Gluten Free

This rich dressing spikes through the creamy goodness and answers that “why doesn’t my dressing ever taste this good?” question. This recipe works as well with Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls (page 9) as it does ladled over a thick wedge of iceberg lettuce topped with a few olives, carrot shavings, and crumbled bacon to create a more-than-satisfying classic salad. This dressing will keep for up to five days in the fridge.

This sauce is the cool for our rich-and-spicy Tandoori Lamb Balls (page 40), but we also think it’s pretty stellar when served alongside The Greek (page 10) and Mediterranean Lamb Balls (page 24). Try using this sauce as a marinade on pork, chicken, or lamb at your next barbecue. The acid and enzymes work like magic—you won’t believe how tender your meat will turn. This sauce will keep for up to four days in the fridge.

We change up our risotto at least once a week at the Shop, so we have sixty or seventy rotating variations that reflect each season. Here are five of our favorites, one from each season, along with a classic basic recipe and a Venetian saffron variation. When making risotto, remember that the key is to stir the rice vigorously for the first half of the cooking process to create the creamy texture that is essential to the dish. Once the rice kernels become soft, stir more gently so as not to break them up.

Sure, you want this as a quick and simple sauce for the Reuben Balls (page 29), but it is also great as a dipping sauce for shrimp, tortilla chips, or veggies. Don’t skip the caraway seeds. Their distinctive aroma elevates this above and beyond store-bought dressing. This dressing will keep for up to a week in the fridge.

The fresh punch of tomatoes, cilantro, and lime makes this sauce a natural fit for Viva la México Balls (page 27), but try it as a dip with chips too. This sauce will keep for up to four days in the fridge.

Chutney adds a ton of flavor to many different dishes. At the Shop we serve this with the Jerk Chicken Balls (page 30) because it’s the perfect counterpoint to the salty-spicy meatballs. Also, definitely try mixing this staple condiment into cooked rice or serve it alongside grilled chicken or fish. Alternatively, spread it on sandwiches, or stir it into a bit of mayo or yogurt for a quick dip. This sauce will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

We’ve revived this simple, classic French sauce with a combination of extra-virgin olive oil, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and some toasted pine nuts. It’s a summertime sauce that’s typically served with fish, but we like it with many of the meatballs, including Duck Balls (page 31) and Veal Meatballs (page 48). On a hot summer day meatballs can be dauntingly heavy, and a bright, fresh sauce can turn them into a suprisingly light lunch. Since chervil can be tricky to find, feel free to skip it if you can’t find it.

Once you taste this fast and easy go-to sauce, we’re willing to bet it will become a staple in your kitchen for any fish or chicken dish. The lemon brightens the roasted flavor of meatballs like Salmon Balls (page 34), Bouillabaisse Balls (page 23), and Chicken Meatballs (page 12). Drizzle it over braised greens or sautéed spinach for a big impact with little fuss.

Sure, you can buy barbecue sauce, but wait until you try ours—it’s what we call QC, or quick cook. You probably already have most of the ingredients in your fridge or pantry. This tangy Lower East Side creation is the star ingredient in our BBQ Pork Balls (page 11), but it shines on its own with any grilled meat or bird.

Since everyone has his or her version of this sauce, we spent a lot of time getting this one right. No surprise, the best results came from using the best ingredients. When it comes to tomato sauce, using poor-quality canned tomatoes can leave an acidic or tinny taste in your mouth. So while it is a bit more expensive, we like to use Pomi brand chopped tomatoes (you know, the ones that come in the box). The sauce starts with a careful “sweating” of onions (cooking them slowly, until translucent but not brown, to extract as much flavor as possible), and the flavor continues to build from a nice, long, low-heat simmering after the tomatoes are added.

We hate to choose favorites—we love all our “children” equally—but this sauce is the one we go to again and again and again. It has the perfect amount of kick to it, but if you prefer it spicier, feel free to add more red pepper flakes. But please—this is a big tip coming—wait a minute or two after you’ve added the red pepper flakes before adding more. Give the peppers some time to hydrate and the spice to dissolve—a little chile goes a long way but takes time before it reaches its full potential. Of course we love this sauce over pasta and on a Smash (two balls on a brioche roll with sauce and cheese) too. Try tossing in a handful of arugula with the hot pasta and sauce and allowing it to wilt, adding a generous grating of parmesan cheese on top. Perfection!

This pesto is very simple, and its mild, herbaceous flavor makes it the ideal companion for just about any of the meatballs. While many pesto recipes call for pine nuts, we prefer the flavor (and lower price) of walnuts. Try finely chopping them and adding them right at the end for a nice, crunchy texture. We also love this as a healthy party dip, especially because it has no raw garlic—your guests will thank you too! Just cut up some carrots, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and celery and you’re ready to go. You can swap arugula for spinach if you prefer. Pesto freezes well and will keep for up to three months in the freezer.

At the shop we think all holidays deserve their own meatball. In New York City, Saint Patrick’s Day is a big deal, celebrated with a major parade, and so of course a meatball was born. These are a clever twist on the usual corned beef and cabbage pairing, and they were so popular that now we serve them throughout the year. We’re not fans of artificial coloring but we suppose you could even dye them green if you wanted to. We love to serve them with Mashed Potatoes (page 79) and Mushroom Gravy (page 63).

Don’t be surprised by the texture of these preserved lemons—the inside is very soft and the outside has a bit of firmness. Use the lemons in vinaigrettes, with white beans, as a rub for steak or roast chicken, or in a marinade or sauce for chicken or seafood. They’ll keep for a week in the refrigerator.

Once veg burger and veg ball are in the sausage lexicon, why not include another offbeat member? In the spirit of having fun stepping outside the box, and for the love of my vegetarian son, Jenan, here is a cabbage leaf–wrapped brown rice, walnut, and dandelion green mix that simulates sausage without the meat. Dandelion greens are the surprise. No matter how young and tender you pick them, they retain a decidedly bitter pucker. But tucked into the brown rice, they cease to affront and instead demur to lending their healthful, herbal kick to the dish. The made-on-the-spur-of-the-moment tomato-caper sauce adds the acid element that brings it all together.

Duck was frequently on my menu when I was chef in the earliest days at what was to become the internationally acclaimed Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California. I purchased the ducks whole, with heads and feet still on, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It was always a chore to find a place to park, but I was intent on fresh-is-best even back then, plus the people and markets provided a wonderful ethnographic adventure close to home. Searching for something to do with the many necks left from cutting up the ducks, I created this duck sausage using the necks as casing. I made a broth from the bones and other trimmed bits and braised the sausages in it. Serendipity! The lengthy braising softens the skin casing almost to butter, moistening the sausages as they cook and producing a rich sauce for dressing the sausages when they are served. For this book, I have adapted the recipe to call for whole duck legs (drumstick and thigh combinations): easier to get and equally fabulous.

Portugal lies on the Iberian Peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and Spain, and many of its culinary inspirations pull from both those places. In the province of Alentejo in southern Portugal, a combination of pork and clams expresses the inherent poetry of this duality. Ruddy with paprika, fragrant with garlic, and redolent of salt air, it is an exotic, compelling dish in which land meets sea in a bowl. The Portuguese are so fond of it that it is exported with them anywhere they settle, including New Bedford, Massachusetts, where it is served with corn on the cob. The dish is traditionally made with pork meat, cubed, spiced, and marinated overnight. I have simplified the recipe by using chorizo for the pork. It provides the same spiciness and color while eliminating a lengthy step.

Paella is one of the great composed rice dishes of the world. Many regions in Spain boast of serving the “finest” rendition, but Valencia, its original home, claims the blue ribbon. Many tourist guides acquiesce. Located close by the sea, the city provides its cooks with a daily supply of fresh seafood. Squid, which blackens the rice with its ink, and mussels are abundant and have become key elements in paella valenciana, along with snails and green beans. That repertoire has been expanded to include a selection of chicken or rabbit pieces; small sausages; other shellfish, such as shrimp, crayfish, or cockles; and other vegetables, such as red bell pepper or artichoke, though not all at once. I like to use shrimp in the shell, but if you don’t think your guests will want to peel their own shrimp, you can cook them as directed, then peel them before returning them to the pan. Paella is traditionally cooked over a charcoal fire in a large, wide, two-handled shallow pan called a paellera. As is common in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures in which dishes, such as shish kebab and gyros, are cooked over an open fire, the paella cooks are traditionally men because the men own fire. Nowadays, the paellera is more often used indoors, and women as well as men cook the dish. It is always a festive offering, worthy of a get-together of any size, indoors or out. No matter who is cooking, the key to a successful paella is the rice. It must be Spanish or Italian short grain.

Adding panache to everyday ground turkey is a bit of a challenge. Here, pistachios, orange zest, and a creamy chèvre sauce step up to the plate and bring the balls home on the first run. Serve the sausage balls with the sauce for dipping as hors d’oeuvres with cocktails. Or, cook up spaghettini, set the sausage balls on top, and nap with the sauce. The chèvre sauce can also be used to blanket sautéed chicken breasts, or to drizzle, cooled, over fresh pear slices for dessert, accompanied with a crisp, not-too-dry Gewürztraminer or Riesling.