Mandy and Jace

I have a confession to make. I never liked meat balls. All the ones that I’ve tried were always huge, bland and in a thick, slimy sauce that drowns what little flavor that the meat may have. I didn’t like them until Jace found these while watching food network and made me try them.

Jace loves to watch Alton Brown on Food Network. Now, it’s not that I dislike AB but he tends to be too smart for his own good. When I cook, I like to use as few dishes as possible and keep everything neat and tidy. When he cooks he uses every dish in the kitchen plus most of the power tools in his work shop. So any time we watched him I just got more and more annoyed seeing him pull dish after dish out of his cabinets. You can just imagine me yelling at the TV telling him to WASH YOUR DISHES BEFORE FOOD DRIES ON THEM AND THE WORLD ENDS. It’s hard to imagine, I know. So, when this meatball recipe came up I was very skeptical of AB and meat balls in general, but I’m a good wife and I made them. Lo and behold, they were amazing. They have a little bit of a kick to keep you on your feet, but the parmesan and bread crumbs make them so smooth and wonderful. We don’t put a sauce on these because they just don’t need them. We cook some spaghetti and drizzle some olive oil and lemon juice then put the meat balls on top. Pure perfection!

Meat balls
adapted from Alton Brown
1/2lb ground pork
1/2lb ground lamb
1/2lb ground beef
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or just a bit more if you want them pretty spicy)
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

If your meat is not pre-ground grind your meat using a meat grinder. I used the grinder attachment to my big kitchen aid mixer.
In a large bowl, combine the pork, lamb, beef, cheese, egg, basil, parsley, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, and 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs. With your hands, form the meat balls into the size you want.

Place the remaining bread crumbs in a bowl or large coffee cup. Take each meat ball and roll it in the bread crumbs coating each one. Place each meat ball in the cups of a mini muffin tin. (If you don’t have one a baking sheet will do). If you have time place the whole tin with the meat balls in the fridge for about an hour so all the flavors can come together. If you don’t have time it’s ok.
Cook the meat balls for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown and cooked through. Serve on top of spaghetti.

We have lots of great food planned for this week and hopefully we’ll actually get to eat it. Jace’s grandmother is in the hospital so we’ve be going back and forth between the hospital, work and home. Please be in prayer for her. There are a lot of things we still don’t know, but what we do know. She fell and hit her head last week and she is in tremendous pain right now. I know she would appreciate your prayers.

Here’s the plan.
Tonight: roast chicken and potatoes
Tuesday: Tex-Mex pork chops with rice
Wednesday: tailgating with the youth group
Thursday: take out before praise and worship practice
Friday: not sure what’s going to happen

Happy eating!

Mandy and I love to cook, as you’ve no doubt noticed. But cooking 4 to 5 times a week in a relatively small town tends to mean that we go through the same few staple ingredients all the time. It’s really easy to fall into a rut of chicken and rice for every dinner, and I have definitely done that a bunch of times.

It’ll also come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of Monty Python. They’re zany, funny and a little different; but in the end they make me happy. It’s in the spirit of one of their least known stories I present:

And Now For Something Completely Different

And this time, the completely different ingredient will be veal stock. I understand some people may have some issues with veal, but I promise the second it touches your tongue, you’ll lose every last scruple. So go to that spot in your local mega-mart where you find chicken broth and grab a carton of veal stock instead. It’s totally worth it.

Confession time: gravy has been my kryptonite. It always tasted like flour or was lumpy or was too thick or too thin. Basically, I had a hard time with it and had pretty much given it up. I finally had some luck last Thanksgiving, and I think I’ve got it about figured out. Tonight we’re going to make it with veal stock and butter, but you can use a whole lot of different ingredients like chicken broth, milk, heavy cream, chocolate… It can get as weird as you want it.

A couple of quick tips:

1. If you have a round-bottomed pan, it will suit you well. A saucier was pretty much made just for this.
2. Have all your ingredients ready and within arm’s reach before the butter hits the pan, because once you get going you can’t stop.

The basis of any country gravy is what the French call a roux. It’s an equal part, by volume, of some melted fat and flour. We’re going to make a decent amount, so we’ll use two tablespoons each of butter and regular all-purpose flour. You’ll want to melt the butter over medium to medium high heat and add the flour just before the butter starts to brown.

Then whisk it all about till it’s all a whitish liquid. Then it’s time to let it cook a little while. The roux will start to darken, going from a honey blonde to a brick red and all the way to exhaust black if you don’t watch it. We’re going for my personal favorite: slightly dirty blonde.

Of course, I’m a little partial.

Now that we’ve managed to get the roux right where we want it, we have to work quickly from here on out. We’re going to add a decent amount of our stock. You can start at half a cup if you just have to measure things, but it’s really better to just slowly add a few splashes until it’s thinned out to where you like it.

The butter in the roux really won’t want to mix with the stock you add, oil and water being the racists they are. The flour just wants everyone to get along, but it’s kinda lazy so you’re going to have to whisk a lot. It will come together eventually, and if it’s still lumpy, add another splash of stock.

Did I mention this is going to be a brownish gravy? Do you not like that idea? Add some milk, or heavy cream if you’re so inclined. You’ll have to whisk it all in pretty hard, too.

Now, you have to let it bubble away for at least a minute. This is the only way to cook out that flour taste, and to me, it’s the most important step. It’s during this time that you’ll need to go get a spoon anyway. You have to taste it now; probably a good three or forty times. You can add some salt, pepper, maybe even garlic powder if it’ll work with your dish. Just make sure it tastes good.

It’s time to put it on something. Like say freshly fried chicken nuggets, some biscuits or maybe some chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes.

So, what have we learned? Gravy isn’t quite as hard as it seems–you know, after you figure it out. Hopefully we’ve illuminated some of the pitfalls I face-planted into the first few times I made gravy, so that you can avoid them: liquid roux at a pretty blonde, slowly add the stock or liquid, whisk it all together vigorously enough to combine (not vigorously enough to require extraneous cleaning), and let it boil away for a minute or so to cook out the bad.

Veal Stock Country Gravy
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
4+ fluid oz of veal stock
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a round bottomed pan over medium to medium-high heat. Whisk the flour into the butter and allow to darken just past blonde. Whisk the stock in and add more if it’s still too thick. Allow the gravy to cook for at least a minute before seasoning with salt and pepper.

This weekend was a great one! We watched our youth group kids share their talents in the district fine arts competition. They all did a great job even though there were some disappointments in judging. There are always judging disappointments, though and it happens to even the best musicians. We also got lots of things done around the house and storage building. It was very busy, but fun.

We have a big meal plan for this week.
Tonight: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with veal gravy and corn on the cobb
Tuesday: meatballs on lemon spaghetti with salad
Wednesday: turkey and cheese paninis
Thursday: chicken fajita burritos with refried beans and rice
Friday: date night!

I love all things pizza. It’s tasty, easy and versatile. You can make it as healthy or unhealthy as you want and as easy or difficult you want. I have found that I really enjoy making breads and doughs and so far my best has been my pizza dough.

This recipe uses my normal pizza dough recipe but I stuffed the dough with my ingredients. I chose to make a three meat calzone, with sausage, pepperoni and bacon. However, you can do so much more. Be creative!

Here is the recipe for the dough. If the whole wheat scares you just replace the whole wheat flour with white flour. It works just as well as the wheat.

Three Meat Calzone
(I didn’t put measurements because it’s up to you how much you put in)

Fresh made dough
Pepperoni
Sausage
Bacon
Mushrooms, sliced
Mozzarella cheese
Tomato sauce or pasta sauce
1 egg, beaten
Olive oil

Roll out your dough to your desired thickness and place on a greased sheet pan. Spoon your desired amount of tomato sauce or pasta sauce on half of the dough leaving a one inch border around the sides to close the calzone.

In a bowl combine your pepperoni, sausage, bacon, mushrooms and cheese together. Pour the mixture on top of the sauce .

Brush the border of the dough all the way around with the beaten egg and pull the side of the dough without anything on it up over the meat mixture.

Take a fork and press it down on the edge of the calzone to close and cut a slit on the top to let out steam. Brush the top of the calzone with the egg wash for browning.

Put in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve immediately.