On Family Recipes: Lasagna and Meatballs From an Italian Immigrant

Or: I don’t care for the notion of family recipes, so have some of ours.

I came across a notion recently that family secret recipes are dumb. Basically, why are you keeping good food a secret? What do you have to gain from keeping that from the world? The answer is nothing, you’re just being greedy.

My family came to America in the early 1900s from Sicily. My mom looked up Ellis Island records at one point, and it’s a point of family pride. Those were my great grandparents.

My grandfather eventually opened a deli, which was passed onto my father, who turned it into a proper Italian restaurant. My town has a tradition of Italian food and culture, including its own Little Italy district, and my parents were proud to be a part of that culture.

From that restaurant came many recipes that were family secrets. These recipes were created by my Nono and Nana, my great grandparents, who typed them onto index cards for safekeeping. Copies of those index cards were passed to me in a family cookbook when I moved out of my parents’ house.

Anyway, now that I’m not talking to them anymore, here are two of those recipes: lasagna and meatballs. My notes are added in parentheses. Enjoy!

Lasagna

5 cups meat sauce

27 slices provel cheese (it’s a St. Louis thing, just use provolone if you can’t find provel)

2 cups cheese bits (mozzarella shreds or small chunks)

26 small lasagna noodles cooked (cook them about two minutes less than the instructions call for on the box, they’ll finish cooking in the oven)

Ricotta mix (see below)

Spray bottom of pan with food release

Layer lasagna in this order:

1. Sauce
2. Pasta
3. Ricotta mix (drop it in spoonfuls, it’ll spread as you layer it)
4. 9 slices provel (provolone) cheese

Repeat this for three layers ending with pasta. (Alternate the direction of the noodles between layers, it helps with structural integrity. Feel free to cut the noodles to make them fit)

4th layer is sauce and cheese bits

Bake 350 for 45 minutes

Ricotta cheese mix

1 ½ lbs. Ricotta cheese

4 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

4 Tbsp cheese bits (mozzarella shreds)

2 Tbsp dried parsley

1 egg

1 tsp salt (table salt)

⅛ tsp pepper

MIx all ingredients together thoroughly. Set aside until needed

Matteo’s Meatballs (25–30)

2 lbs ground chuck

1 lb ground pork

2 cloves garlic minced finely (may be replaced with 1 Tbsp garlic powder

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 cups breadcrumbs

3 eggs

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 ½ cups water as needed

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp salt

Mix all ingredients and blend well

Form into meatballs about 2 oz each

Brown meatballs in oven, half an hour at 350 degrees (Use a fairly deep pan or limit the number per pan, they give off a lot of grease. Flip them about halfway through their cooking time to ensure even browning.)

Add meatballs to a pot of sauce and cook about 1 hour in sauce (This adds a rich, meaty flavor to your sauce, so you don’t have to make an actual meat sauce to get the good flavor.)

Taste and enjoy.

(These meatballs freeze incredibly well. Put the cooled, unsauced meatballs in a single layer in a ziplock bag. Freeze flat. They will keep for a few months. To reheat, add frozen meatballs to a pot of sauce and cook for 1–2 hours.)

I will likely share some more family recipes at a later point. Lord knows I’ve got plenty of them. In the meantime, enjoy!