ATK The Best Meatballs

 

I actually agree with America's Test Kitchen's title for this recipe; these are seriously the best meatballs I have ever eaten. There was so much flavor from the bread and the parmesan and then the texture! What a delightful crunch and moist, tender centers. Wow.

The book says this texture comes from the bread paste, which is called "panada" in Italian cooking. "It helps bind together the meat and flavorings. We found that fresh bread did a better job...The buttermilk also has a subtle, tangy flavor, making these meatballs the absolute best we've ever tasted."

2 slices white sandwich bread (I used sliced sourdough)
1/3 C buttermilk
3/4 pound ground beef (I skipped the pork and did 1 pound of beef)
1/4 pound ground pork
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 large egg yolk
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil

Remove and discard the crusts from the bread, then tear the bread into small pieces. Mash the bread pieces and buttermilk to a smooth paste in a large bowl, using a fork. (I eventually got in there with my fingers because the sourdough was pretty resilient.)

Add the meat, Parmesan, parsley, yolk, garlic, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper to the mashed bread. Stir the mixture gently until combined and uniform. Gently form the mixture into 1 1/2" round meatballs. You'll get about 12.

Oil a skillet (I used a cast iron). Heat over medium high heat until shimmering. Add the meatballs in a single layer and cook until nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to a paper towel lined plate and discard the oil left in the pan.

Place the skillet with any browned bits over medium heat and add the tomato sauce. Bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the heat to low and add the meatballs. Continue to simmer, turning the meatballs occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

While the meatballs are simmering, it's a good time to boil your spaghetti.

Makes 12 meatballs, serves 4, from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

ATK Skillet Lasagna

Reminds me of a home cooked gourmet Hamburger Helper. I used to love that stuff as a kid. Cleanup is pretty simple since it only uses one pan (a 12-inch nonstick skillet with a tight-fitting lid) on the stove so you don't even need to turn on the oven during those hot summer days. The cheese doesn't get nice and bubbly like when you bake it, but the pasta comes out tender and the sauce is rich and sweet. It's really pretty good and overall much easier than baked lasagna.

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 C chopped spinach
Salt
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
12 oz Italian sausage, casing removed (can also buy sausage not in casings)
10 curly-edged lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch lengths
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 C mozarella
Grated Parmesan to taste (optional)
Ground black pepper
1 cup ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Pour tomatoes with their juices into 1-quart liquid measuring cup. Add water until mixture measures 1 quart.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach.

Stir in garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add sausage and cook, breaking up the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

Scatter pasta evenly over meat but do not stir. Pour diced tomatoes with juices and tomato sauce over pasta. Cover and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally (which really means pressing the pasta back into the sauce and kind of poking around), until pasta is tender, about 20 minutes. (The sauce should look watery after 15 minutes of cooking.)

Remove skillet from heat and stir in the mozarella. Season with salt and pepper. Dot with heaping tablespoons ricotta, cover, and let stand off heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with basil and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Serve.

 Serves 4 to 6, from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Ground Pork Steamed Rice Cake

I like the idea of using actual rice instead of that boxed rice flour to make...rice cake. Hm. Why does this seem like a novel idea? The spices are ok, but not the combination I was looking for. Maybe it was because I didn't add MSG.

Of course, MSG is optional but it's also the best tasting thing on earth. I didn't use it because I couldn't convince myself that it's worth putting myself through horrible migraines and blacking out. I gotta work on my persuasion skills.

1/2 tsp oil
5 cloves garlic, crushed
150g ground pork

¼ C dried deep fried chopped garlic
¼ C dried deep fried chopped shallots
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp licorice powder
½ tsp five spices powder
1 tsp white pepper powder
(1 tsp msg)

300 g white rice
300 ml water

450ml water
1 1/2 T sugar
1 T salt
1 ½ T msg

Additional dried garlic and shallots to taste

Heat oil in a pan and sauté garlic. Brown the pork. Add the dried garlic and shallots and cook for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Add the rest of the seasoning to white pepper powder and sauté for 5 minutes, turn off heat.

Combine rice and 300 ml water in a blender and blend until grains are broken down and the liquid looks milky. Try to break up all the little pieces to make sort of a paste. This took my blender a while to do. In the book, it looked like they were using some intense grinding machine to make it look like a pasty horchata. I couldn’t get it quite like that.

Bring 450 ml of water to a boil, dissolve the sugar and salt in the boiling water. Then, pour rice mixture into the pot, whisk until thickened. Use every bit, even the little grains that were hiding on the bottom.

Pour into a metal pot without handles. I used a metal pot that could fit inside my bamboo steamer. Equally wonderful alternatives include, a big pot with a little bowl turned upside down to make a stand in water, or a steamer. Sprinkle the rice with ground pork and add dried garlic and shallots on surface.

Bring water to a boil in a steam pot and depending on thickness of the mixture, steam about 40-120 minutes. I steamed it for about an hour and it still looked wobbly. It does firm up once removed from the steamer.

Charmoula Pork Chops

Lamb is not universally accepted so I opted to use pork. Still worked really well! Heard you can also use shrimp, salmon or chicken. Whatever meat you choose, you can also cook in a hot, lightly oiled, seasoned grill pan or a cast iron skillet over moderate heat.

Definitely needs salt. Try out the marinade before adding the pork to make sure it's salty enough for you.

Serve with couscous and grilled veggies or a light salad. The salad in the photo is a failed attempt at a salad we shall not speak of any more.

1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
6 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste (at least 1 tsp salt)

2 (1 1/4-inch-thick) loin lamb chops (10 oz total), trimmed (or pork)

Blend all ingredients except chops in a blender (or food processor) until smooth, about 1 minute. Pat chops dry and transfer to a plate, then rub chops all over with 2 tablespoons charmoula and marinate, covered, at room temperature 30 minutes.

While chops marinate, prepare grill for cooking. If using a charcoal grill, open vents on bottom of grill, then light charcoal. Charcoal fire is medium-hot when you can hold your hand 5 inches above rack for 3 to 4 seconds. If using a gas grill, preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderate.

Grill chops, covered only if using a gas grill, on lightly oiled grill rack, turning over once, until medium-rare, about 8 minutes total. Transfer to a plate and let stand, loosely covered, 10 minutes.

Charmoula keeps, its surface covered with plastic wrap, 1 week. It will lose its bright green color after a couple of days.

Adapted from Epicurious.com

Pork Adobo with Sue Tan, April DeVeyra, Shilo Joy Chiu

Sue was missing Filipino food and I've always wanted to cook Filipino food. That's how all four of us found ourselves running around Ranch99 and cooking one Monday afternoon. These girls are so fun and so crazy! I love them. They were telling me about all the tropical fruits they eat back home and the excellent all-you-can eat buffets. (In addition to dirt cheap cell phone service!) Uh oh. Sounds like the Philippines is calling my name!

The longer they cooked the pork, the more tender it got, but I enjoyed the pungency of the vinegar and the different flavors. The salted duck egg was authentic, but I'm not sure if I could handle the saltiness of it all the time.

Dark Soy sauce
White vinegar
Sugar
Cornstarch (if you would like the sauce to be thick)
Salt and pepper
1 pound pork leg (1.99 at Ranch99) cubed a little smaller than 1”

½ medium red onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 laurel leaves
1 T Whole peppercorns
Maybe a couple of hardboiled eggs, they recommend

Serve with
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
Chopped salted duck egg
White rice

Combine 5 T soy sauce, 4 T vinegar, 2 T sugar, maybe 1 tsp of cornstarch and salt and pepper together with water. Enough to dilute. Marinate the pork for 30 min-1 hour.

Heat oil and garlic and onions. Then the pork without the marinade. When browned, add the sauce and cook on medium low until tender. Serve with tomatoes and salted duck egg with vinegar drizzled on top of white rice.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Quick fried rice using training cashews and sandwich meat with my own personal old, cold rice.

¼ C roasted, salted cashews
2 cloves of garlic, minced
soy sauce
dash of sesame oil

1 egg, whisked in a bowl
2 C prepared rice (I used leftover basmati), refrigerated
¼ C canned, cut pineapple
2 slices TC lunch turkey ham, diced/cut into squares
salt
cayenne pepper

Heat pan and ¼ tsp oil in a pan. When hot, add cashews and cook until lightly toasted. Set aside in a separate plate.

Add a little oil, when heated, add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Then add a little (about 1/8 tsp) of sesame oil, 1-2 tsp of soy sauce. Add the rice and pineapple and ham. Stir and heat until thoroughly heated. Add the nuts. Push all to a side of the pan and add a little oil to fry up the egg in that little circle of pan exposed, scrambled egg style. Stir all together and season with cayenne and salt to taste.

My Guilty Pleasure

Did you notice the little grain of rice riding this slice of spam? So cute!!

Spam is one of the greatest inventions of the quickie food world (next to instant ramen); and I'm not just saying this because the economy is bad. Spam is good! When prepared just right, it's like a superhero mutant hybrid of bacon and ham!

People hate Spam because of anti-spam propaganda and because they don't know what to do with the slimy pale stump. Spam is simply misunderstood like oh...say, Frankenstein's creature.

"Ewwww...," you say? Never fear! I will teach you the way to enjoy Spam, so stop throwing up in your mouth and read on...

Spam tip #1: Buy the 50% Less Sodium Can

Sure, high blood pressure and that "it's-so-salty-I've-got-a-zingy-feeling-in-my-teeth" experience is fun, but with 50% less sodium you can eat even more before feeling queasy!

Spam tip #2: Never eat the thing raw
I always thought this was a no brainer. Just look at it!! All greasy, splotchy, sickly, gelatinous...Yuck! Merely looking at it could make the weak at heart wretch! I would never eat spam!!...raw. Please. A girl's gotta have standards.

Spam tip #3: Slice it thiiiiiin
Not paper thin, but pretty thin. Please refer to the photo. This will help it get crispy when cooked.

Spam tip #4: Lazy? Microwave it
I learned this on a trip to SF with Susan Mun. I know we swore that what happened in SF would stay in SF, but this tip is too good to keep to myself. Lay the slices of spam on two paper towels stacked and microwave for 15-45 seconds (depending on how thin you managed to cut them) until crisp.

Spam tip #5: Not as lazy? Pan fry
This is the ideal way. Heat a pan. Do not use any oil! Oil from the slices will ooze out and it will basically deep fry in its own juices. Wait until slightly darker and little bit of foam comes to the surface, then flip. It should appear to be a little soft, and only a little crispy but should crisp as it cools. When done, let it sit on a paper towel.

Spam tip #6: Eat with rice
This I learned from Mika, who took rice and made them into thick patties, placed a spam slice on top and then wrapped them in saran wrap to take with us to Universal Studios. Amazing. Spam nigiri!!!

Spam tip #7: Eat with kim chee
And sriracha hot sauce. And bowls of rice. This, I learned from Anna.

This list of tips is just the start of something beautiful. People eat spam in fried rice, pasta, mac & cheese, casseroles, omelets, sushi rolls, pie (...ok, maybe not pie). Although the possibilities are endless, in my humble opinion, Spam reaches its pinnacle of delightfulness on a simple bed of rice (please review tip #6 and #7).

Polenta with Sausage and Spinach Revisited

2.11.08: Ah, the random recipes we can throw together and fall in love with. Thanks Susanne for such a delish dish!

11.21.08: Made a second time...realized that if you use the same pan to cook the spinach after you've cooked the sausage, it will taste saltier than if you use separate pans or cook the spinach first with some oil and garlic...and the spinach gets super squishy. Hmm...

12.3.08: By George, I think I've got it!!! Using the method below is not only super quick, it makes cleaning the pan so much easier AND you don't get sauce drenched spinach...

1 jalapeno
olive oil
1 tube of already made polenta (Trader Joe's or F&E)
1 pre-cooked sausage (Cantella's Andouille Sausage)
2 C of baby spinach
Marinara sauce (Trader Joe's Vodka Sauce)

For a quick meal, heat up a pan or skillet with a little oil, just enough to give the pan a nice shine. (Definitely less than 1 tsp.) When the pan's hot, put the sliced polenta and thin slices of jalapeno on the pan and cook until polenta is a little crisp and the jalapeno browned and slightly withered looking.

On your plate put 2-3 T of vodka sauce and microwave. (If serving guests, feel free to heat up the sauce in a saucepan, first heating a smidgen of oil with minced garlic and then bringing the sauce to a simmer. Then you can plate the sauce onto each plate, about 3-4 T.

Push the polenta to the side of the pan and put a handful or two of fresh baby spinach on the pan and quickly stir around. You don't want the spinach to be completely cooked, just enough so it's not totally raw. Until it's barely starting to wither. Go ahead and put the spinach and jalapenos on the sauce then top with polenta!

And you can stop there if you're in a hurry or you can slice up some sausage afterwards and pan fry without any oil, then top.

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

2 large eggs
1 cup dried Italian-style bread crumbs
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan
4 (1/2 to 3/4-inch thick) center-cut pork loin chops (each about 10 to 12 ounces)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil

Whisk the eggs in a pie plate to blend. Place the bread crumbs in another pie plate. Place the cheese in a third pie plate. Sprinkle the pork chops generously with salt and pepper. Coat the chops completely with the cheese, patting to adhere. Dip the chops into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, patting to adhere.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add pork chops, in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 6 minutes per side. OR cook 6 minutes for each side and then transfer to a baking dish and bake at 350 for an additional 10 minutes.

Serves 4, from the Food Network

Green Chili Meat Mix for Tacos

Susanne first made it for a home meeting and I had the honor of eating the leftovers, it was that good. This makes a lot, but it says it's perfect to freeze. Make sure to leave 1/2" space at top of container before freezing.

We don't have a dutch oven, so I experimented a little bit cooking the onions in a large sauce pan until brown and softened and then adding the rest of the sauce ingredients and cooking until thickened. Then I threw this into my slow cooker. In a cast iron skillet, I seared the outside of the meat, cut into 4 large slabs in a pan and then added it to the slow cooker and cooked for at least 6 hours on high.

I think I prefer it cooked the way the recipe calls, in the dutch oven. Mine turned out more watery than if you roast it because slow cookers retain a lot of moisture. And I had to cut the meat instead of shredding it with 2 forks because I only cooked it for 4-5 hours. But apparently it turned out good at the New and Returning Students Dinner! Leanna appreciated it so much she asked for this recipe and Priscilla said: "OH! i REALLY liked your slow cooked beef yesterday. was totally awesome and delish~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"

So this blog entry is dedicated to Priscilla and Leanna. *in a Barry Whitesque voice* This one is for you, baby...ohhhh yeah.

5 lb. beef roast (or combo of pork and beef roasts)
3 onions, chopped
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies
14 oz. green-chili salsa (only $1.69/bottle of salsa at Trader Joe's; you'll need 2)
1-4 t garlic powder
4 T flour
4 t salt
1 t ground cumin

Preheat oven 275 degrees
Place roasts in roasting pan or dutch oven and cover with a tight lid (we cut into 4 large pieces, stuck it in our cast iron and tightly covered it with foil).

Roast for 5-6 hours until well done.
OR according to the recipe, you can cook with 1 C water in a pressure cooker for 40 minutes but our pressure cooker didn't quite do the trick. Reserve meat juices.

Shred meat with two forks and set aside.

Cook the rest of the ingredients in a skillet and add meat juices. Cook for 5 minutes until thickened. Cool.

Serve on corn tortillas with cheese, chopped onions, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, and whatever topping you like!

Cooking Fried Rice with Anna Lee's Mom 12/25/06

Anna's mom, Moreno Valley 12.25.06. Illegally stashing the fashion woman away in the trunk.

What a weekend trip to Anna's hood. Her mom taught us how to make fried rice, New Year's soup and a spicy tofu side dish (recipes and photos coming soon!) I can't get the rice to come out the way she made it, but eh...Anna said it was flavorful. That's good enough for me!

I guess this posting is more for me than anything else since someone looking at this thing won't be able to reproduce it. I will post pictures of the brand of broth as soon as I figure it out since that was key ingredient here.

Ground beef
White onion, minced
Frozen mixed vegetables (like corn, peas, etc.) defrosted in a bowl of water
optional: red bell pepper and other vegetables
Korean dried beef broth
Garlic salt
Rice, cooked and cooled
Green onion, as a garnish
Chile flakes/cayenne pepper, optional

Saute oil and onions over medium high heat, then beef. Add the veggies, broth and garlic salt. Mix in well.

Add the rice and then top with the green onion.
(Because the rice was hot, I heated oil in a separate pan, spread out a layer of rice on the pan and fried it until it was crunchy and browned, then added it to the veggies/meat mix. It had a nice crunch.)

Garnish with green onions.

Korean Feast at Heidi's: Korean Pork, Kim Chee Pancakes

At this point, these are the ingredients that I remember. Sorry everything is so vague. One day, I'll cook it myself and figure out the portions. Everything is available at Zion Market, where produce is on steroids. (PS: Susanne is holding GREEN ONIONS in the photo above, not leeks!!! AHHH!!!)

Tasty Pork

crushed garlic
pork
red chili paste
sugar
soy sauce
sesame oil

onions
enoki mushrooms
chopped, white squishy mushrooms

Combine everything from garlic to sesame oil. Heat a pan. Cook onions and oil, then add the meat and then the mushrooms.


Kim Chee Pancake

Korean pancake mix
2 eggs
2 green onions, cut into 1" pieces
water
1/4 of a small onion, cut into slivers
1/2 C of kim chee

Whisk the mix, water, and eggs till pancake consistency. Add the other ingredients. Pan fry like typical pancake.

Heidi, you are so awesome! Thank you for teaching, cooking, and caring for us!

Moussaka

The first moussaka I had was in some hole in the wall hotel/restaurant in Greece (was it Samos? Or Naxos?) and it was so creamy and delicious. I like the spices in this recipe. And the potatoes apparently aren't authentic, but I like potatoes...so eh. It's hearty and perfect for a cold night.

Eggplant
2 large eggplants (about 2 3/4 pounds), unpeeled and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices (don't cut too thin or they'll burn during baking)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Meat Sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound ground beef or lamb
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half (or 1 t gr. cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus to taste
Freshly ground pepper
1 can 28 oz. cups whole, peeled, canned tomatoes (with puree), roughly chopped
1 bay leaf

Custard Sauce
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole (but non fat milk good) room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks

1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano

sliced potatoes optional (if you do, you can use 3 red potatoes or 1 russet potato)

Bake the eggplant
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with the oil and lay on 2 small or 1 large foil-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake until the eggplant is soft, about 20 minutes. Set aside covered.

opt: Bake the potatoes
Slice the potatoes and line on the bottom of the pan. Bake 20 minutes until tender.

Make the meat sauce
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beef, oregano, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. Break the meat up into small pieces and season with the 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until just cooked but still slightly pink inside, about 1 minute more. Add the tomato and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Cover, and cook until the sauce is thickened and fragrant, about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.

Make the custard sauce
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the milk, salt, and nutmeg. Return to the heat and while whisking constantly, bring to a boil. Simmer 2 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir to cool. Add 1/4 C of the sauce and whisk briskly in the egg and yolks. Then whisk the eggs into the sauce.

Assemble the moussaka:
Lower the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a 9 x 13 x 2-inch casserole dish with the oil. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the bottom of the pan. Lay half of the eggplant in the pan, overlapping the slices if needed. Cover with half of the meat sauce and smooth with a rubber spatula. Repeat with the remaining eggplant and meat sauce. Pour the custard sauce over the layered mixture and smooth with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with the Pecorino Romano and bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and the custard is set, about 1 hour.

Remove the moussaka from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to serve.