The Sopranos S1:E3&4
"Always, with the scenarios"
Making up for a little lost time, here today’s newsletter covering two chockablock episodes plus a meatball recipe which was a successful recent experiment 🧆
Denial, Anger, Acceptance and then Meadowlands delve much deeper into the lives of Tony and Carmela’s kids, first Meadow and then AJ. While teenage Meadow is sharp, manipulating cousin Chris to get her mitts on some speed (which, WHAT?!) pre-teen AJ is a lot slower on the uptake, and unsure of his social place at school.
They also establish that, as Jackie Aprile dies, Tony’s in the running to be the next leader – but his Uncle Junior is a complication. The New Jersey mob is a family, in the most complicated of ways. Paying this off with more scene time for Carmela and the kids these last few episodes is just so satisfying.
Both of these episodes had truly phenomenal close-up acting. Here are moments I actually paused to linger on the brilliance of the writers and music coordinators.
Hunter and Meadow gurning their way through their choir solos. Bless
Carmela’s ‘come hither’ look for the help, in which her acrylic nails win best supporting actor
Tony using the lessons he learned in his Elder Care book and Uncle Junior being absolutely thrilled about it
These lobsters really caught the lens in this scene, where a group of gents tucked into enormous seafood at the Bada Bing, for god’s sake
Absolute sensory overload, no idea how they can do this!
A bit more about what happens in these eps
Denial, Anger, Acceptance
Carmela throws a silent auction at home and has Artie and Charmaine cater it out of pity
Jackie Aprile is hospitalised with his stomach cancer and Tony brings him a stripper as a fun surprise, rather than talk about his feelings
Despite his friend Hesh’s advice to turn it down, Tony and his gang takes on a job helping a local Hasidic Jewish motel owner get rid of his son-in-law
Christopher gives Meadow speed so that she won’t get the “bad shit” elsewhere. He gets mock executed by Russian gangsters and thinks Tony found out about the drugs. (It was actually Uncle Junior’s revenge)
Meadowlands
A dirty cop assaults Melfi’s date in order to run background on the therapist. Tony’s as paranoid as Chris that people are everywhere, watching
Tony’s mother Livia is an absolute pain in the arse. Melfi, Tony’s therapist, recommends a book about elder care and relates it to parenting: let them think they’re in control
Tony and the other Capos talk over strip club lobster about who should take over from Jackie. All roads lead to Tony, until he takes up the above lesson and gives Uncle Junior control
On this last point: fascinating. Tony is playing a long game here. He has the backing of almost everyone without even having to fight for it – his hard work was done before the show even started. But Uncle Junior has it in for him and for Chris. Plus, as Tony puts it to one of his lobster dinner compadres:
“You just don’t want a wire up your ass. You don’t want the headache.”
Episode fuel:
Espressos in the sun outside Satriale’s, lush
Artie’s quails (“stop squeezin’ ‘em”)
Prosciutto/tomato sauce/arancini food fight
Massive sandwiches eaten by Tony’s crew mid-torture-session
Macaroons for Livia who is, as usual, a nightmare
Those giant lobsters in the strip club, which, again, why?
Episode Prozac:
Literally the meth that Chris gives Meadow
Xanax for Tony, cause he needs a little extra help
Carmela’s orange dress at the recital. She glowed, like a hot ember among identical charcoal briquettes
Meadow PRINTING OFF some kind of myspace website about the mob with flashing bullets on it. Iconic
Melfi’s “I thought we made some progress on your narcissism” – just perfect
Uncle Junior absolutely lapping up the attention at Jackie’s funeral. Including the feds’ attention!
Chris frayed to his absolute last nerve, in sunglasses and a neck brace – just so well acted by Michael Imperioli
Lemony venison and hazlenut meatballs
These are a light and fresh-tasting style of meatballs , and fairly healthy as venison is lean and organic. I personally really enjoy venison and it’s affordable in London. You could always sub for sausage or beef if you do want something richer, or lean veal (if you do veal) or turkey mince if you want a more similar effect to the venison but without the gaminess.
I put lemon in EVERYTHING but I really do think it works great here.
500g venison mince
Zest of 1 large unwaxed lemon
About 85g breadcrumbs (I toasted and blended gluten-free bread to make mine)
About the same weight in hazelnuts, blended into breadcrumb texture
About 6 tbsp milk
1 egg
Whatever dried/fresh herbs and spices you like
1 clove garlic
Let your mince, egg and milk come up to room temperature.
You can start prepping by mincing your garlic, zesting your lemon, and getting your nuts and breadcrumbs ready. I blended fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, mint, parsley) with my hazelnuts.
If you’re using dried herbs and spices, you might want to toast and grind them. I did this with fennel seeds, chilli flakes, and dried oregano. Warm the milk up in their pan and add them back in to steep a bit.
Soak your breadcrumbs in the warm spiced milk. They might not soak it all up, that’s totally fine. Give it a few minutes.
Gently break up the meat by hand and start to mix in your minced garlic, lemon zest, hazelnut crumbs, milky breadcrumbs (including all the milk – it should get soaked in), a big pinch of salt, and as much freshly ground black pepper as you like. Let that sit for 10 minutes or so as these ingredients will tenderise the meat.
Finally, mix in an egg to bind. Loosely roll the mixture into balls.
I air fried them for 20 minutes, flipping them over halfway through, at 180 on super convection. They were moist AF with a slight crunch on the outside – exactly how I like them.
For a stronger flavour, you can sear them off in a big, hot, heavy pan like a cast iron skillet (with olive oil, as the meatballs contain WAY less fat than e.g. beef or sausage ones) then pop them in the oven at 180 to finish baking off for 10 or 15 minutes.
Some people like them even more tender and less ‘roasted’ tasting on the outside, and they poach them from raw in tomato sauce. You could even sear then poach. To each their own. The world’s your giant strip club lobster.
My preference would be to serve these in a garlicky half-fresh half-canned tomato sauce with veggies and/or pasta. If you’re hosting a silent auction fundraiser you could also serve them as canapés, maybe with a bit more lemon zested on them and a tiny blob of sauce.
What do you think? Worthy of Satriale’s?
