Cheese

Using tangy provolone is a nice departure from the usual cheddar in these light biscuits, which we created with the leftover bits of cheese that we serve on our sandwiches. When we put these on the menu, they sell out in two hours. Slice them in half and load them with your favorite ball. We like to make these really big, but you can use a smaller biscuit cutter. Just check the biscuits for doneness a minute sooner. If wild mushrooms aren’t available, use portobellos or buttons.

This rich dressing spikes through the creamy goodness and answers that “why doesn’t my dressing ever taste this good?” question. This recipe works as well with Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls (page 9) as it does ladled over a thick wedge of iceberg lettuce topped with a few olives, carrot shavings, and crumbled bacon to create a more-than-satisfying classic salad. This dressing will keep for up to five days in the fridge.

Now this is the stuff. Rich beyond your wildest dreams, this sauce is not for the faint of heart. We think of it as Alfredo sauce on steroids, and it’s worth every calorie! At the Shop it’s a must-order with Chicken Meatballs (page 12). There’s pretty much nothing a ladle of this creamy sauce can’t improve—stir it into sautéed spinach for instant Creamed Spinach (page 100), or spoon it over steamed cauliflower, top with Parmesan cheese, and bake in the oven for the perfect gratin.

With its rich and subtle flavor, veal is one of the traditional meats used in Italian meatballs. Here we layer it with Parmesan cheese, oregano, and aromatic vegetables. At the Shop we use veal breast, which is inexpensive and has a relatively high fat content. It is a bit more work to butcher and grind, but it’s worth the exceptional outcome. Ask your butcher in advance to bone the breast and grind it for you. Serve with Sauce Vierge (page 65) and Braised Green Beans (page 101).

These meatballs were inspired by the ingredients often found in a goat cheese tart—pungent chevre, fresh thyme, and caramelized onions. Goat meat has a flavor a bit like lamb, but gamier. Like most game meat, goat tends to be very lean, so it is important to add fat to avoid a dry meatball, and here the goat cheese delivers that fat, along with generous flavor. Try ground lamb if goat is unavailable. Serve these with Classic Tomato Sauce (page 56).

At the Shop we jokingly call these the heart-stoppers because while they are extremely rich and delicious, we wouldn’t suggest eating them every day—which is tricky because once you try them, you won’t stop craving them. Ready to really stop your heart? We have a “Family Jewels” option on the menu that allows guests to add a fried egg to any dish for a dollar. For our last meal, we would opt for steak ‘n’ bacon cheddar balls with a fried egg on top, served with Mushroom Gravy (page 63), and Creamed Spinach (page 100). For some added texture, ask your butcher to grind the beef more coarsely than usual; it gives the balls an added “steakiness.”

Here earthy ingredients from sunny Spain come together for a richly flavored meatball. A sharp Manchego sheep’s milk cheese and paprika-spiced chorizo sausage are mixed with ground pork and just a hint of red pepper flakes and garlic. When rolled into minis, these are a tapas treat. These balls stand up to the Spicy Meat Sauce (page 57) but go just as well with Classic Tomato Sauce (page 56).

Sometimes you just gotta take a break from hard-core carnivordom, and these are the way to go—just ask our staff, who eat them around the clock. These balls happen to be Mike’s favorite, too. You’ll often find us at the bar with a big bowl, topped with Classic Tomato Sauce (page 56) or Spinach-Basil Pesto (page 58) and a side of steamed or sautéed spinach. And when it comes to kids, this is a great and tasty way to sneak in more veggies.

When we think of sun-drenched Greece, we think of olives, feta cheese, preserved lemons, and oregano. These salty, tangy, and fragrant ingredients instantly transport us to the Mediterranean islands. These meatballs capture the essence of Greek flavors and roll it all up into a meatball. You can buy preserved lemons, but our quickie recipe below is a no-brainer. Serve with a big ladleful of Classic Tomato Sauce (page 56).

Adding panache to everyday ground turkey is a bit of a challenge. Here, pistachios, orange zest, and a creamy chèvre sauce step up to the plate and bring the balls home on the first run. Serve the sausage balls with the sauce for dipping as hors d’oeuvres with cocktails. Or, cook up spaghettini, set the sausage balls on top, and nap with the sauce. The chèvre sauce can also be used to blanket sautéed chicken breasts, or to drizzle, cooled, over fresh pear slices for dessert, accompanied with a crisp, not-too-dry Gewürztraminer or Riesling.

There’s almost no turn in Tuscany that doesn’t provide some sensory joy. Driving its curvy roads through low hills gently swelling up from narrow, verdant valleys, you discover olive groves that produce some of the world’s finest olive oil and vineyards that yield some of the world’s most renowned wines. Exploring the region’s old towns and cities on foot, you wind your way through dozens of museums full of famous artworks and wander into back-alley churches and quaint shops stacked with Tuscan treasures. And everywhere, there is fabulous food. The Tuscans have long produced delicious salumi, that special form of pork cookery, called charcuterie in France, that comprises prosciutto, mortadella, soppressata, salamis and other cured meats, along with fresh sausages particular to the region. In this recipe, sundried tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella flavor fresh pork sausage to deliver the taste of Tuscany.

Malt powder enriches these cookies with a creamy caramel and vanilla flavor that calls to mind a malted milk shake at an old-time soda fountain.

To make it easy to form these bow-shaped cookies, fill the pastry bag with dough in small batches; pipe two loops and then two tails rather than trying to pipe one continuous bow. Be sure all parts are touching so they bake together into one big cookie.

At holiday time, package some of these buttery, nut-edged beauties in a pretty glass jar as a gift. The slice-and-bake dough can be shaped into logs and frozen for up to two weeks.

Rich cream cheese dough, coconut–cream cheese filling, and a topper of jam make these pinwheels complex—chewy on the outside, creamy in the center. Create a variety of flavors by substituting different fruit jams for the strawberry.

These are like tiny inside-out carrot cakes, with the signature cream cheese frosting on the inside and spiced “cake” on the outside.

A double dose of spice flavors these creamy bar cookies: Chopped candied ginger is mixed into the filling, and crushed gingersnaps compose the crust.

Velvety, delicately tart cream cheese blends well with the more cakey, sugary blondie batter. The resulting bar cookies are remarkably rich and highly habit-forming.

Rugelach are traditionally hand formed into crescent shapes; here we’ve used the same ingredients to create easy-to-prepare bar cookies. The filling—a combination of chopped chocolate and dried fruit—is more traditional than the prune filling used for the rugelach on page 298.

Any sun-kissed berries will work atop the cream cheese filling in these mini chocolate cheesecake cookies.