Miller's Crossing

"What's the rumpus?" Miller's Crossing was yet another passive movie choice on my part—it happened to be at the top of my Netflix (or wait, isn't it Qwikster now?!) queue and before I thought to update it, it was in the mail. It found its way to my queue in the first place because it is an early Coen brothers film and I'd heard good things about it.

(image found here)

Some expected faces appear: Gabriel Byrne as lead character Tom Reagan, John Turturro as Bernie Bernbaum—Steve Buscemi even has a small part—as well as Marcia Gay Harden as Verna. The character I based our dinner on, however, was Johnny Caspar. Played by Jon Polito, Johnny is the only Italian guy in the midst of a gang of Irish mobsters. The movie is set probably in New York/north Jersey during Prohibition. The beautiful scenery throughout is courtesy of New Orleans but the film doesn't take place there. Too bad, I love Cajun food!

Movie Rating

Plot: 2.5 stars

Cinematography: 3.5 stars

Acting: 3 stars

Average: 3 stars

Our dinner, Wiseguy Spaghetti (Squash) and Meatballs, was eye-opening and tasty even though we did a pretty bad job of following the recipe. Neither Lindsey or I had ever made spaghetti squash, but I can tell you confidently that we both will make it again. How cool that when you roast this big yellow beast, its flesh turns into vermicelli-thin strands! I still can't get over it. I'll give you the recipe as it was intended. Our mistake was using ALL the onion in the meatballs which made them pretty potent. We ended up breaking them up to form more of a hearty meat sauce so we could tolerate (and disperse!) the flavor. Even with our flub, I ate all the leftovers--yum!

Our snack was a simple tray of marinated fresh mozzarella balls, grape tomatoes, olives and peppadews with sliced baguette. Delish! We also tried spreading some of the minced sun-dried tomatoes on the baguette—very good indeed.

Wiseguy Spaghetti (Squash) and Meatballs

(adapted from this recipe)

INGREDIENTS

1 large spaghetti squash

1 lb. Italian sausage, casing removed (I used mild)

1/2 lb. lean ground beef

1 cup drained and rinsed cannellini beans

1 medium red onion, roughly chopped, divided

3 large carrots, roughly chopped, divided

5 cloves of garlic, peeled, divided

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

2 TB pre-minced sun-dried tomatoes, jarred

2 eggs

1/2 cup chopped parsley, divided

1/4 cup chopped basil

2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes

1 14-oz. can tomato sauce

1 1/2 TB balsamic vinegar

3 TB olive oil, divided

2 1/2 tsp salt, divided

Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the spaghetti squash in half, length-wise, scrape out and discard the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the squash cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the beans, 1/2 the onion, 1 carrot, and 3 cloves of garlic in a food processor. Puree until completely smooth. In a large bowl, place the sausage and ground beef along with the bean puree. Add crushed red pepper, 1 1/2 tsp salt, both eggs and 3 TB of the parsley. Mix by hand until completely blended.

Shape mixture into 12 meatballs and place on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Place in the oven along with the squash for 30 minutes.

To make the sauce, add the remaining onion, carrots and garlic to the food processor. Pulse until well chopped but not pureed. Heat 2 TB of olive oil in a large sauce pot over medium-high heat. Add teh chopped veggies and saute for 5 minutes to soften. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sun-dried tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, pepper, remaining parsley and basil. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cover and continue to simmer until meatballs are finished baking.

Remove the meatballs from the oven and carefully transfer them into the sauce. Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer another 15 minutes so the flavors combine.

Once the spaghetti squash has cooled, use a fork to scrape the flesh into strands and place in serving dishes. Top each pile of squash with sauce and meatballs.

Serve with a nice crusty baguette. Mangia!

Dinner Rating

Movie Relevance: 3.5 stars

Taste: 3.5 stars

Average: 3.5 stars