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W e d n e s d ay, J a n u a ry 29, 2025
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Jan Risher THE DISH
Nana’s meatballs have a surprising ingredient DeEtte Montalbano wrote last week to share her 97-yearold mother’s meatball recipe. “She’s Sicilian,” Montalbano said. “And good luck making the meatballs. My sister and I had to watch her for years.” At that point, I didn’t understand what could be confusing about a meatball recipe. Then I looked at the recipe. Recipes, It calls for at Nana’s least two cups of Meatballs water. and Italian In the ground Red Gravy beef. 3G I had never heard of such. “What makes them so tender is the water,” Montalbano said. “I just put the bowl under the sink and turn the water on. You don’t want it drippy, for sure, but it’s almost soggy. It’s more than you think it should be.” She then explained that her husband is the one who typically fries their family’s meatballs. “Some people drop them in the gravy raw. Some people bake them, but there’s nothing like frying them,” she said. She was talking to me from her car as her husband, Mike Montalbano, drove. In the background, he said, “Tell her that you don’t have to cook them through when you fry them. They can finish cooking in the gravy.” “The gravy?” I asked. “We put them in our gravy. It’s a red sauce, but in Sicily, we call that gravy,” Montalbano said. “It’s a labor of love.” Mike Montalbano explained that he was the one who does the frying of the meatballs. “If you’re going to try these, you need to know that there is so much water in them that you’ll have to change the oil out after every couple of batches,” he said. “It’s a labor of love.” His wife told me that they’ve been married for 52 years. She went on to explain that her mom, Rita Crifasi, is still “sharp as a tack” and now lives with them. “She remembers what she wore to a fifth grade birthday party,” DeEtte Montalbano said. “I’m 72 years old and still have a mother telling me what to do. She’s still got her mind, but her legs don’t work.” DeEtte Montalbano said they prepare “gourmet meals” for her mom every night — and take them to her on a tray. “We have always called her ‘Queen,’” she said. The Montalbanos suggested that, as I was preparing the meatballs, to have a scotch and toast her mom.
ä See THE DISH, page 3G
STAFF PHOTO BY JAN RISHER
Nana’s meatballs are fried but not cooked all the way through.They finish cooking in the red sauce.
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
Cook-a-Thon Stir Fry Serves 2 (scale up as needed — works best in batches when feeding a crowd). Recipe is from Jamie Oliver.
Learn to make celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s stir fry, with carrot salad on the side BY APRIL HAMILTON | Contributing writer
Saying yes to a move to Baton Rouge in the spring of 2016 is among my life’s victories. We were drowning in snow after 24 delightful years in West Virginia, and my husband had a great job offer here. He and I visited Louisiana together at the peak of Chamber of Commerce weather while fresh strawberries perfumed the air. Sign me up! Our moving van, stuffed with decades of possessions, arrived to unload during the August 2016 flood. We stepped out into the community to assist with cleanup, and a local business owner asked me if I had a job yet. My instant answer was, “I’m going to see which way my compass points.” When I left West Virginia, I was a freshly minted “Food Revolution Hero/Ambassador of Change,” per the award-winning English celebrity chef Jamie Oliver who had an extended stay in the state. His goal of improving the health of the community would be made sustainable by the locals continuing his mission of providing scratch-cooked meals in the schools and offering cooking classes around the clock in makeshift kitchens around town. The process was documented in Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution,” a docuseries that aired on ABC. I cleared my calendar to catch a front-row seat to the action. A street that runs through the center of Huntington, West Virginia — home of Marshall University — hosted the cook-athon where 1,000 people cooked in shifts, making an ultra-simple, flavorful dish. Anyone familiar with Jamie Oliver would recognize this type of task as “easy-peasy” and simultaneously packed with delicious ingredients that can make a dish in a snap. Organizers set up end-to-end banquet tables with individual propane burners that were topped with a wok and a chopping board with the ingredients — a section of prepped aromatics, a handful of colorful veggies, some thinly sliced beef and a bowl of noodles which would ultimately serve as the landing spot for the finished dish. Oliver announced from his stage in the center of the 50 or so workstations exactly how to prepare a
ä See STIR FRY, page 3G
ANOTHER RECIPE l CARROT SALAD l 3G
1 tablespoon cooking oil Handful of chopped green onions, julienned fresh ginger, thin sliced garlic, small jalapeño 4 fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced 6 ounces thin sliced raw beef 2 teaspoons honey 2 tablespoons soy sauce Cooked noodles (angel hair or somen, cooked and cooled — leftovers are great, about a handful per person) Lime wedges and fresh cilantro for serving 1. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl the pan to spread out the oil which will thin out as it heats. 2. Add the aromatic green onion, ginger, garlic, and jalapeño and cook for 1 minute. 3. Push to the side and add the mushrooms and bell pepper, continuing to cook for a minute or two to soften. 4. Push this to the side (or if minimal room is available in your pan, scoop it out to make room for the beef). 5. Add the beef and stir fry for one minute or until no longer pink. 6. Drizzle in the honey and soy sauce and stir together to lightly glaze the mixture. 7. Add the noodles and cook and stir just until they are heated. 8. Transfer to two warmed bowls and garnish each with a squeeze of lime and some handtorn cilantro sprigs.