Meatball

Cooked meatballs can be purchased at many supermarket deli or meat departments. They make this dinner a snap to pull together. Toss a salad, then tuck chocolate wafers into scoops of orange sorbet for dessert.

Located in a century-old coal warehouse that stoked the train coming from Albuquerque, the Zia Diner is in the National Register of Historic Places—and on many lists of favorite neighborhood restaurants. Regulars fuel up with such popular dishes as chicken-fried steak and meat loaf with green chilies and pine nuts. The latter provided the inspiration for another Zia Diner classic: spaghetti with chili and pine nut meatballs.

Serve these over rice as a main course, or offer as an hors d'oeuvre.

Americans enjoyed most of the food at the scores of Italian restaurants that opened in the twenties, but they couldn't understand the appeal of spaghetti and tomato sauce: Where was the meat? To accommodate, the restaurants began to top the pasta with meatballs. This recipe takes the dish a step further by adding the Sicilian flavors of pine nuts and currants.

Albóndigas con Salsa de Tomate y Chile de Serrano This is served with traditional Mexican White Rice .

Minestra You just know the Soprano family is eating the kind of Italian food that's getting harder and harder to find in our increasingly upscale Italian restaurants. This dish has that real-thing feeling; surely this is someone's grandmother's famous soup recipe. The soup is delicate but filling at the same time, with its pasta and baby meatballs. Unless you have Soprano-size appetites, this is a main-dish soup. We've cut the recipe in half so it will fit in your soup pot.

If desired, grate a little extra Parmesan cheese for passing; a sprinkling over the soup will echo the flavor in the meatballs.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A warming and filling main-course soup.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Try these flavorful meatballs on their own, in a tomato sauce or in a submarine sandwich.

Serve these hearty meatballs over noodles or mashed potatoes.

Redolent of garlic and saffron, these tiny meatballs are a sure hit at any tapas party.

Although the most authentic Swedish meatballs are not sauced, this creamy dill-and mustard-spiked dish is nevertheless hearty, comforting and flavored with ingredients popular in Swedish cooking. The meatballs are served over caraway noodles to capture every drop of the delectable sauce. Uncork a Chardonnay to go with the meal.