I have been thinking about Aunt Carmel today. I was digging through some old pictures trying to find a certain one for my friend Tammy’s web blog and came across a few pictures of Aunt Carmel. I fondly remember a day that Aunt Carmel picked me up in her light green Chevy Impala to spend the day picnicking and swimming at a local state park. The windows were rolled down, the radio was playing hits from the 60’s, and we were on our way. Wind in our hair, Aunt Carmel, her sons, Kenny and Robert, and I sang along with the tunes on the radio as we chugged along the highway. Chugged being the operative word, because Aunt Carmel always drove below the speed limit. She was driving so slow that we were pulled over by a state policeman and she was issued a ticket for driving under the minimum speed. Ticket or not that did not stop us from our day at the park. What Aunt Carmel lacked in race car driving abilities, she definitely made up for in picnic basket culinary talents.
What I loved best about picnicking with Aunt Carmel was her picnic basket lunches. She loved to take us on outings that involved picnics. Her picnic basket was always filled with great home cooked foods. No PB&J sandwiches for Aunt Carmel. She did not even break out the grill for plain old hot dogs and hamburgers. Her basket usually contained cold fried chicken, antipasto, homemade pizzas, or my favorite, rice balls. I think I was the only kid more interested in lunch than swimming. Aunt Carmel could quite honestly put Julia Child to shame. When she made rice balls, every family member devoured them with gusto and fought over the last few left on the table. We could not get enough of them. In honor of Aunt Carmel, I am posting her rice ball recipe.
Ingredients:
½ lb. each chicken liver and gizzards - 1 lb. can crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 clove crushed garlic
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- 1 tsp. basil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 lb. uncooked rice
- 1 lemon
- ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 Tblsp. cinnamon
- 1 beaten egg
- Plain bread crumbs
- In a medium sized pot cover gizzards’ in water and boil one hour.
- Add livers and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Save water and set aside.
- Cut all the meat off the gizzards, discard gummy parts.
- Finely chop the gizzards and livers.
- In another pot, combine the chopped meat, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook sauce for one hour until oil forms on top. And cool.
- Boil the rice in the set aside meat water for 17 minutes. (Do not rinse, set aside to cool.)
- To the cooled rice add the meat sauce, juice of one lemon, grated cheese, cinnamon, and egg.
- Form into oblong shape balls, dip into beaten eggs and then roll in plain bread crumbs.
- Fry in deep oil.
- Drain on paper towels and serve.
