I was craving Asian-anything the other night - I didn't care if it was Chinese or Thai or Vietnamese or what. I think I kind of drew from a lot of different Asian cooking influences when I made these meatballs and they came out so bomb! They remind me a little of the filling you get in pot stickers, and are, in fact, very similar to our pot sticker recipe, found here. Lots of veggies in these suckers! In fact as I was chopping all the veggies up and throwing them in the bowl for pics, Justin asked where the meat was? He didn't see that it was in the bottom of the mixing bowl... just covered with a ton of vegetables.
The citrus sauce was Justin's idea. I was just going to do a wine sauce, but we had some oranges and lemons on hand and I really liked the idea of the bright citrus flavour to go with the meatballs. Way tasty! And all served with a cold quinoa and Napa cabbage salad... because you're going to have enough cabbage for both the meatballs and the salad! Might as well use it all up! ( actually only used 1/2 the Napa cabbage and sauted up the other 1/2 with the rest of the red onion the next night!) But the quinoa and cabbage salad was a great contrast - I liked the crunch and lightness of the raw cabbage, cucumber and onion in the salad to go with the meatballs and sauce. It all came together really well and satisfied that Asian food craving!
We'll be headed to a DS-13 show next weekend, so let's listen to a little Swedish hardcore with, "I Don't Wanna Be A Skinhead". Neither do I, dude. Neither do I. -jen
ASIAN MEATBALLS
Napa Cabbage
Prep Time: about 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
Difficulty: Medium
Makes: 60 meatballs
Meatball Ingredients:
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground turkey
2 cups finely chopped Napa cabbage
1 cup finely diced carrots (3 medium)
3/4 cup finely diced celery (2 medium)
1 cup finely diced green onions (1 bunch)
1 cup finely diced Anaheim or bell peppers (2 medium)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used 3/4c cilantro, 1/4c basil, 1/4c mint)
3 teaspoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes (1 tbsp for less spicy - 2 tbsp just has a small kick)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese mustard
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 cup panko bread crumbs
canola oil for frying
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients EXCEPT the canola oil and mix until combined. If you have a food processor, I recommend throwing all the veggies into that to get them super-fine diced. While it's not necessary, the meatball will hold together better the finer the veggies are chopped.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Form 1.5 tablespoons of mixture into balls. In a large skillet, add enough oil to cover the bottom and heat to medium-high. Brown in batches. Space balls evenly in pan so that they're not touching. I only browned tops and bottoms. Remove browned meatballs and set on a paper towel to remove excess grease. Once all meatballs are browned, arrange on baking sheet. (Don't rinse out that skillet!) Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until an internal temperature of 165 degrees is reached.
Citrus Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken broth (you'll want 3 cups total of juice, wine and broth)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons cornstarch (and 2 tbsp water)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (used the same ones as in meatballs: cilantro, basil, mint)
In the skillet that you browned the meatballs, you'll want about 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. My pork was lean, so I had to add oil to the pan - if you got higher-fat pork, you may have enough oil in the pan remaining or you may even have to remove some. Saute onions until translucent and tender. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Add your 3 cups combined of citrus juice, wine and broth to the skillet as well as the soy sauce and the citrus zest, making sure you scrape those browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Bring to a boil and let reduce for about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl combine 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water to make a slurry. Whisk this in to the sauce until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed and stir in fresh herbs. Serve over Asian Meatballs with Quinoa Salad (see recipe below).
In a large sauce pan, over medium-high heat, add quinoa and cook about 2 minutes to toast - you'll see the quinoa start to turn a darker, golden brown and you'll smell that nutty, toasty deliciousness. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil, than cover, lower heat, and simmer for a total of 18 minutes, stirring half-way through. After 18 minutes, turn off heat and let rest with lid on for another 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Transfer to a large serving bowl and let cool another 10 minutes. Stir in Napa cabbage, diced cucumber and diced onion. Serve at room temp or chilled.
From what I've read, traditionally a zuppa bianca is creamy from the white beans in it, often part of them being blended to thicken the soup. I didn't want to use that many beans in mine, so I thought I'd try my own spin on the soup and it came out fantastic!
I started with homemade stock that Justin had made the day before.
I'll remind you again - SAVE ALL YOUR VEGGIE ENDS AND BONES! Every time we cut off broccoli stems, carrot ends, onion ends, herb stems, and leftover bones we throw them into a Ziplock bag and stick 'em in the freezer. Sooner or later you've got a full bag and you can put it all in a stock pot, add water, and make your own stock! It's so easy, you're using every bit of the vegetable, and it's worth it to make homemade stock!
I also wanted to add anchovy, pepper, fennel and mushrooms to my zuppa bianca... also not traditional as far as I can tell, but man, they were a killer, tasty addition! Served it up with some crusty bread and that was all you needed! It might have been good with a little fresh Parmesan grated onto it, but we didn't have any.
This recipe makes a huge batch... you could probably half the recipe and it'd be fine, but being that I made it in a huge batch, that's the quantities I'm throwing at you. I say make a huge batch and you can freeze the leftovers to pull out later when you don't feel like cooking. That's what we do.
I love punk rock. But there's a lot of old music that I really love too - I think I can sing more songs from the 60s than most people who lived through the 60s... though drugs might have something to do with that for a lot of folks. So when punk bands cover songs from the 60s, it's no surprise that I usually love them. (I never even stood a chance with the Gimmes.) So let's listen to the Adolescents covering Eric Burdon and The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun"... the only song I was ever able to play on the organ, but probably can't now. Plus... how many punk songs can you name with a harmonica solo? -jen
ZUPPA BIANCA Time: about 1 hour Difficulty: Easy Makes:
1 pound ground spicy Italian sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 anchovies packed in oil
1 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
1 cup diced carrots (about 2 medium
1 cup diced fennel bulb (about 1 medium), reserve 1/4 cup of the fronds, chopped
1 cup diced green bell pepper (about 1 large)
2.5 cups diced onions (about 1 large)
3 cups diced crimini mushrooms
1.5 tablespoons minced garlic (about 5 medium cloves)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt plus extra
1 cup dry white wine
3 quarts chicken stock
2 cups 1/2" cubed potatoes (about 1 large potato), skin on
1 can (14oz) white beans, reserve liquid
3 cups chopped kale (remember to remove stems)
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped basil
1/3 cup chopped parsley
lemon wedges
In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, brown the Italian sausage. Remove sausage and set aside. Leave 2 tablespoons of the sausage fat in the pot, discard the rest. (That was all I actually got out of my sausage, but some sausage is fattier than others.) Add olive oil and the anchovies to the sausage fat in the pot and cook 1 minute. Add celery, carrots, fennel bulb, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, white pepper and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring intermittently, until vegetables begin to soften and onions are just turning translucent. Add white wine and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add chicken stock, potatoes and the liquid from the beans (don't add the beans yet). Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes (fish one out and test it). Once potatoes are tender, add cooked sausage, beans, kale, heavy cream, basil, parley and the reserved chopped fennel fronds. Taste the soup and add salt or pepper if necessary. Serve each bowl with a wedge of lemon to squeeze onto the soup.
People always tell us that they don't have time, money, patience or know-how to cook a good, healthy dinner at night. We call bullshit on that! We're broke people who stick to a weekly budget and we cook simple, healthy meals several times a week after both of us working a full day (usually with enough leftover to eat a healthy lunch the next day, saving even more money). A lot of the recipes we post on here are our "splurges" away from our regular, simple roasted protein/veggie dinners. I was about to make one of those simple dinners tonight, but then I thought I'd "get crazy" by doing a sauce and cheesing up the veggies. I wasn't really considering posting the recipes, they seemed too simple. Justin asked, "Why not? People like fast, easy and cheap recipes and it was really good!" So it's coming at you... basic stuff!
This tune's been going through my head the last few weeks as I've seen a lot of The Transplants' recent tour pics. Elvis Cortez, lead singer of Left Alone, was touring with them. So I've found myself listening to some Left Alone in the last few days, and this is them doing "My Whole Life". -jen
In a large bowl or plastic zip bag, combine zucchini and olive oil to coat. Turn oven to broil. Arrange zucchini in an even layer on a large baking sheet (I always line it with foil for ease of clean up!) Sprinkle basil and Parmesan evenly over zucchini. Broil for 3-5, until cheese browns.
In keeping with Justin's summer theme on the last post, I made this fantastic summery vegetable salad with a homemade Italian dressing. I'd been feeling like raw veggies lately, and one thing with veggie salad is that it's usually cut into large pieces that you can fit two, maybe three veggies on the fork. I wanted this salad chopped a little smaller so that I got all the flavours with every bite. It reminds me of a large-chopped relish. But it was really good... especially after it sat refrigerated overnight. And it's versatile! The first night, we just ate it in a bowl. The next night, we sprinkled it onto lettuce greens. I was thinking it might be tasty warmed and served on crustini, too!
When we make olive oil and vinegar based dressings, we usually just whisk all the ingredients together and you get big bits of dried herbs. It's always good, but I was thinking about the dressing packets you can buy at the store, so I took all my dry dressing ingredients and blended them into a fine powder with our herb grinder and then used the stick blender to blend it into the oil. It came out good, so you could do it that way... but for the ease of those without herb grinders or stick blenders, I posted regular blender instructions
As soon as I started thinking about posting this salad as a summer salad, I got The Atari's "Boys of Summer" song stuck in my head. Well really, it's Don Henley's song, I guess, but it's their version that got stuck on repeat. It's a little poppy... but so was the original, and I still like that one too. :P -jen
ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD WITH DRESSING Time: 15-20 minutes prep Difficulty: Can you handle a knife? Serves: About 6, as a side dish
3 medium zucchinis (about 2 cups), large dice
2 carrots, large dice
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 orange bell pepper, large dice
1 cup crimini mushrooms (about 7), large dice
1 medium shallot, diced
3 green onions, diced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella (12oz), diced
1/2 cup rough chopped green or kalamata olives
1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans, drained
1 can (15oz) red kidney beans
3 teaspoons capers, drained
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 and 1/2 cups Italian Dressing (see recipe below)
1/4 cup pepperoni, diced (optional)
Place all ingredients into a large bowl. Toss with dressing. Serve at room temp. Note: I'd have put some fresh herbs in this if I'd had any on hand, but since I didn't, I didn't want to put it in the recipe. Maybe 1/4 cup chopped basil or flat leaf parsley.
ITALIAN DRESSING Time: 7 minutes Difficulty: E-Z Makes: 1.5 cups
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Accent or MSG (optional)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
In a blender, combine all dry ingredients and vinegars. While blending, remove the middle spout of your lid (most blender lids have these) and very slowly drizzle in the olive oil so that ingredients emulsify.
Song Title: Arrested In Shanghai Album: Indestructible (2003) Lyrics: "In my cell there is no sky, when I was arrested in Shanghai"
Good mellow song. Cursed with an overactive imagination, I end up thinking of horrifying images of what prison in Shanghai might be like. Makes me think of the movie "Midnight Express". Chilling. But back to the food! I haven't had a lot of experience with making Chinese food, only a few different dishes over the last few years. I came up with a few recipes tonight and wasn't feeling so confident about how it was turning out. However, I'm glad to say that the dinner was a delicious success - fantastic Chinese food without a delivery fee! -jen
SHANGHAI FRIED NOODLES WITH CHICKEN STIR-FRY
2-3 medium sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup soy sauce, divided (1/4 cup, 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup green onions, chopped + 1 cup green onion, sliced in 1" strips
Cut raw chicken breasts into thin slices. In a Ziplock bag, combine sliced chicken, 1/4 cup soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 cup chopped green onions, cilantro, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, and chili paste. Refrigerate and let marinade for at least an hour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet or wok on high heat. Stir-fry chicken in two or three batches, adding oil for each batch as needed (remember to give the oil a minute to get hot in between batches.) Set chicken aside. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and in small batches, stir-fry broccoli, carrot, cabbage, mushrooms, and bean sprouts, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, and 1/4 cup of the remaining soy sauce, setting cooked veggies aside in a bowl after each batch. When final batch is finished, toss with the chopped basil.
In the hot skillet, add 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1-1/2 cups of the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup broth and corn starch in a small dish. Mix until smooth. When the broth comes to a boil, add the corn starch mix, and whisk until the liquid returns to a boil. Broth should begin to thicken into a gravy. Once gravy has begun boiling again, quickly add chicken and vegetables. Cook for a couple more minutes until chicken is rewarmed and remove from heat.
Serve over pan-fried noodles.
PAN-FRIED NOODLES
1/2 pound Shanghai noodles or Chinese egg noodles
1 tablespoon sesame oil
olive oil
Cook noodles until al dente. Drain. Rinse with cold water and let drain again. Toss with sesame oil. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Add 1/4 of the noodles to the pan, spreading out to the edge of the pan. Cook on high for 5-8 minutes - do not stir! When noodle-patty is golden brown, carefully flip the patty and cook the other side until golden brown. Repeat three more times to make a total of 4 patties.
This was my first attempt at flipping a noodle patty without using a spatula... I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing... and I didn't. But I've flipped a lot of crepes this way. I didn't do too bad for my first noodle flip.
PORK AND SHRIMP EGG ROLLS
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup shredded carrot
2 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili paste
3-4 cranks of fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup bay shrimp (tiny shrimp)
2-3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
egg roll wrappers
1 egg white, beaten
In a large bowl, mix pork, carrot, cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste, and black pepper. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture and cook until pork is cooked through. Add shrimp and cilantro, toss, and remove from heat. Let cool. Lay egg roll wrapper out with a corner pointed at you. Add 3 tablespoons of meat mixture about 1/3 of the way up from the corner pointed at you. Brush a little egg white on the top two edges of the wrapper. Roll the lower corner over the filling and roll tightly until the halfway point. Tuck the left and right sides in and continue wrapping until the top egg-washed sides seal the wrapper.
Heat oil in deep fryer or large pan to 350 degrees. Deep fry 3-4 egg rolls at a time for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown. Turn egg rolls half-way through to cook evenly.
EGG DROP SOUP
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1 quart chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 eggs
1/4 cup corn starch
salt and pepper
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
In a 3 quart pan, heat sesame oil on medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and let them sweat for 2-3 minutes. Set 1 cup of the chicken broth aside and add the remainder of the chicken broth, as well as the soy sauce, to the ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, mix the corn starch and 1 cup of chicken broth until smooth. In a different bowl, whisk two eggs (like you were making scrambled eggs) and set aside. When the broth has come to a boil, whisk in corn starch mixture and continue whisking until it comes back to a boil. When it has begun boiling again, slowly drizzle in the eggs, breaking them up in the soup with a fork as you drizzle. Remove from heat and serve topped with a few green onions as garnish.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients EXCEPT the canola oil and mix until combined. If you have a food processor, I recommend throwing all the veggies into that to get them super-fine diced. While it's not necessary, the meatball will hold together better the finer the veggies are chopped. 
Cook Time: 20 minutes
