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05/21/2020 12:01 AMIt is May, right?
May usually means lots of sunshine and warm evenings, but we’ve had quite a bit of cold weather, too.
Still, it is my favorite season of all, because trees are budding out, tulips are bright and gorgeous, lilies and irises are two weeks away as are lilies of the valley, my birth flower.
I am grateful that the people who sold me my condo, whom I knew from the yacht club, were gardeners. The best I can do is add a few annuals, but they planted the perennials, including a healthy and lush bright red azalea.
I am also seeing much more wildlife than I’d ever seen in the six years I have lived here.
Driving down Route 1 and turning a right on my way to Eastern Point Beach, I watched a male fox ambling across the road, heading toward a small apartment complex. I turned another right to watch him and noticed a man using a walker in the fox’s way. I honked my horn so the man would not collide with him.
This morning, before I walked into my office, I looked at the parking lot and spied a turkey, the first I had seen in out complex. It was a young tom, in no hurry at all. I waited another 10 minutes and didn’t see another. I am feeding birds a bit longer than I usually do. I take away the feeders and suet and add hummingbird feeders, although I haven’t seen one ever. I am especially thrilled with catbirds and neon-yellow finches. It is warm enough to open the outside faucets so I can add water to the bird bath, which they like.
On the other hand, I still turn on my electric blanket. There is a reason we are told never to plant basil until Memorial Day. This past weekend, the cool weather had me craving a good red sauce with meatballs and sausage. And I had everything for the dish, including pork chops, chopped beef, and Italian sausage. If you have just one or two of the meats, the dish still will be fabulous.
Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.
Sunday Gravy with Sausages and Meatballs
Adapted from Johanne Killeen and George Germon, On Top of Spaghetti (Morrow, New York, 2007)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6 as a main dish
Ingredients
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 pork chops (total weight 1 to 1 ½ pounds)
• 1 ¼ pounds sweet Italian sausage, halved horizontally
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (or crushed) tomatoes
• 6-ounce can tomato paste
• cheese rinds from Parmigiano-Reggiano or bits of
Pecorino Romano (optional)
• Mary’s meatballs (see recipe below)
• 1 pound dried spaghetti or rigatoni, cooked
• freshly grated Pecorino Romano to serve
Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed stockpot. Add pork chops and sausages and brown on all sides. Transfer chops to a plate. Toss onions into pot with garlic, fennel seeds, and salt. Sauté over moderate heat, stirring frequently and scraping up any bits, until onions are soft and golden.
Put chops back in the pot with any juices. Add tomatoes, 2 cups water, and tomato paste. Drop in rinds if you have any. Cover pot, bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Gently drop meatballs, a few at a time, shaking the pot to make room for the meatballs. Cover all the meatballs, cover pot, and simmer for an hour or more.
To finish sauce, take out chops, remove bones and chop up the meat and add to sauce. Check for seasoning. Ladle sauce over hot pasta and dust with cheese.
Mary’s Meatballs
Yield: makes 26 to 28 meatballs
Ingredients
• 12 ounces ground beef
• 4 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed, cut into
tiny cubes (I used challah)
• ¾ cup milk
• ¾- to 1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
• 8 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• fine sea salt and pepper to taste
In a large mixing bowl, combine beef, bread, and milk. Add cheese, basil, parsley, egg, and salt. Mix gently but thoroughly. Form into small meatballs, no larger than 1 ½ inches in diameter.