request fulfillment

My daughter and her husband arrived at our house Friday afternoon in time for dinner. My daughter is seven months pregnant and requested something other than carbs. Meanwhile both her husband and father desired some pasta. However, I'm told that I "ration" my meatballs. Let me explain, when I and my siblings were young, my mother served us our pasta and initially everyone got one meatball. Can I help it if I follow what my mother did?

Presented with this comment from my son-in-law, I proceeded earlier on Friday to make a fresh batch of meatballs. I've been making this recipe from the cookbook, Naples at Table, written by Arthur Schwartz, since it was published in 1998. My recipe has evolved over time to where I have adjusted certain ingredients to reflect the type of meatball I like. If you follow the recipe that Arthur wrote, you'll find the meatballs are quite soft after cooking. I prefer mine to be a bit firmer. The ingredients a minimal, but I strongly recommend that you use fresh flat leaf Italian parsley in the recipe. The recipe also calls for pecorino cheese. From Costco I purchase a large bag of cheese and keep it in my freezer with a small container in my refrigerator for regular use.

Now that I had the guys covered, for my daughter I prepared a spatchcock grilled chicken and ratatouille.   Spatchcock is a method of removing the chicken's backbone with a pair of poultry shears. I used a spatchcock chicken instead of boneless chicken breasts because Whole Foods had a whole chicken on special for $1.69/lb.  Cooking chicken on the bone yields juicier meat and removing the backbone means the chicken can lie flat on the grill and cook faster. I initially cooked the chicken on a sheet of foil to help the interior of the chicken cook more evenly.  While chicken was cooking, I prepared the vegetables to go along with the meal. I had my husband pick those up for me at Delicious Orchards. The Orchard had just gotten in some of the first New Jersey tomatoes.

I must say, my entire meal was devoured by some hungry and grateful guests. My son-in-law had unlimited access to both meatballs and tomato sauce -  my father would be proud of me. My daughter loved her chicken and ratatouille.