This is the recipe for the meatballs I made. I warn you that they are FORKING Scrumptious. The rice and cabbage that went around it was part of a different recipe that I think can be too troublesome. I spoke about it yesterday so if you want more details read yesterday’s post.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 lb ground meat (I used turkey 93% lean)
1/2 cup panko (I used Whole Wheat panko)
1 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup scallions – cut thin
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 eggs – lightly beaten
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/4 teaspoon Szechuan pepper – toasted and ground
1 Tablespoon (slightly heaping) reduced sodium Better Than Bouillon vegetable soup base (this is instead of salt….less sodium and more flavor)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh basil (or other basil) chopped
3 ends of lemongrass – hard outer skins removed – fine chopped
non stick spray.
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a baking sheet (or two) with non stick spray..
Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Make small scoop sized meatballs…. (about 1.3 ounces each)
You should have around 21 meatballs.
They go in the oven until done. In my oven they took 15 minutes. I put most of the meatballs on the middle rack and the rest on the lower rack.
I served them two different ways. The way you see in the picture with a small amount of vegetable broth. For another meal I just mixed up some hoisin sauce with a small amount of ketchup and that was tasty with them.
Asian Style Turkey Meatballs with Lemongrass Stuffed Cabbage
I was watching the Rachel Ray variety and lifestyleTV Show. A featured guest was chef Nyesha Arrington. She is a well trained famous chef that owns at least one restaurant in California and has been featured on many food related TV shows including Top Chef. On the Rachel Ray show she made these adorable….what she called, “SHOW STOPPING” five-spiced chicken meatball stuffed cabbages. I decided that I needed to make them. First thing that I decided that I needed to cut the recipe in half…..Then I made different (my own) meatballs because I didn’t need to add tofu to my meatballs and I wanted to add more flavors….I can make meatballs in my sleep. Got the meatballs made…..
I did have problems with the rice step…..Unless you have a rice cooker or a steamer…I would suggest just to make the rice the way you normally cook rice. The instructions might be misprinted. I did soak and drain my glutinous rice but my rice took far longer than the 12 minutes noted. Mine took at least 40 minutes. Still not such a big deal……Just note that your rice might take longer…Just cook till your rice is sticky.
My last issue was the Chinese Cabbage……..I keep forgetting that chefs get better produce than we get……They get the most stunning fresh local beautiful big produce and we get mostly average produce that is trucked in from far away…..I also didn’t know how many leaves are in large Chinese Cabbages or Savoy cabbage. The cabbage I bought I thought was enormous……THE BIGGEST ONE THAT I’VE EVER SEEN……..But still not big enough for even half of the HALF recipe………Little did I know that I could only use eleven leaves to wrap meatballs and I had 21 meatballs so some we ate unwrapped and I made a nice Asian type sauce for them…….On the TV Show the chef saiid to make the meatballs 1- 1.5 ounces each so I did exactly that….Mine were all 1.3-1.4oz each. I made 21 meatballs. ( do have to mention that chef Arrington also got 18-20 meatballs and hers looks way larger than the 1-1.5 ounces….I know she added a cup of tofu and had twice as much meat..I guess that is why they looked so large…..I think they were MUCH bigger)….I have no idea how she got such big cabbage leaves to wrap hers…..)…..I only got 11 of my meatballs wrapped because I only had 11 leaves big enough to wrap the meatballs………(and my cabbage was the biggest one that I have ever seen at a grocery store……..So you might need to buy two (or FOUR if you didn’t cut recipe in half like I did).
ANYWAY……
Making them was pretty easy. (you. do have to blanch the cabbage)
Add some rice and meatball….This sits on plastic wrap….
Here comes the clever secret to making them……..
You take the wrap and pull it up and kind of use your hand to distribute the rice around the meatball and twist at the end. I chilled mine over night.
If you follow chef Arrington’s directions she suggest to steam the cabbage wrapped meatballs hot in the plastic wrap…….I didn’t do that because I thought mine would take too long to steam. I also couldn’t imagine unwrapping boiling hot plastic wrapped meatballs…My husband would starve by the time I unwrapped them all…….So I warmed mine up in the oven with a little vegetable broth without the plastic wrap and they came out great that way.
5 Spice Turkey Meatball Stuffed Cabbage
Chef Arrington’s recipe is called Five-Spice Chicken Meatball – Stuffed Cabbage and can be found on Rachel Ray TV Show Recipe Site. A few others claim to have wrote this recipe but I don’t think they did because they used chef Arrington’s photo.
A Special. THANKS!!!! to chef Nyesha Arrington for sharing her unique recipe so I could make what you see here!
I have a large pantry and have more spices and ingredientsnthan most people. I was going to make a Sichuan type of eggplant dish and when it came time to do the recipe I realized that I didn’t even have half of the ingredients…….So I made my substitutions and some things I cut out and some things I added and I wound up with something delicious but not authentic. Serving size is difficult to judge…My guess is that you will get between 2-4 servings depending if you want a side serving or if you want to make this into a full meal.
Ingredients for around 3 servings
1 eggplant – cut in half long ways and scored one the top in diamond shapes
2 teaspoon red chili oil
2 oz gochujang
1 Tablespoon black bean paste
2 Tablespoons Shaoxing wine
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 teaspoons sugar
non stick spray
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds (for finishing)
1-2 scallions – cut thin diagonal (for finishing)
Directions
In a small mixing bowl mix together the oil, gochujang, black bean paste, Shaoxing wine, red wine vinegar, and sugar. Mix well. All this to a gallon Ziplock bag and place eggplant halves that have been scored cut side down win the bag. Leave this sit out on the counter for around 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray a baking sheet with non stock spray.
After 30 minutes place the eggplant halves cut side down on the baking sheet but reserve the liquid in the bag and put the bag to thee side.
The eggplants on the baking sheet go on a middle rack for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes the eggplant halves need to be turned to cut side up. Now pour reserved liquid over and into the eggplant halves. Put back in the oven till caramelized. (around 30 minutes)
I’m not a big fan of grapefruit. If it is plain grapefruit usually taste like vomit to me. But I do know that if grapefruit is a supporting player in a dish it can be wonderful. I read about a top chef dish that contained grapefruit and was amazing…..The recipe is nowhere to be found and mine isn’t close to what the top chef did but I did use some of the same ingredients and it became magical. I added a can of sardines to mine so it would be a complete meal. I think any fish or chicken would go well with this salad. This recipe makes two meal sized portions. You can add protein if you desire it.
Ingredients for 2 servings
4 carrots – peel if not organic, cut in long planks no more than 1/2 inch thick
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon Aleppo red pepper
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 pound beets, peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch slices
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon ground star anise
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 onion – peel, cut in 1/4 inch slices
smoked salt (I used alder smoked salt)
ground pepper to taste
1 grapefruit – peel and supreme (you cut thee segments out of their skins…you can only do this with a sharp knife) ((P.S. the grapefruit will be less sour/bitter w?o skin))
1 apple (or pear) cut in thin slices
1 cucumber (if regular remove skin and seeds) cut in long slices
1 medium/small avocado – cut in thin slices
2 limes (one to squirt on apple and avocado slices) (the other is for the dressing)
2 Tablespoons Red Boat Fish sauce (dressing)
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar (dressing)
2 Tablespoons date syrup (substitute honey) (dressing)
1 garlic clove – ground to paste (dressing)
1 Tablespoon lime juice (dressing)
2 Tablespoons – Add a fresh herb – either or a combination of mint, basil, Thai basil.
Directions
Set your oven to 425 degrees F with an oiled grill pan on the middle rack.
In pan with raised edges add the three tablespoons of oil, ginger, red pepper, salt, cayenne, a carrots. Mix them together well so the carrots are coated with all the spices. They go in thee oven for around 7 minutes on each side. Take out of the oven when done. (put to the side or refrigerate for tomorrow)
In a small mixing bowl mix together three Tablespoons oil, star anise, salt and the beet slices. The beet slices go on the grill pan. Turn them every 15 minutes until they are done (I turned them 3 or 4 times) (Put to the. side or refrigerate for tomorrow)
You should have room with your beets to also. do. the onions. The onion slices get coated with oil. on each side and sprinkled with smoked salt and pepper to taste. They go in the oven till caramelized on both sides. About 15 minutes on each side. (Put to the side or refrigerate for tomorrow)
Make the dressing. In a small bowl mix together the fish sauce, vinegar, date syrup, garlic, and lime juice and either use or refrigerate.
When ready assemble the salad with all the ingredients. Add a protein. if you like. Dress with the dressing and top with a little bit of a fresh herb.
Cold Roasted Vegetable & Fruit Salad with Lime Fish Sauce Vinaigrette
This recipe is by Great British Chefs dot com (I rounded some ingredients slightly). It’s called Charred Green Beans with Sauté Potatoes, Chermoula, and Fried Almonds. I didn’t call it Charred Green Beans because my green beans were kind of hallow (maybe old?) so when I took mine to char they got all soggy. This recipe is tasty and is a more epicurean version of green beans almandine. Here you fry up the almonds in oil and use the infused almond oil to fry up the potatoes and then fry up the green beans. To make things more interesting you toss the green beans in chermoula (a Moroccan pesto made with preserved lemon). Serving size is difficult to judge. For me this makes a little more than 4 side servings. You will also have extra chermoula leftover that would taste amazing in a tuna salad or on top of grilled fish.
Ingredients for around 5 servings
1 cup almonds
3 Tablespoons olive oil
pinch sea salt
pinch sugar
2 potatoes – peeled (original recipe suggest a dice cut but I cut mine into long thin fry shapes ….do whatever. you want)
flaky sea salt
black pepper
1 lb green beans – trimmed
3 Tablespoons chermoula
1 cup cilantro chopped
1/2 cup parsley leaves chopped
2 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1 preserved lemon (just the rind scrape out the segments and white from rind as much as you can) – chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
Directions
Make chermoula and set to the side. In a large bowl combine the cilantro, parsley, garlic, preserved lemon, oil, salt, paprika, cumin, cayenne, and lemon juice. Set to the side
Fry up the almonds. Put the oil in a fry pan on medium high heat. Fry up the almonds till they turn light brown. Remove almonds without removing the oil and drain on towel lined pan. Sprinkle the almonds with sugar and salt and seed to the side.
Fry the potatoes till they are golden brown. Drain and then season with salt and pepper and set to the side.
Fry up the green beans to desired wrinkle…..Drain green beans when done. Add the green beans to the big bowl with the potatoes and chermoula and toss. Top with the almonds and serve and enjoy!
Fried Green Beans with Potatoes, Chermoula and Fried Almonds
A special THANKS!!!!!!! To Greet British Chefs so I could come up with these amazing green beans!
I had 3 1/2 pounds of tomatillos to use so I wanted to make tomatillo salsa. I made up my own recipes for tomatillo salsa and they were both good. One was raw and one was for roasted salsa. I started looking up other people’s recipes and they were all surprisingly different. I also read that some chefs strongly prefer the raw to the roasted salsa. I did base what I did on Chef Nud Dudhia’s recipe. His recipe was the only one that I saw that used almonds. The almonds really push this recipe above the others. It’s simply scrumptious. I really don’t want to make tomatillo salsa any other way now! This is so FORKING delicious that you are going to want to use this sauce on everything. He says that you can do this roasted or raw. I did roasted because I liked my last roasted tomatillo salsa better than the raw. I rounded some things and changed a couple things because I need to keep this salsa good for at least a month so I made it with home made pickled peppers and I added home made jalapeño brine instead of lime juice….To get the lime taste I’d recommend to add some lime zest. I made around 7 cups. Serving size is difficult. to tell because I don’t know if you need a spoonful for a taco or a cup to cover a burrito. I’ll guesstimate 10 servings.
Ingredients for around 10 servings
3 1/2 pounds tomatillos husked, washed
2 pickled serrano peppers (preferably home made) – rough chopped
2 pickled jalapeños (preferably home made) – rough chopped
6 garlic cloves – ground to paste
6 oz roasted salted almonds – crushed
2 shallots- peeled, chopped
1 avocado- remove pit and avocado flesh – rough chop the flesh
1/4 cup cilantro – chopped
1/2 cup Jalapeno brine (THIS MUST BE HOME MADE by you or purchased from a farmers market to taste good)
1 teaspoon sea salt
optional but recommended – lime zest for finishing
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Put the tomatillos in pans with edges on a middle rack and keep them in the oven till they char up. Remove when done.
If you have a stick blender you can blend everything together now. If not you need to wait till the tomatillos cool.
Blend together the tomatillos, peppers, garlic, almonds, shallots, avocado flesh, cilantro, jalapeño brine and salt. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
Tomatillo Salsa (suggested serve)
Chicken thigh covered in tomatillo sauce, pickled red onion, radish pico and served with grilled zucchini topped with pumpkin seed pesto and cilantro oil.
A special THANKS to chef Nud Dudhia for sharing his FORKING Amazing recipe so I could come up with what I got here.
I was making some salsas so I thought radish pico de gallo would go well with everything and it looks pretty too. I’m thinking that you won’t use much as a portion so I think it will make around 6 servings. I used 6 common red radishes…..but mine were on the large side so you might want to add one or two more if yours are small. You don’t have to cut the radish the way I did. I think shredded would work well. I didn’t cube the radish because I thought it would be harder to eat that way.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
6 common red radishes – sliced thin and quarter the slices.
1/2 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
5 cilantro sprigs – chopped
1 pickled serrano pepper – minced (preferably home made)
3 Tablespoons red onion – fine chopped
1 Tablespoon scallions – sliced thin
Instructions
Just mix up all the ingredients in a small bowl and serve.
Radish Pico De Gallo on the right side of a NY Steak also with Morita salsa and pickled onions
Shu Han Lee is a very high end food blogger, food writer, and food stylist. She has worked with Jamie Oliver and has written for magazines. It wasn’t really my intention to change her recipe but I didn’t have the more flavorful Hatcho miso in my pantry that I need for her recipe. I used regular white miso instead and bumped up the miso by adding a splash of yuzu hot sauce. I also cooked it only slightly differently like the way I cook certain Mediterranean eggplant recipes. What I wound up with turned out FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS. Serving size is always difficult to judge. I used one regular medium sized eggplant. My guesstimate is that you would eat a quarter of the eggplant so I’m guessing 4 small side servings.
Ingredients for around 4 smaller side servings
1 eggplant – cut in half long ways – score tops in diamond shapes
1 heaping Tablespoon white miso paste
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon (or to taste) yuzu hot sauce (I used Trader Joe’s Brand….it’s more yuzu tasting than hot)
5 Tablespoons hot water
non stick spray
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds (to finish)
1 (or 2) scallion – diagonal cuts (to finish)
Directions
In a small mixing bowl mix together the miso, honey, oil, yuzu hot sauce, and hot water. Place the halved and scored eggplants and the mixing bowl liquid in a gallon Ziplock bag. Make sure the eggplant is cut side down in the bag so it can absorb liquid. Leave it on the counter for at least 30 minutes.
Set oven to 400 degrees F
Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray.
Take the eggplants out of the ziplock bag but keep the unabsorbed liquid to the side.
Place thee eggplants cut side down on baking sheet and let them cook for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes turn thee eggplants over (cut side up) and pour extra reserved liquid over and into the eggplant halves. Leave them in the oven till they look slightly caramelized. Top them with sesame seeds and scallions.
Miso and Honey Marinated Eggplant
Enjoy!
A Special THANKS!!!! To Shu Han Lee for sharing her amazing recipe so that I could come up with what I got here!
I had a bag of potatoes and also some cheeses that I needed to use so this is what I came up with for today. OMG YUM! did this come out delicious…..Somehow everything just turned into a delicious tomato-ee, cheesy, soupy sauce with lots of potatoes. Gratinated means buttered crumbs. There is a small amount of buttered fresh bread crumbs on the top. Dauphinoise potatoes are a fancy French term for potatoes baked in milk and or cream and cheese. Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a tiny dish or a big bowl. I used 6 medium sized potatoes so I am guessing a half potato a person so I will guesstimate 12 portions.
Ingredients for around 12 servings
6 medium sized russet potatoes – peeled and sliced thin one a mandolin
1 onion – peeled cut in half and sliced thin on a mandolin
4 garlic cloves – ground to paste
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 Tablespoons fresh basil (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dried Calabrian pepper – crushed (or substitute a small pinch of crushed red pepper)
8 oz stracchino cheese thin slices (as best you can..this cheese is sort of soft)
5 oz taleggio cheese (sliced thin)
2 eggs – lightly beaten
10 oz. can cut tomatoes (whole can with liquid…..or you can use a large farm fresh ripe heirloom tomato that taste good)
6 oz tomato paste
8 oz heavy cream
1 Tablespoon of vegetable stock paste (soup paste)
2 oz parmesan cheese – shaved (I used a vegetable peeler)
non stick spray
small roll (almost 2 oz) – to grate for crumbs (topping)
Spray a large baking dish or half buffet pan with non stick spray.
In a large bowl mix together the cream, tomato paste, soup paste, and eggs. Mix Well.
Add the potatoes, onion, garlic, black pepper, salt, Calabrian pepper, stracchino cheese, taleggio cheese, 2 Tablespoons basil, and the contents of the can of tomatoes. Mix well. Put this mixture in you non stick sprayed dish or pan.
Top this with 2 oz parmesan.
Cover tight with foil.
This goes in the middle rack of your preheated 375 degree F oven for 90 minutes.
During this time grate around 2 oz of a good tasting roll ( I used a mini sourdough roll). The roll will be easier to grate if it is stale or partly frozen. Grate the butter into the crumbs and grate the cheese into this mixture and mix it up.
I spread this out on a baking sheet and threw it in the oven when the potatoes were at 80 minutes or ten minutes before the potatoes were done.The crumbs are super crunchy this way. Add the crumbs to the top of the potatoes when they are done.
Top with a little fresh basil.
Tomato and Cheese Gratinated Dauphinoise Potatoes Tomato and Cheese Gratinated Dauphinoise Potatoes
Okomomiyaki are Japanese cabbage pancakes. They usually are drizzled with mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce that usually is a combination of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. I was about to fry up the pancakes and I could tell by looking at it that if I didn’t add more batter to them that they wouldn’t stick together and wouldn’t come out………So I figured I could bake them in a cupcake pan. AND THAT WORKED! Mayonnaise is very fatty and then I remembered mustard tofu sauce from a Michael Voltaggio recipe I followed for shishito peppers…that is creamy and healthier…But today I used Chinese mustard instead of dijon mustard and it was. even tastier. Instead of traditional Okonomiyaki sauce (ketchup, Worcestershire, soy, sometimes honey or sugar) I used a black garlic, ketchup, hoisin, Worcestershire and thought that was tastier. This recipe makes 8 small cabbage cakes so that will be around 4 side servings.
1/4 small cabbage – fine shred
3 scallions – sliced thin
1 teaspoon oil – canola or coconut
1 inch peeled ginger – grated
1 garlic clove – ground to paste
1 carrot – peeled – shredded
2 eggs – lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon Tamari (or substitute soy sauce)
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds (I did 1/2 white and 1/2 black seeds)
6 or 7 Tablespoons flour (your amount of cabbage might differ slightly…you might need slightly more or slightly less flour)
non stick spray
6 oz silken tofu
1 + 1/2 Tablespoons Chinese mustard (or to taste)
1 head black garlic – peeled
1 Tablespoon ketchup
1 Tablespoon hoisin
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
2 big pinches bonito flakes for finishing
2 big pinches crumbled seaweed sheets for finishing
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Spray 8 parts of your cupcake pan for your 8 cabbage cakes.
On medium heat heat up a small pan with the oil garlic and ginger..just heat until you can smell it. Or microwave it in a dish for a minute. Set to the side to cool.
In a large mixing bowl combine the cabbage, scallions, carrot, eggs, tamari, sesame seeds, flour, and garlic and ginger (now that it is cooler) mix well.
Pack them tight into the non stick sprayed cup cake pan.
Put them in a middle rack for 25 minutes. While they are in the oven you can make the sauces.
For the tofu mustard just blend together the tofu and mustard.
For the black garlic sauce blend together the black garlic, ketchup, hoisin, and Worcestershire.
After 25 minutes the cabbage cakes should be done. They need to cool off a little before you can remove them from the pan. You might need to use a butter knife and loosen them from the sides.
Serve them with the sauces and sprinkles of bonito flakes and seaweed flakes.
Okonomiyaki Style Baked Cabbage Cakes with Tofu Mustard and Black Garlic Sauce
