Meatballs, apparently worth the hassle...

Happy Sunday Darlings, its the end of the weekend and I was strangely inspired.
I am not a big fan of periodicals (unless my YouTube subscriptions count?) but there is one such publication that I will read cover to cover multiple times. Cook's Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen.

The latest edition.

I adore the way they break down the whys and hows of a recipe, including documentation of their less than successful outcomes. (Remember folks, the difference between science and goofing around is writing stuff down!) Each issue teaches me new techniques and inspires thought. The latest issue included two page spread titled Sausage Meatballs and Spaghetti. It details all about how to use the flavorful sausage in your meatballs without having them become overly dense and/or dry.

It should be available in your local periodical retailer so for the full article go there. I really do recommend it. I personally own several years of their compilations and truly enjoy them.

I read that article a few days ago, then today while browsing Serious Eats (I am a food blogger for a reason ya'll) I stumbled across this gem. How to Make Quick and Easy Italian-American Red Sauce That Tastes Slow Cooked. Hello sexy! Serious Eats is one of my favorite time wasters, especially the Food Lab archives, because I'm not truly wasting time. I'm learning. So there.

These two recipes so close together felt like kismet to me so I braved the Winco weekend crowds and grabbed the ingredients I didn't have on hand.

I won't transcribe the Cook's Illustrated recipe as that smacks of plagiarism to me, but I will post a recipe for what I made as I had to make several adjustments based on volume and the palates of my diners.

Sleepy Ginger's Meatball variation

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 teaspoons water

16 oz ground pork

32 oz ground beef 

4 slices of hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for serving

3 large egg yolks

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon italian seasoning (rosemary, oregano, thyme)

Bread, cream, yolks, cheese, and seasonings before pulsing...

• Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Set wire rack in lined baking sheet and spray with vegetable oil.
• Dissolve salt and baking soda in water in large bowl. Add pork and beef, fold gently to combine and let stand for 10 minutes.
• Pulse bread, cream, cheese, yolks, garlic, and seasoning in foot processor until smooth paste forms, about 10 pulses, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add meat mixture (do not wash out bowl) and pulse until mixture is well combined, about 5 pulses. Transfer meat mixture back to empty bowl.
• With your wet hands (or gloved hands if you loathe having dirty hands like me), lightly shape mixture into 1 3/4inch round meatballs (about 1 oz each); this is made easier with a #30 scoop. I got 42 meatballs from this recipe. Arrange meatballs, evenly spaced, on prepared wire rack and bake until browned. About 15 minutes, rotating the pan half way through baking.



Gloved up for protection, I loathe getting my hands dirty.

• Remove tray from oven and bask in the glory of MEATBALLS!  Let rest for 5-10 minutes before either simmering into your sauce or packing away for later. I packed half of these meatballs away in the freezer for later meals, they should be good for 3 months but I highly doubt they will be in there that long. 

42 meatballs awaiting their trip to the sauna.

And after their 15 minutes in the oven, golden brown and delicious. And over exposed because I didn't turn on the rammit frackin' light before taking a picture. Patience pays.

Sauce, simmering away. The green is a sprig of fresh basil giving its brightness in the name of my dinner.

Tossed with pasta, plated, and Parmesan-ed. Not as thick as I wanted it, but still fairly good.

I must admit that I made a mistake tonight. I should have started the sauce before I started the meatballs to ensure it would have enough time to cook down. But I was relying too much on the word "Quick" in the recipe title. Quick for me means that I can have dinner completely done and ready to serve in 30-45 minutes. And perhaps I could have with this recipe but I didn't plan things out well. With a new recipe I should have left myself time for adjusting and I didn't. Sad, sad SleepyGinger.

But it was still good and the sauce that I didn't splash thinly over my pasta cooked down beautifully in another 20 minutes. So live and learn. 

Tasty trails my Darlings!

Burrito Bowls for the cilantro haters

I hate cilantro. Hate it, hate it, hate it! It tastes like soap to me and completely throws off my dining groove. While I do my best to pick it out there is inevitably one sneaky leaf that lingers behind to spoil my bite and leave me making faces like an infant having their first lemon.

But I'm not alone in this situation, it all comes down to genetics. For more of the science behind the issue I shall direct you to the wonder that is SciShow. Always a treat.

Back to the issue at hand. Burrito Bowls, lots of fun but that super tasty rice base is typically cilantro lime...  So clearly for the best outcome I was looking at a make at home dinner. Always cheaper than take out. I consulted the Facebook hive mind and concluded that the most likely substitute for the loathesome cilantro would be green onion, and why not add some garlic for kicks.

What follows isn't an exact recipe, since I prefer to cook by feel (aka didn't bother measuring). Combine to taste and based on what feels right to you. I BELIEVE IN YOU!

Garlic, Green Onion, and Lime Rice

2 cups white rice
3 1/2 cups chicken stock/ broth (Could be done with water but... Why intentionally skip out on a flavor possibility?)
*Zest of one lime (approximately 1 Tablespoon)
*Juice of one lime (approximately 1/2 cup)
1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic
*- lime juice and zest could be replaced with 1-2 Tablespoons of TrueLime powder which is purely crystalized lime and a staple in the Sleeping Dragon pantry.

Combine all ingredients in the basin of your rice cooker and let 'er rip! Delicious aromas will soon flood your kitchen and power you through the rest of your dinner prep. Burrito bowls are fun, but a good deal of prep work involved.

DICED ALL THE THINGS! Spurred on by the scent of cooking rice. Talk about inspiration.

Burrito Bowl in all its beautiful completeness. You can't really see the rice in this pic under all of the other tasty layers of goodness, but it's there and it's vital. Believe me.

Tasty trails my darlings! ~SleepyGinger

Lily Market (or... SCOOOOOOORE! And the Death of the Widow)

I've driven past a dozen times, always thought it was just a little hole in the wall convenience store. Until one night the urge for chocolate was too strong and I caved to the siren song of Baskin- Robbins. I'm weak, I know. But it was good, so bite me.

Anyway, back on track. I pulled into the parking lot and was stunned to realize that the "hole in the wall" Lily Market took up the entire building!

I could see the shelves of cooking pots and 50# bags filled with rice. I made a mental note to return and check it out. Sometime when I didn't have my take out dinner rapidly cooking in the passenger seat.

(I ate the ice cream. Cherries jubilee and chocolate fudge. And it was wonderful!)

The next day I stopped in after work. KNOWING that such a trip would be detrimental for RedneckWidow's respiratory system. Wide eyed and wondering I wandered. Aisle by aisle, smiling and taking it all in. Too much good stuff, too many things I didn't know, but would soon be Googling. (there's that verb again!)

Dried Betel leaves are apparently for addictive fun times*  (*Author's note- NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!)

You burn it and it smells pretty.

The shiny pots are very light weight aluminum and the cast iron pans with the divots is for  Takoyaki but it looks like it could be used for Aebelskiver.  

Stylized Tiffin Carriers super pretty.

Farther back into the actual grocery I found aisles of dried noodles on one side and gorgeous metal tea pots on the other.

And then there were the fun finds in the grocery itself. 

Chinese Chicken sausages with edible collagen casing, BellaBabe friendly. Though too sweet for Apocalypse.Mom who described them as more of a breakfast sausage.

These bags of Pho noodles are bigger than my head! I mean fresh noodles are awesome, but how many people do I  need to be serving in order to justify buying this???

This case contains the Durian and durian products. 

8.5 POUNDS of Sambal Oelek. I am afraid.

And in the very very far back (IE the side I could see from the opposite street)... The deli case! Filled with freshly made Thai dishes that made my toes curl! I've been back 5 times in 8 days! They are starting to recognize me. But the steamed buns haunt my dreams.

Today when I went in for more pictures (whatever!) I almost wept because the woman in front of me ordered the last two steam buns. But that's fine, I'm mature. I only pouted a little. But I will be back, oh yes I will be back. Likely on Friday when they roast young coconuts packed with sweet rice. Mmmm yes, I will be back.

** A brief moment of humor. After that first trip I got home and was greeted by RedneckWidow and Apocalypse.Mom who wanted to know where I had been and when I was going to take them. So of course we went back that same night! And I warned RedneckWidow about the spices, don't let her claim I didn't! 

 ***Secondary note. I just checked out their website... There are apartments over the market!! If they allowed pets I would kill to live there!!

The evil that shall not be eaten

So, the large family we have all decided to take a day out and go to the beach for Labor day weekend.  And so far I am the only one brave enough to blog about our horror. One the way home, we decided to just stop in at some out of the way place we found along the way… while sometimes this is fun and adventurous. This is not always the case.

As we pulled into The Logger… somewhere along highway 30… and that is as close to a location as I feel safe giving you as we hope and pray our readers are not inflicted with such culinary horrors. Do you see how much we love you, our dear readers?

As per usual, I tried the Chicken Fried Steak.  I do have to say, I have never had a chicken fried steak that was sweet and tangy. I am not sure how to make country gravy sweet. I swear it tasted just a little like lemon. The fries were ok though… the ones that didn’t have gravy on them. Sleepy Ginger got a hamburger steak… at least that is what the menu called it. It came with packet gravy, mushy onions and rice pilaf the consistency of baby food.  And Apocalypse Mom had a seafood platter. Half of which was burned beyond edibility and the other half has been referred to as “deep fried death from the sea.” The kidlets got a variety of burgers. But the biggest testament to the horror that is The Logger… Not one of use escaped this particular dining experience without some type of digestive problem that haunted our next few days.

So, if you are driving the length of Highway 30, dear readers, and you see the small restaurant at the blinking caution light in the middle of nowhere… keep driving… I promise there is better food choices on your path. 

Siam Grill *Or* The Power of Cravings

Got off work today and knew that I didn't want the corndogs and tatertots that Redneck Widow had planned for dinner. (This is by no means disparraging her dinner plans, I just don't care for corndogs without... An herbal appetizer.) Spent the max ride home plotting on where I would hunt my own dinner.

There has been a taunt of green curry chicken for nearly a week now. Costco had a premade package and I bought it for Apocalypse.Mom, Vicious, and myself to enjoy a spicy thai dinner. Due to allergies we've been trying to wait for an evening when Redneck Widow isn't here... But she NEVER leaves!

As a result I found myself driving down Halsey chanting "Thai, Thai, Thai, Thai..." When I saw the sign for Siam Grill I whipped into the parking lot. Right behind this...

Four moon roofs! FOUR! And you can't really see the black on black flames on the fenders. Isn't it nifty? I thought so.

Anyway. Siam Grill.

Tiny little hole in the wall restaurant that smelled absolutely wonderful. So I went with it. My general thai restaurant order is the green curry with chicken, leaving out the bell peppers. Because I despise the texture of cooked bell pepper, slimy nastiness. And they were okay with it. My to go order was ready in under 10 minutes. So home I went.

And the verdict? Tasty. Not burn your face off spicy, actual flavor. Just the way I like it. And they deliver to my house with a $20 minimum order + a $3 delivery fee. There's hope for me yet.

Apocalypse.Mom on Location

Hello one and all. 
    Once again I have been traveling.  Traveling is rough for someone like myself who is culinarily challenged because of medical conditions.  So my 18 year old daughter and I drove from Portland, Oregon to Ferdinand, Idaho for my sisters wedding.  My daughter will hereafter be known as the Vicious Muffin.  

   We left Friday morning and I don't think we stopped for a "real" meal until we got to Lapwai, Idaho.  This town is nestled in the Nez Perce Reservation.  We stopped about 6 in the evening to this cute little diner called Donald's.  Vicious ordered chicken strips and fries and I ordered a chicken sandwich no mayo and a green salad.  I forgot to ask if it was breaded, it was.  There was a cook and a waitress for the whole place which probably seated 50?  There was maybe 10 people in there.  If the waitress was not taking a phone order she was trying to take and get orders out.  She forgot our drinks because she was so busy.  She needed more help.  Once we did get our food I ate the salad.  It was the usual iceberg fare.  I took one bite of the sandwich and realized I could not eat it as was.  The batter was like a tempura that was a bit overdone.  Not burned, just to much batter for the chicken.  I paid for the food and left a small tip.  Vicious and I have decided to no longer eat at restaurants with men's names.

    One thing I will say for Donald's is they are good to their regulars.  There was a gentleman who came in the same time as us.  Definitely a regular.  An elderly Native American man.  She treated him like family.  She knew his order, helped him to a seat with his walker and made sure he could eat his food.  This exchange saved my image of Donald's.  I don't think its a bad place, it just needs a bigger staff.  

   Saturday morning we found a great little place.  Very supportive of its local sports teams.  I will tell you all about that next time.

  

Sidelines

Sadly, much to Sleepy Gingers disappointment, Sidelines is my favorite type of restaurant. Half sport’s bar, half “family dining”, Sidelines has TV’s all over the room playing a myriad of sports. Their menu sports nearly a full page of appetizers, as well as pizza and sandwiches. They even had some higher priced, “fancier” items on the menu. For instance there was a nicely described T-bone steak as well as a Sea Food platter with lots of aquatic fare that I would never eat.

In my true redneck fashion, I firmly believe that the first meal you sample at a new restaurant is the chicken fried steak. So, of course, that is what I ordered. It was well priced for the size of meal I received. The potatoes were real and were mashed with the skins on (A personal favorite). The breading on my chicken fried steak was great. The steak itself was a little tough and dry, but that is why they make gravy. The gravy was out of a packet, and tasted too much like flour. The vegetables were ok, but not great. All in all I really like the place. I want to go back and try the fish and chips.

I thought the atmosphere was great, the décor was amusing for me at least, and I really enjoyed the food. I found the prices reasonable for the amount of food we got, but not great. But the next time I go, I want to avoid bringing the children with me and check out the bar selection as well.