I’m Leo, a self taught home chef, who believes if you embrace slow foods, discover new flavors and learn to cook with love for your friends and family, you can change your life.
Sometimes quick and simple, sometimes healthy or indulgent, but always delicious, our recipes are perfect for expanding your palate. By expanding your palate, trying new techniques, and learning new kitchen tools, you too can become a confident home chef capable of anything in the kitchen.
There’s no better feeling as a home chef than watching a loved one’s face light up after trying a bite of your food. That moment makes me feel most alive. I hope you learn something valuable from my videos and share those moments of joyful validation too. I would be honored if you subscribe to my channel and join my journey.
Ingredients: Meatloaf: 1 pound ground beef 1 pound italian sausage 1 sleeve of saltine crackers 3/4 cup whole milk 2 eggs freshly grated OG parmigiana reggiano seasonings / spices (garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper) fontina cheese Sauce: parmigiana rind 6 garlic cloves EVOO 28 oz tomatoes 15 oz tomato sauce salt / pepper Process: preheat your oven to 400 and start on the sauce first by thinly slicing garlic and add garlic to pot on medium heat with EVOO. add tomatoes, tomato sauce, parmigiana rind, salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. make a panade with the saltines, milk, eggs, seasonings and form into a paste. add meat to panade and combine using hands all ingredients are mixed well. add freshly grated OG parmigiano reggiano to meat and combine. form loaf mixture in baking dish (sprayed with cooking spray) and pour sauce over meat, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 70 minutes. grate half a block of fontina, remove foil, add fontina and broil on high until cheese is browned. cut, serve, top with sauce and devour. eat meatloaf sandwiches the next day.
Thanks Antonio! A fresh veggie is a superpower in the kitchen. I love how Italians understand that great food relies on using high quality ingredients!
Toe-may-toe, Toe-mah-toe, but your comment is one of the reasons I LOVE Italian food and culture so much, the passion about tradition. A true hallmark of the slow foods movement
I worked as a Caregiver, my first patient was an Italian Gentleman, he was 90 years old. He told me on the second week, he was going to make his Mother's Meatballs and Gravy. He added all the ingredients to the meat and I couldn't be in the kitchen, because he didn't want me to know how to make them. After two months, he allowed me to be in the kitchen, and before he died, he allowed me to make them by myself. When he died, he had only one Son and two Grandsons, they didn't know how to make them, luckily I did. RIP Mr. Sam, I really loved you.
If you purchased San Marzano tomatoes that had "Certified" on the label then you were duped. There IS no such thing as "certified" San Marzano tomatoes! The word "Certified" means absolutely positively nothing whatsoever; it is strictly a marketing term for those ignorant of San Marzano tomatoes. Unless the label has "D.O.P." printed on it and it is not a counterfeit of an established brand then those tomatoes were not grown anywhere NEAR Sarnese-Nocerino, and therefore will taste quite different because of the different terroir. There is no Certificating Body; D.O.P. is guaranteed by the EU.
Glad you enjoyed the video Adam! Denominazione di Origine Protetta is sold by Costco sometimes, but yes there are many imposters and I agree the D.O.P. is the only trustworthy label. What's your backup if you can't find D.O.P tomatoes?
@@ZenKitchenVibes Anything Rega brand works well: passata, paste, and whole tomatoes. Tomato paste wouldn't be made from San Marzano tomatoes because there are so very few acres of them grown each year, and making tomato paste from San Marzano tomatoes would be like making red wine vinegar from a 1961 Château Margaux. The only terroir legal for growing D.O.P. San Marzano tomatoes is so small you wouldn't believe it. That, and much of it is under a highway overpass! One VERY surprising discovery is that a tin of Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes works beautifully for anything requiring tomatoes to be broken down. I hate Hunt's ketchup with a passion, and their cut-tomato products have too much Calcium Chloride in them for my palate, but their Crushed product is superb. In fact, I've stopped buying Rega passata and now just buy the Hunt's Crushed. Give it a try and you'll see. You have to go where the evidence leads.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to try the Hunt’s crushed tomatoes and see-certainly an unexpected tip. Generally speaking additives in our food is a real problem and I hope it garners some serious attention and or regulation soon.
@@ZenKitchenVibes Calcium Chloride is perfectly safe, and if it weren't present in canned diced tomato products they would be a disgusting can of slop that slid on your tongue and made you want to gag. Calcium Chloride stiffens the cell walls to keep them (more) intact for long periods of time. The issue I have with Hunt's Diced and Petite Diced products is that they use far too much Calcium Chloride. Once you've trained your palate on it, you can't miss it, the same way you can't miss too much Sodium Citrate in commercial cheese sauces.
Agreed the Dam Marzano is too sweet. Granny Ginas recipes ate superb and I have bought het recipe book. She is marvellous as she is not too long-winded. We Italians do not need a history lesson. Bit thank you. Lorenza Botticelli
Lorenza Boticelli--penso che Granny Ginas sugo e piu meglio, pero io vorrei insegnare la storia del sugo agli Americani o le gente che non sono italiani. Perdone me, mi italiano non e molto bene. Che tipo di tomate preferesci?
First time watching your video. You said a word that I haven’t heard since the 1960s or 70s went right to my Soul that my Nana used. That word was SUKU “sauce”. Your sauce recipe is also fantastic And cooking it in the oven is genius.
I bet your Nana made an incredible sugo. I love how certain foods can trigger so many nostalgic memories usually with family involved. The oven makes it so much easier and foolproof, still just as delicious as Nonna’s though.
san marzano is way too sweet for me...but the rest of this sunday sauce is amazing...I usually pass on the meatballs but your recipe looks great...thank you
Tomayto Tomahto. One of my favorite parts about Sunday sauce in general is the different ways everyone makes the sauce and have their own traditions. Braciole is really good too, but also more challenging and time consuming.
I think of it all relatively speaking. Italy’s culinary history goes back thousands of years so in the grand scheme of things, if an Italian Nonna has never tried a dish, I think it’s pretty new, but your point is well taken!
Thank you!!! Charleston is an amazing place to visit and eat. Always something new to try and learn there. It’s important to remember our history good and bad. These shrimp are addictive. Perfect for a hot humid summer day
great video! i noticed you repeated the slavery fact twice. I really liked htat you included the history of charleston in the video. keep up the good work! would love to try this out also was kind of confused about the shrimp getting to 170 degrees. thanks
I think you had it okay up until the end. It looks way too burnt and fused together. If it was just a few strands with a bit of charring I think it would've been okay. Mixing it more will make it look more appetizing too.
So tired of these you tuber making this all wrong this is not how you make this pasta it was never made this way go to Italy and see how it was made this was never made in a pan its made in an open fireplace quick and easy so disappointed 😞 every time I see this and yes I have eaten the real one make it right or don't make it at all sorry brother this is a shame good luck
TEACH ME TONY! a lot to unpack here, but the irony is I’ve spent a couple years living in Italy, and never heard of this hyperlocal Bari dish until I learned about it on RU-vid twenty years later. Home cooking is all about learning and trying new things to build your confidence and skills. There’s no shame in embracing that mindset. Good luck to you too-hope you bought the low on that Bitcoin before the halving.
I guess I see it as all relative when talking Italian culinary history. With so many dishes coming out of Italy having been perfected over thousands of years, 60 years is just a drop in the bucket. You say tomayto I say tomahto
Just a joke! Good thing my friends enjoyed the strands of spaghetti, on the bright side, bit of extra much needed protein, but alas Alan you are right--clean kitchen is important.
Was there a reason for making your pasata with grape tomatoes? It is usually made with San Marzanos, or the egg shaped Roma tomatoes that are easier to find in American markets. That was SO much more work and the ratio of sauce to skins/seeds left behind was a fraction of what larger sauce tomatoes would give you. It looks like an interesting recipe, though. I like your back story about the Persian restaurant cook.
No reason other than i had a bunch i needed to use up. I agree San Marzano's are the gold standard. My mom grows Juliets AKA mini San Marzano's in the summer here in North Carolina, those are my favorite for sauces over the summer. It was definitely a lot of work, but also fun and delicious!
I think you sound like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas talking about the good times. I miss my Italian grandparents, God rest their souls. Well done on the recipe.
@@huntercarr2637part of why I love cooking so much is the nostalgic ability food can have when you sit down to eat it. I love how when you take that bite, you are transported somewhere else in your mind. I bet your grandparents were amazing home chefs and you are reminded of them sometimes when you eat certain foods. It’s the same for me.
Ingredients: 56 oz whole San Marzano Tomatoes (crushed tomatoes OK too) 2/3 cup of beef broth 1 slab of baby back ribs (not spareribs) 1 Pound of hot Italian sausages 2.5 onions 4 cloves of garlic 3 tbs tomato paste Box of spaghetti 12 Meatballs (I made a double batch in the video) -4 oz prosciutto -2 pounds meatloaf -2 egg yolks -sleeve of saltines -4 cloves of garlic -flat leaf Italian parsley -3/4 cup of whole milk -1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper -1 cup parmigiana reggiano Process 1. Cut baby back ribs into two rib sections (season first) and brown in batches in some olive oil 2. Brown the links of hot Italian sausages 3. Add 2.5 chopped onions to pot until softened 4. Add 3 tablespoons of tomato paste and cook for a couple minutes until darkened 5. Add chopped garlic until fragrant, about thirty seconds 6. Add crushed tomatoes, or food processed whole tomatoes and beef broth and scrape the fond off the bottom of the pan 7. Add browned meats back to the pot, cover and put pot in 325 degree oven for 2.5 hours 8. Make panade for meatballs with the sleeve of saltine crackers and 3/4 cup whole milk 9. Add garlic, parsley, egg yolks, parmigiana and crushed red pepper to panade 10. Add two pounds of equal parts ground beef, ground veal and ground pork 11. Add 4 oz of chopped prosciutto 12. Combine meatball mixture together with hands and form into meatballs. Should make about 24 meatballs 13. Start browning the meatballs in some olive oil on all sides after the pot has been in the oven for two hours 14. Add meatballs to the pot and return to the oven for the final 15-20 minutes. 15. Scoop some sauce out of the pot and add to spaghetti and stir to combine 16. Devour family style
I think your heat was a little high at the beginning. I start the cook by frying spaghetti in the infused oil only then add a little sauce at a time. I use less water, I want to see the oil frying the spaghetti and hear it popping, I like to see the sauce burning a little before I flip it then add a little more sauce, rinse & repeat.
Who knew that getting drunk in my 20s and trying to make spaghetti in a skillet and accidentally "charring" it, would become culinary hit in Italy almost a decade and a half later. Ahead of my time I guess.
It does seem like a cultish internet resurgence of some sorts. I lived in Florence for a year when I was younger and then spent a summer in Perugia in 2008, and certainly ate all kinds of delicious pasta, but I never heard of Spaghetti All’Assassina until a couple of weeks ago. I’m here for the hyper local cult dishes
To me it’s kind of like if crispy chow mein, tahdig and spaghetti marinara had a ménage a trois, and then, don’t ask me how, but somehow out popped spaghetti All’Assassina.
It’s definitely different! And different can be scary sometimes when it doesn’t meet our expectations. I quite enjoyed trying something new and learning this daring new culinary technique. What don’t you like about it?
Don't worry, it's not an online trend, the dish is from the 60s: "According to Felice Giovine, a historian of Apulian cuisine, spaghetti all'assassina originates from Al Sorso Preferito, a restaurant in the city centre of Bari, where it was created in 1967" - Wikipedia
