I haven't blogged much lately, but I have been cooking-- for the past 2 weeks I've been volunteering at our local Whole Foods. It has a cooking school that offers cooking classes throughout the year, including weeklong kids camps during the summer. If you've got a kid age 7-15, I recommend this as a summer activity! Each day is a different global theme, so this year we had American, Indian, Italian, French and Latin American Day (drooooool). Anyway, all that to say, if I don't encounter another child with a knife for the next 12 months, I'll be happy. Just kidding, they're a joy. With knives.
So, today's experiment was a mind-concoction, like so many of my dishes are. I decided to make some Asian meatballs, and I must say they turned out deliciously! I forgot to take pictures during the process, but here's the finished product:
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WARNING: as a mind-concoction, there are no actual measurements, so experimenter beware.
2 lb ground pork (next time I might substitute 1/2-1 lb of ground beef, just for a textural variety)
chopped leaves of 2 small bok choy (you can stir fry the stems later!)
1 very large clove garlic
1/4 onion, diced
~1/2 tsp? fish sauce
~1 Tbsp? soy sauce (I used Worcestershire because it's all I had)
~1/4 tsp each of: allspice, turmeric, cinnamon, curry powder and cayenne
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, form into golf-ball sized wads, then dredge in bread crumbs so the outsides will become deliciously crispy. Then bake at 400* for 20 minutes, according to Alton Brown (as I was making these, a meatball episode of Good Eats just happened to come on. COINCIDENCE?!) He suggested cooking them in a mini-muffin tin so the juices can drain down, but I did it on a baking rack and lowered the temp to 325*. You can use a meat thermometer or just cut into a wad to see if it's done. I served them by themselves right into my mouth, but you could put them on top of rice noodles, as a side to stir fry, let 'em soak up some pho or curry broth. Almost anything can be done with the adaptable meatwad!
