipotle canning sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1/2 pound spaghetti

 Turn the oven on to 450 degrees. In a food processor, combine the bacon and 1 garlic clove. Process until finely chopped.

Add the egg, bread crumbs and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pulse a few times to combine thoroughly, then add the turkey (or pork) and mint. Pulse until everything is well combined, but before it becomes a paste. Remove the blade.

If you don't have a food processor, you can mince these very fine with a knife. The bacon is easier to mince if it is partially frozen. Then just mix the rest of the meatball ingredients together with your hands or with a fork (chop the mint before adding).

With wet hands, form the meat into 8 plum-size balls, spacing them out in an 8 X 8 square or medium oval baking dish. Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. They'll be more brown underneath than on top.

While the meatballs are baking, combine the tomatoes (with their juice), broth, chipotles and sauce, oregano, the remaining clove of garlic cut in half, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor. Process to a smooth puree.

Now put a large pot of water to boil on the stove for the spaghetti.

When the meatballs are ready, spoon off any fat from the baking dish and then pour the tomato sauce over the meatballs, covering them evenly. Bake until the sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes.

Add a good tablespoon of salt to the pasta water and cook the spaghetti while the meatballs and sauce are baking. When the spaghetti is al dente (taste it!), drain it in a colander. You're done.

Serve two meatballs and sauce over a helping of spaghetti for each person. This dish is wonderful with a simple crisp wedge salad with blue cheese dressing, which cuts the heat of the chipotle sauce. Think Buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing, same kind of thing. The recipe for wedge salad follows.

Wedge salad with blue cheese dressing

OK, the previous recipe was an example of the Ingredients-List-and-Cooking-Instructions recipe format. This one is an example of the story format.

The wedge salad couldn't be easier. Take a head of iceberg lettuce (also called head lettuce) and remove any damaged outer leaves. Cut the head in half and wrap one of the halves in cling film. Put it in the fridge to use another time. Cut the other half in half again, so you have two quarter-heads. Put each one on a salad plate.

Spoon two tablespoons of a good purchased blue cheese dressing over each iceberg wedge. Serve.

You're done. Unless, of course, you want to . . .

!!!Step it up!!!

. . . and make your own Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing! Wow. This dressing is eons better than anything you can buy in a jar. You may even have to take the other iceberg half back out of the fridge because both of you are going to want more. Trust me. This is easy, just give it a try. You will never go back to store-bought.

 

Homemade blue cheese dressing

From The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Using a fork, mash the blue cheese, buttermilk, and garlic together in a bowl until the mixture resembles cottage cheese. If the blue cheese is hard to mash, 10 seconds in the microwave will soften it up. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Cover and refrigerate if not using right away. The dressing will keep in the fridge for 4 days; recombine it by stirring before using.