What if you wanted beautifully written recipes, tastefully conceived, and perfectly photographed–all from home cooks–for home cooks?	What if you wanted those cooks to have worked professionally (catering, restaurants, magazines) and to have traveled the world so they could bring the best dishes back to you?

Enter Canal House Cooking, La Dolce Vita,  #7  in a series of self-published  volumes from a multi-talented duo who have worked at food, cooking, and food writing/photography most of their lives.  After leaving behind the corporate publishing/food world in order to spend more time at or near their homes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Melissa Hamilton (above, right) and Christopher Hirsheimer (above, left; she’s a she) began cooking together daily in a warehouse and keeping a record of it.   Out of that commitment comes this lovely, popular series of books that is their gift to those of us in the home-cooking “business.”   An article from WSJ tells the story more thoroughly here.

To really get to know these women a little more, watch an enchanting tiny video about them and their food in Italy (basis for the most recent book)….Here.
 

And, when you’re done reading and watching, it’s time to cook with Melissa, Christopher, and me….
So that you can spend more time at the table (who are you inviting?),  we’re making:

meatballs with mint and parsley    makes 24

*Pecorino Romano is, most likely, the pecorino (hard, often gratable sheep’s cheese) available in most American grocery stores.  Milder and less expensive than Parmesan, it’s a happy addition to pasta or salads.

Cook’s Note: I made one meatball first and cooked it to test the seasoning; I had gone easy on the black pepper and had not added any salt at all.  My thought was to maintain the freshness/lightness of the meatball so that the herbs weren’t overwhelmed.  On tasting, I did add a bit more pepper and about 1/2 tsp kosher salt.  The rest of the batch was perfect.  You could do anything you typically do with meatballs with these, but I do think they’re special and complete all on their own.  I served them with broccolini sautéed in olive oil with crushed red peppers and slices of garlic thrown in the last 2-3 minutes.  We started with a little very simple green salad.

Here’s a bit of the easy journey in photographs:

Just for fun, here’s a sample from the Canal House #7 book and their “on location work:”

We rented a farmhouse in Tuscany —– a remote, rustic old stucco and stone house at the end of a gravel road, deep in the folds of vine-covered hills. It had a stone terrace with a long table for dinners outside, a grape arbor, and apple and fig trees loaded with fruit in the garden. There was no phone, TV or Internet service, just a record player and shelves and shelves of books. It had a spare, simple kitchen with a classic waist-high fireplace with a grill. It was all we had hoped for. It was our Casa Canale for a month.

Back in the states, Melissa and Christopher are eating lunch together every day as they take a break from cooking, working, and writing.  Read their blog that chronicles those noon-time meals. 

Listen to their interview on edible radio.

Want to cook more food from Canal House?  You can do it if you…. 
Check out our team of great bloggers writing about 50 Women Game-Changers in Food

Sue – The View from Great Island   
Taryn – Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan – The Spice Garden              
Heather – girlichef
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney 
 Mary – One Perfect Bite
Barbara – Movable Feasts              
Jeanette – Healthy Living
Linda – Ciao Chow Linda              
Linda A – There and Back Again
Martha – Lines from Linderhof       
Mireya – My Healthy Eating Habits,
Veronica – My Catholic Kitchen     
Annie – Lovely Things
Nancy – Picadillo                        
Claudia – Journey of an Italian Cook

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If you liked this, you might like my Bacon-Caprese Salad with Fresh Cheese.

Make your own cheese!

or my subsequent post on Meatball Subs:

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the ‘Hood return soon…Woof from Gab and Tuck.