Nassau County Meatballs

These easy meatballs come courtesy of Ina. They dominated the first night of Passover this year. Combine lean ground beef, salt, pepper, ketchup, plenty of bread crumbs and an egg. Shape into little balls. In pot, pour one bottle of Heinz chili sauce, the equivalent amount of water, one can of cranberry sauce (not the jellied kind), and the equivalent amount of water. Heat on a medium setting and when the liquid is hot, put the balls in and let them cook, covered for about an hour, or until they're done. Don't worry about the liquid so much--if it seems too thick, add more water. If it seems to liquidy, uncover it for a bit so some of the water evaporates. No harm done either way.

World's Easiest Brisket

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place any size brisket in an oven bag, pour in a bottle of Heinz chili sauce and a can of beer. Seal the bag, place in a roasting pan and cook for as many hours as you can stand, or until the meat is tender. Four hours is generally enough. You can also use a covered casserole dish instead of a bag.

These are Shirley's time-tested ingredients, but there are endless possibilities with this technique. Any combination of one part liquid and one part sauce will work. Bourbon and barbecue sauce? Water and Thai peanut sauce? Dos Equis and chipotles? Check out this one from Simply Recipes or post your favorite brisket recipe below.



Here's the cooked brisket, accompanied by steamed asparagus and a cabbage dish adapted from Miriam's Red Cabbage. We sliced a head of purple cabbage, chopped two peeled apples and diced an onion. We through everything in a big pot, sauteing with oil until all three ingredients were soft. Then we added sugar, water and red wine vinegar and kept cooking on a low heat for about 20 minutes. You can cook for longer or shorter, depending on how you like your cabbage.