Greek-style meatballs

We had a lot of leftover ground meat from our meatloaf made a few days before. I came across this recipe in my daily recipe emails, and thought it sounded delicious. Instead of goat, I substituted the ground pork and beef leftover from the meatloaf. I also used canned artichokes, and eliminated the dill (we didn't have any in the house, and frankly -- I don't like it very much anyways). 

I browned the meatballs for a little longer than what is suggested, but I am totally nervous when I cook meat. I also didn't know if goat cooked differently than pork/beef, so I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be undercooked.

It started to smell REALLY delicious. It's smelled very Mediterranean, even without the dill. Maybe it was the fennel -- but I could not WAIT for it to be done cooking!

Half eaten...so you know it was good.

The recipe does take an hour plus, so definitely not on a night where you're itching to eat right away. We made them on a lazy Sunday, where eating in a timely fashion wasn't very important. I think this could be great on top of quinoa, brown rice or even some plain pasta, however it was delicious just by itself as well. Enjoy!

Grapefruit 1, Christine 0

I'm trying. I really am. I just don't think I like grapefruit. I've tried eating it with breakfast with a little sugar, broiling it with some cinnamon and topping it with Greek yogurt, among other things. I gave it one last try earlier this week with a rice noodle salad.

Looks tasty, right? It had all the makings of being something I would like -- noodles, peanuts, cilantro, tomato, green onions...and this guy clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to food. But it just didn't taste good to me. I think the grapefruit was sort of on it's last legs (read: it had been sitting in our fruit bowl for a few weeks since receiving it in our produce basket), so that may have contributed to the problem.

I felt extra bad because I sent Paul on a wild goose chase to find lemongrass the day before (it wasn't at the grocery store like it normally is). Oh well. Lesson learned: I should continue to avoid citrus-based dinners, huh?

Winter Vegetables and Bulgur

I love roasted vegetables. They are probably one of my favorite (and easiest) things to cook, especially during the cold winter months. I found this recipe, and was immediately excited about making it for two reasons: A) I had never used bulgur before and B) this would use up many of the tasty vegetables in my produce basket. 

We used a turnip, a squash, carrots and parsnips. I chose to roast the vegetables (in the oven), instead of sautéing them -- so our cook time was a little longer than the recipe suggests.

My angle was a little off on this one. Sorry for the peek of Valentine's Day towel.

I sautéd the onion and added some minced garlic, before combining the roasted vegetables. I also used 1/2 cup of white wine and 3 cups of vegetable stock (instead of 4 cups of stock). 

With the spinach leaves mixed in at the end.

Apparently, I am showcasing all my seasonal towels today.

It was quite tasty! I would definitely recommend making this, especially if you have vegetables to saute or roast that would work well together. It made a big amount as well, so we had leftovers for lunches later that week.

Enjoy!

UPDATED: Mario Batali's Stuffed Meatloaf

We've been trying to use all the super awesome kitchen tools (chinois -- you're next!) we have accumulated since getting married a little over a year ago -- one of those being the meat grinder attachment to our KitchenAid. I think we decided to make this recipe while we were really hungry, planning our meals for the week (the recipe is from Molto Italiano -- i could only find the recipe we used posted in one place).

When we shopped for the ingredients, we bought larger cuts of pork and beef instead of already-ground meat. Paul used the attachment to grind up the pork and beef from larger cuts (v. impressive!). We decided to use provolone cheese instead of the caciocavallo cheese suggested as a) we couldn't find it and b) the suggested substitute given to us by the Whole Foods cheese guru was about $25.00 per pound. It was delicious, but not worth buying just to stuff in a meatloaf. We did buy a little to eat with crackers -- much better use of expensive cheese, in my opinion!

Anyways, back to the recipe. There were a few steps involved -- including blanching the spinach and carrots ahead of time, but relatively painless. We had a little more work, with grinding the meat (we also made our own breadcrumbs).

Paul carefully rolling the meatloaf, stuffed with spinach, carrots, provolone and prosciutto.

I loved the "bath" underneath the meatloaf of rosemary and water. It made the kitchen smell really good (I am a rosemary fiend, however).

Just before cooking in the oven.

**UPDATED: Paul had after photos!**

It was REALLY GOOD. Like "want to have it every day" good. The floured and oiled outside gets nice and crispy (and the crust remains even after you microwave your leftovers!). The reduction sauce adds a little moisture, but you don't even really need it. We ate this for at least a week afterwards as it makes a LOT. Enjoy!

Lesson Learned: Chicken Pot Pie

When the recipe calls for a 3 to 4 lb. chicken, don't buy a 7 lb. chicken. Because it won't fit in the biggest pot you have ( an "us" issue, as the 7.5 quart pot was clearly not big enough for a 7 lb. chicken to be submerged in water).

Precarious.

It will essentially double your cooking time (an "everyone" issue, as I assume most people like to eat dinner with in 4 hours of starting to prepare it) as well, as you try to cook down the chicken broth mixture you made with twice as much water, trying to cover your gigantic chicken.

It took forever, but it was pretty delicious (and we have lots of leftovers).  I also made up time by using thawed puff pastry instead of homemade pie dough, which cooks up super quick. 

Much better.

 The chicken pot pie recipe was used was from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Potato Pancakes

Paul and I had some amazing potato pancakes while we were in NYC, and were itching to replicate them at home. We found a great recipe combining both russet potatoes and a little sweet potatoes. They were really easy to make, and turned out tasty and crispy (even thought I accidentally put two whole eggs into the mixture, rather than separating the eggs and just adding the yolks to the potato mixture). To correct this, I did whip two more egg whites as listed in the directions, and they turned out well. I wasn't sure if I omitted this step, if it would make the pancakes less fluffy. I also was out of green onions, so I left those out. They tasted great with a little salt -- no need for sour cream or anything like that to flavor it up.

Meatballs!

The last time we made these meatballs and the corresponding sauce, we had a little bit of a problem with the spices. As you'll see from the recipe, Mario Batali suggests a tablespoon of red pepper flakes for the meatball mixture and a SECOND tablespoon for the tomato sauce. When we did that, together the meatballs and sauce were so spicy that all you tasted was heat -- and not the flavors with either. 


This time around, we cut WAAAAY back. We did a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for the meatballs, and none for the sauce. It was much better -- and (can you believe it) actually palatable! 

One of the dishes of baked meatballs.

Meatballs and sauce incorporated together

The final product!

We chose to have the meatballs as an open-faced sandwich, but you could easily serve them with pasta. 

Also - this version says to cook the meatballs in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. There's no way we did that. I think we cooked them in the oven for maybe another hour at most. I'll check my cookbook to see if the correct time is listed there, and post any updates. 


UPDATE: I checked the cookbook (Mario Batali's Molto Italiano). In the cookbook, you bring the tomato sauce and wine to a boil, add the meatballs, return to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.