Turkey Meatball Subs and our Pawn Star...

I'm so excited to share with you the news that my brother is going to be on the show Pawn Stars this Thursday Feb 27 trying to make a deal to sell his vintage Volkswagen bus.  You can catch the show on t.v. or possibly on the History Channel-Pawn Stars, also if he doesn't sell it; I'd be more than happy to broker a transaction with you for a small brokers fee.  (Way, way less than the huge cut they try and get!  Sorry Rick, this is strictly business, a Cookie Queen has to eat too you know.) 

The cutie in the VW is my nephew Lil Anthony rolling just like his daddy did back in high school when he first fell in love with V-dubs and restoring old cars.

Even though last week was a short week it sure was a long one in the work department.  I had several late nights in which I only entertained the idea of what to make for dinner upon entering the kitchen completely famished. You see I'm the easy one in the house, if there is a leftover dessert sitting on the counter I have no problem inhaling it, walking away and calling it good.  While having dessert for dinner seems like cake to me, the other two I live with just aren't that easy.   

Hot Dog Dude comes home from work acting like he hasn't eaten in a month.  He will mow anyone down to get to the food and will complain if one of the items isn't ready and we have to delay plating. Probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact he has cleared his plate before I even get mine served up and make it to the table.  I always feel like I lost a competition that I didn't even know I was in. 

Then there is the kid, who one day eats something, the next day doesn't.  Actually I'm beginning to believe what she eats is completely dependent on what phase the moon is in.  That has to be it; there really is no other rational explanation for this phenomenon.  One day after school she will ask if she can have some chicken nuggets and when I make chicken at home I get, "I don't eat chicken."  I think she is just messing with me,  but I had to give her a pass this week when she ratted out her Dad for complaining I didn't make dinner before leaving for night school. 

I made some meatballs earlier in the week, I was even thinking of said complainer when I made them in turkey instead of beef as to not upset his delicate system. If these complaints keep rolling in, who knows what may end up in the meatballs?  I'm not saying recipes are in the works, but there is just so far you can push people before they snap. 

I tried squelching the peanut gallery with some leftover meatballs transformed into subs; it worked so I'm calling it a win.  If your hoard is equally unruly, may I suggest the humble Turkey Meatball Sub, I used this Beef Meatball recipe but subbed the beef with ground turkey.  I located a jar of Marinara from my stash, toasted a roll with a little butter.  Loaded it up with 3 meatballs, covered with a slice of mozzarella cheese and threw it under the broiler for a minute till the cheese melted.  Added a little extra sauce, and some sort of peace deal managed to be worked out even if it will be short lived.

Gina

p.s. In the random chance I start over with some other family down the road; I'm playing clueless in the kitchen.  I will know how to boil ramen only and trust me I will commit myself to the role.

Turkey and Quinoa Meatball Posole

Soup Battle Royale was playing out in my head this morning.  One camp was screaming, "I want Posole", the other "I want Meatball soup".  Whoa, keep it down in there I had to keep reminding myself.  The battle went on for what seemed like hours, finally I decided to step away and have an oatmeal, apple, ginger cookie while I cleared my head.

I really wanted both kinds of soup, but decided to use a process of elimination to find the winner.

Posole
(pros); spicy, hominy, crunchy, pork (need I say more)
(cons);  3 hours to make, lots of pork and wanting to cut back on meat

Before I even finished with the cons (that and I was mentally tired), I cried out - I just want some spicy, tasty soup with meatballs and I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen.  

Soup Base

8 dried New Mexico chili pods

4 cups boiling water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 - 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt

1 - 29 ounce can white hominy, rinsed and drained

Turkey and Quinoa Meatballs

1/2 pound ground turkey

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 clove garlic, minced

1 large egg

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Garnishes

Radishes, thinly sliced

Tostada chips

Lime wedges

Bring four cups of water to a boil and pour the boiling water over the chili pods and let soak 15-20 minutes.

Turn a heavy stockpot on to medium heat and add the olive oil, onions and celery and let cook for 10 minutes until the vegetables are starting to get a little color.  Add the garlic and cook a few minutes longer.  

Add the softened chili pods to a blender with 2 1/2 cups of the soaking liquid and pulse until finely chopped.  Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and discard the skins and seeds.  

Add the chili mixture to the stockpot and add the crushed tomatoes, 2 cups of water, cumin and salt and let cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Combine the ground turkey, quinoa, garlic, egg, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl and mix with your hands until well combined.  I shaped the mixture into quarter sized meatballs and added them to the soup.  Let cook 5 more minutes.  

Add the drained and rinsed hominy and cook 10 more minutes.

Serve with sliced radishes, tostada chips and a squeeze of lime.

Hopefully I saved you from having this same battle play out in your head.  The meatballs are soft and tasty, the broth is spicy but not too hot and if you are like me you will need all the radishes in the above photo for your bowl alone.

Enjoy,

Gina

Are all Meatballs created equally?

I received a request from Priscilla of She's Cookin for my meatball recipe; I told her I've been making them for so long but don't have a written recipe.  I'm sure you have those recipes too, that you make from memory.  The meatball recipe I like to use I learned from my Mom.

Meatballs were a treat for us; we didn't have them every time we had spaghetti.  My mom was very resourceful with her food budget; yet she managed to keep us all well fed on a small budget.  As true as it is today, meat was one of the biggest expenses of her food budget; she always had to watch what she threw in the cart.  

I've read many recipes over the years and all of them call for three different kinds of ground meat.  My mom would have never blown her budget buying all those different meats; she always used just ground beef.  So that is how I still make them today.  

Last time I made meatballs, I made them for 20 of us.  All I had to do was multiply the ingredients, brown them all up in a skillet and finish cooking them in a Crockpot filled with marinara sauce.  

Mom's Meatballs

2 slices sourdough or white bread

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 pounds ground beef 

1 egg

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated 

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2-3 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1.  Tear the bread into little pieces and place in the bottom of your bowl, pour milk over the top and let it soften for a minute.  Most recipes call for bread crumbs; I personally think that makes for drier meatballs. Also I don't like to go below 15% on the ground beef otherwise your meatballs will be a little more on the dry side.

2.  Add ground beef, egg, garlic, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.  Mix with your hands until well combined.

3.  Heat a skillet on medium heat.  Shape the balls into large golf ball sized balls; I usually get 10 - 12.  One important thing here is to be gentle with the meat, you don't have to man handle it and compact the meatballs. The looser they are the more tender they are going to be.

4.  Add a couple of tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil to your skillet and add meatballs.

5.  Brown the meatballs and keep turning them until a brown crust forms all the way around the meatballs.

6.  Once all the meatballs are browned, cover them with a quart of marinara sauce.  Put a lid on the skillet and turn the heat down to simmer and cook for 30 minutes.  

I've seen lots of recipes where the meatballs are baked; I think the meatballs are tenderer with the frying method, that brown crust on the outside really insulates the tender meat on the inside.

I think this meatball speaks for itself, see the wonderful soft interior.  Bathed in marinara sauce, all they need is another dusting of Parmesan cheese and its meatball heaven.

I would have posted this for you yesterday, but apparently there was some Blogger outage.  Lucky for me I was too busy enjoying lunch at Wayfare Tavern with Patty - Patty's Food to worry about it.

Enjoy,

Gina