Turmeric image by Steven Jackson, via Flickr CC license
Chickpea Curry
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 approximately 2-inch piece of ginger, grated
2 teaspoons Sweet Curry powder
1 teaspoon Penzeys Curry Now powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 (15 oz ) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed (smash one can with a fork)
28 oz can, petite diced tomatoes
1 can full fat coconut milk
2-3 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt
Chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add onions, salt; sautè until translucent, about 6 minutes stirring every now and then. Add garlic and sautè for 1 more minute.
Add ginger and all the spices; sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add diced tomatoes then chickpeas.
Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Stir in coconut milk and simmer for 5 more minutes.
In a small bowl mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir in the chickpea mixture and cook for 5 more minutes or until thickened.
Take a taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Remove from the heat, sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro.
Serve over basmati or brown rice.
I made this recipe for the first time this evening for our dinner. The balance and depth of flavors was very good. Most of the ingredients are easy to have on had, with the exception of the fresh cilantro (which seems to go bad in just a few days — or is it me?).
This is a quick and easy, delicious (meatless) curry.
There is a wonderful restaurant at the corner of 60th and North Avenue here in Milwaukee. It is called Mekong Cafe. They serve Thai, Laos and Vietnamese food; the lunch buffet is reliably varied and delicious.
One of my favorite things to have there is Tom Kha Gai soup. I’ve searched for a recipe that comes close to the deliciousness that is that soup.
image of Tom Yum Gai by Lorenia via Flickr CC license
This recipe might just be even better than the Mekong version. It actually IS better because when I make it at home I don’t have to drive across town which saves me about stress and expense of about an hour in traffic.
Organic Ginger image by Artizone via Flickr CC license.
Image by Dubravko Soric via Flickr CC license
Image by Daniel R Blume via Flickr CC license
Image by Q family via Flickr CC license
THAI CHICKEN AND COCONUT SOUP (TOM KHA GAI) makes four generous servings
1 stalk lemongrass (I haven’t been able to find this a my grocery store, so I leave this out.)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste (This is the kind I use.)
6 quarter-inch wide slices fresh ginger (or grate an equivalent amount into the broth)
3 kaffir lime leaves (I used grated lime zest from one of the limes)
4 cups chicken stock (homemade is best, or use a box or bouillon)
1/2 pound (or up to a pound) boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, sliced across the grain into 1/8-inch wide strips. You can also use tofu or shrimp. 2 cups shitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps quartered or 1 can 15 oz.straw mushrooms, drained.
1 14-ounce can coconut milk (Don’t use low-fat. Trust me. I tried it.)
Juice of one or two limes (about five tablespoons)
2 tablespoons nam pla (AKA fish sauce, also available in most groceries these days.)
3 green onions, trimmed and sliced into ¼ inch pieces
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Trim lemongrass, cut into three pieces about four inches long. Whack the pieces with the flat side of your knife blade to crush slightly.
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
Saute onion and garlic for about two minutes.
Add lemongrass, curry paste, ginger discs, and lime leaf (or peel). Cook, stirring, for three minutes.
Add stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add coconut milk, chopped chicken and quartered mushroom caps (or drained canned straw mushrooms). Cook five minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through.
Add lime juice and nam pla. Taste for balance between nam pla and lime. If one flavor is dominating too much, add a little of the other.
Garnish with green onion and cilantro.
This is the story from the Unfussy Fare website where I found this delicious recipe. I’ll copy it here to save you from clicking through but I’ll also link it to the website for you, too.
This one goes out to everyone who ever brought food when the chips were down. I may have forgotten to write a note, given everything. I’m sure you were busy. It took forethought. You had to find that recipe, get groceries, and cook. Then you had to transport it all, which can be messy. You probably wondered if you’d ever get your Tupperware back. It was good of you.
Years ago, when my mother was dying, people brought food. There were casseroles and brownies, homegrown tomatoes and pots of soup. I was mystified. Did they really think we could eat, at a time like that? Well, yes. They knew we could. Everyone eventually does, inconceivable as it seems. I felt like a traitor, eating while my irrepressible mother was slipping away. But she would’ve rolled her eyes at that sentiment, and reminded me that life is hard enough without my efforts to make it harder.
Years later, my husband and I welcomed a son. Dinner came to our doorstep every night for weeks, courtesy of friends and neighbors. I wept with thankfulness. I wept a lot in those days, but that’s another story. I can still taste those meals, seasoned as they were with naked gratitude. I missed my Mom. I needed help. And help arrived, wrapped in foil and kindness.
Birth and death are demanding. They just swoop right and in and put their feet up, blithely flicking away the orderly unfolding of our days. We are tender and tired as we attend our loved ones at the beginning and the end. We sing and stroke. We wash and feed. The clock ceases to provide useful information. These are the rhythms of lives, not days. In the midst of these marathons of nurture, gifts of food stand in simple relief. Meals arrive like little missives from the world where the clock still applies, like souvenirs of simpler times. It’s hard to remember simpler times when you’re in the thick of life’s seismic upheavals. Food gives strength, and comfort.
A family friend dropped this soup by for me and my stepfather when my mom was sick. We were dazed by the unfolding loss. My memories of that time are foggy, but I recall thinking this soup was the most delicious thing I ever tasted. I wouldn’t have thought it possible to even notice a bowl of soup just then, never mind enjoy it. But I savored every bite. It served to remind me that a world outside of sorrow still existed. Life would be there, with all its flavors and delights, when the time came to gather up the fragments of my broken heart and look forward again.
To this day, the complicated interplay of flavors in Tom Kha Gai puts me in mind of nurture, solace, and motherhood. When I know someone with a new baby, or an illness, or a death in the family, this is the dish I most often bring. I pass it on with thanks, for all the grace and sustenance.
I get a lot of requests for this recipe, which is the true measure of any dish’s popularity, if you ask me. This soup somehow manages to be feisty and harmonious at the same time. It’s interesting enough to impress foodie types, but simple and comforting enough to appeal to less adventurous eaters. (You might need to explain to the aforementioned “less adventurous eaters” that the big stalks of lemongrass and discs of ginger floating around in the soup aren’t meant to be eaten. They’re just adding flavor.) Sometimes I throw in cooked basmati rice at the end. That may be some kind of Thai-food no-no, but I find chicken and rice a soothing combination.
I’ve tried several new recipes this week. I’m somewhat surprised to report that they were all really good.
My daughter and I are both working on musical productions (at two different high schools — she is on the backstage crew for hers and I am the accompanist for mine). We had rehearsals every night this week either after school or evenings, and this weekend we have two concerts plus an extra rehearsal. Next week I have 6 shows (I think!) and two choir rehearsals and she has tech week (also known as Hell week in the theater realm).
SO — I’ve been looking for meals that are quick to fix and either either bake (can be left in the oven for an hour or more) or cook quickly.
Chicken walking through the village image by World Bank Photos via Flickr CC license
Chicken legs and thighs were on sale last week, so these are all chicken recipes.
Annabel Farley image of olives via Flickr CC license
Ingredients
For the Spice Mixture
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon paprika
¾ teaspoon turmeric
⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter, melted
4 cloves garlic, pressed
For the Sheet Pan Chicken
1 lemon
2 large sweet onions, cut into 12 wedges each
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
3 skin-on chicken quarters (I used 8 chicken bone-in skin-on chicken thighs)
1 cup green olives, pitted
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves (I forgot to add this!)
Brian Siewiorek image of cilantro, via Flickr CC license public domain
Instructions
Preheat an oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a small bowl, prepare the spice rub by combining the salt, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cayenne, and black pepper. Stir in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and the pressed garlic.
Cut the lemon in half and set one half aside. Cut the remaining half into thin slices, then arrange the slices in a single layer on a rimmed half sheet pan. Scatter the onion wedges over the lemons, then drizzle 1 Tablespoon of olive oil over the onions. Sprinkle the pan with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon turmeric. (I think you could get by with 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric. It is SO expensive!)
Place the chicken quarters on the pan, skin side up. Pat the top of the chicken dry, then brush the prepared spice mixture evenly onto the skin of each quarter. I rubbed the spices all over the chicken with my hands.
Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and roast for 45 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees and the juices run clear.
Scatter the pan with the olives and cilantro leaves. Squeeze the juice from the remaining half lemon onto the chicken. (I baked the olives on the pan with the chicken. I did remember the lemon juice, but forgot the cilantro.)
We had brown and wild rice with this. I poured the sauce from the pan over my rice and it was delicious.
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Mike Mozart image of green beans, via Flickr CC license
Instructions
In a gallon size Ziploc bag, combine chicken, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and oregano; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Marinate for at least 20 minutes to 1 hour, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray.
Place potatoes and green beans in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Top with chicken in a single layer.
Place into oven and roast until the chicken is completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 45 minutes.*
Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
This recipe was quick and easy, baked beautifully and was absolutely delicious.
Turmeric image by Steven Jackson, via Flickr CC license
Little Chicken image by poppy via Flickr CC
Pukka Yellow Curry
The next recipe was not quite so easy (my kitchen was a huge MESS by the time dinner was ready), but I think that might be just first-time-working-out-the-kinks issues. Pukka Yellow Curry is a Jamie Oliver recipe. The result was flavorful and very well spiced. It takes a pretty large pan to fit all the ingredients in.
Ingredients
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 yellow peppers
1 cube chicken bouillon
1-2 fresh red chillies (I used a jalapeno)
½ a bunch of fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon runny honey
1 level teaspoon ground tumeric
2 teaspoons curry powder (I used Penzey’s Sweet Curry)
8 chicken drumsticks
olive oil
1 (14.5 oz can) chickpeas
1 teaspoon tomato purée (I left this out.)
320 g basmati rice
1 lemon
OPTIONAL:
fat-free natural yoghurt , to serve
Peel the onions, garlic and ginger and de-seed the peppers. Put 1 onion, 1 pepper, the garlic and ginger into a food processor. Crumble in the stock cube and add the chilli (de-seed it first, if you prefer a milder curry), the cilantro stalks, honey and spices, then blitz to a paste.
Place a very large casserole pan on a medium-high heat and fry the chicken drumsticks (pull the skin off first, if you prefer) with a splash of oil for 10 minutes, or until golden, turning occasionally with tongs. Remove the chicken to a plate, leaving the pan on the heat. Roughly chop the remaining onion and pepper and add to the pan to cook for a few minutes, then tip in the paste and let it cook down for around 5 minutes. Pour in 500ml of boiling water. Drain the chickpeas and add along with the tomato purée and a pinch of salt and pepper, then stir well. Return the chicken to the pan, pop the lid on, reduce the heat and simmer gently for around 45 minutes, or until the sauce darkens and thickens. Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro leaves.
With 15 minutes to go, put 1 cup (320g) rice and 2 cups of boiling water into a pan with a pinch of salt and simmer with the lid on for 12 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Serve the curry in the middle of the table with a few dollops of yoghurt (if using) and a scattering of coriander leaves, with lemon wedges for squeezing over and the fluffy rice on the side.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat olive oil in a large oven proof skillet and then add the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Brown on both sides. The chicken doesn’t have to be completely cooked through. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside. Add more oil if needed. Saute the onion until softened add the garlic and saute about a minute more. Then add the broth, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes. Reduce the liquid until about 1/3 to 1/2 cup remains. Add the butter and whisk (or use a fork) until it is melted. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly add the cream. Put the chicken in the sauce and then stick the whole thing in the oven for 5 minutes or so to finish cooking the chicken and heat up the sauce. Serve with hot cooked pasta or noodles. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley or basil.
image via Flickr CC by cookbookman17; Fresh Parsley — A bunch of fresh hand picked parsley. This parsley is bursting with flavor and ready for use.
XL Beef Enchilada image by Cris via Flickr CC license.
I don’t remember where I got this recipe. As with most of the recipes I use, I’ve tweaked it a bit. My son (now 20) will request these every once in a while. It is probably because they are HUGE and have plenty of cheese. He has lived in Wisconsin since just before his first birthday so he is a native Cheesehead.
Beef and Rice Enchiladas
1 pkg. 6.8oz Spanish rice and vermicelli mix (such as Rice-a-roni)
1 lb. ground beef (or pinto beans)
20 oz. enchilada sauce (large can – I’ve used red or green)
10 large tortillas, warmed (could use corn)
4 c. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (can use less)
Sliced black olives, cilantro, sliced green onions – garnish as desired
Prepare the rice mix according to package directions (The brand I use calls for a 14oz can of diced tomatoes). Brown the beef in a skillet and drain. Combine the beef with the cooked rice mix; add 1 ¼ c. enchilada sauce to this mixture. Save the rest of the sauce for later.
Into each tortilla put:
½ to 2/3 c. rice/beef mix
¼ to 1/3 c. shredded cheese
(and anything else you want to add in there)
Put a little of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 13x9x2 baking dish. Place the filled tortillas in the dish. Pour the rest of the sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
Makes at least 10 large enchiladas.
We usually eat these with refried beans, sour cream and sometimes guacamole and tortilla chips.
Enjoy!
Image of Wisconsin Cheese by Shihmei Barger via Flickr CC license
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 green onions, chopped (optional)
Image by Artzone via Flickr CC license
Here are my tweaks:
Use 8 oz. of sour cream and 1/2 c. of mayonnaise.
Add 1 or 2 grated carrots.
Other tweaks you might consider:
Add finely chopped green or red pepper.
Add grated radishes.
Substitute plain Greek yogurt for 1/2 the sour cream and/or mayonnaise.
Start with fresh spinach. Cook in skillet with a little EVOO til it wilts. Drain.
Mix all ingredients. Chill for an hour or two. Eat with sliced veggies, rye garlic chips, wheat thins, or Hawaiian bread chunks.
I have a couple more favorite chili recipes, believe it or not. Here is one that I created by combining several of my favorite recipes and adding some of my own flair, too.
Ingredients:
1.5 ground beef (85% lean)
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic (run through garlic press or use the kind in a jar)
3 T. Penzeys Chili 3000
1 T. Penzeys Medium Hot Chili Powder
1/2 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar
25 grinds black pepper
1 large can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drain and chop
1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste
2 cans (14 oz) dark red kidney beans, drain and rinse
2 c. water
4 c. tomato juice
Brown the ground beef; drain. You can add the garlic and onion while you brown the beef or add it after you brown it; if after, cook a few minutes more. Add the rest of the ingredients bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook, covered, at a simmer for an hour if you can. Less will be okay, but it will taste better if you cook it longer.
This makes a pretty large batch and is soupier than some of the other chili recipes I make.
Good and Cheap: A Cookbook by Leanne Brown. Print your own copy FREE! Follow the link in the blog post.
I found these great free cookbooks a while ago. But I just discovered the author’s website and the links to print PDF copies of both books FREE! The photography is absolutely gorgeous. The recipes look delicious and seem quite easy overall. It is refreshing to find this resource for inexpensive meals and snacks using fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Let’s get inspired to try something new this week that is good for OURSELVES and good for our WALLETS, too!
Good and Cheap is a cookbook written by Leanne Brown for people with very tight budgets, particularly those on SNAP/Food Stamp benefits. It is also a great resource for anyone wanting to eat healthy meals without spending a fortune. The PDF is free and has been downloaded more than 800,000 times.
Is the PDF really free? Can I print some recipes?
Yes it’s really free. Sharing the power of cooking is the whole point of the Good and Cheap project. Because the 1st edition is under a Creative Commons license, you are free to use the recipes however you like so long as you give Leanne Brown credit and you don’t make money off her work. Enjoy it!
Can I save the PDF to my computer?
Yep! To save a copy of Good and Cheap on your computer, right-click this download link instead of left-clicking. You should see a menu with an option like “Save Link As…” or “Save File As…”. If you select that option, you’ll be able to save the PDF to your computer. If that link doesn’t work, try this one.
From Scratch: A Cookbook by Leanne Brown. Print your own copy FREE! Follow the link in the blog post.
Leanne Brown’s first cookbook! From Scratch is a vegetarian cookbook intended for people just becoming comfortable in their own kitchens. Download a FREE pdf copy HERE.
These books are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 license. For more information, visit http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-sa/4.0.
Heat the olive oil in 3 to 4 quart pan. Saute the onion until it softens and turns translucent. Toss in the garlic and saute for another minute or so, watching carefully so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the salt, the petite diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and the rest of the herbs and spices. Heat to boiling, then lower the heat to simmer. Add in the artichoke hearts and olives. Cook the cheese tortellini (or any kind of pasta) according to package directions. Simmer the sauce until the pasta or cheese tortellini is ready. Serve topped with parmesan cheese. VERY GOOD!
Artichoke Hearts, marinated and quartered
I revised this recipe from “Herbed Artichoke Cheese Tortellini” that I found on Taste of Home’s recipe web site. I like the fact that it is made with mostly canned ingredients which is great when you live in Wisconsin and winter lasts about 9 months a year. Using the fresh parsley along with the canned artichokes and olives adds enough brightness to the flavor to make the effort of minimal effort of making the sauce well worth it.
Cheese Tortellini; Image by Laurent, via Flickr CC License. Tortellini aux chèvre et capres.
The sauce tastes great on cheese tortellini, but it also tastes great on any kind of pasta.
If you are really in a great hurry, I suppose you could use onion powder and garlic powder (or some sort of pre-chopped garlic in a jar) to speed the process even more. But seriously, this sauce is very quick to make even with chopping an onion and a couple cloves of garlic.
I hope you try this and please let me know how much you like it!
image via Flickr CC by cookbookman17; Fresh Parsley — A bunch of fresh hand picked parsley. This parsley is bursting with flavor and ready for use.
When we visited Turkey a couple of years ago, one of the meals our two teenagers enjoyed most was a big dish of Manti. According to a wonderful Turkish cookbook I have,
Manti are the ravioli of Anatolia. They are admittedly a little fussy to make, as the dough is to be rolled thinly and cut into fine squares, filled with a smidgeon of meat and sealed into neat little parcels. But the effort is well worth it – they taste delicious with the traditional distinctive yogurt, garlic and herbed butter topping.
For our young Turkish niece and nephew, Manti is one of their favorite comfort foods — it is their macaroni and cheese.
After looking through my lovely Turkish cookbook, my daughter asked if we could try making homemade Manti. We go the ingredients and dove into the process. My daughter and I made the dough, rolled it as thinly as we could then cut it into 1 1/2″ squares. We stuffed each square with meat and pinched the corners shut into the special four corner shaped little packets.
Image by thebittenword via Flickr CC license
Image by thebittenword via Flickr CC license
This took FOREVER! After all that the only thing left to do is boil them for a few minutes until they are cooked through (and float in the boiling water) and cook the simple yogurt sauce that goes on top.
Restaurant worker making tiny manti pasta in Istanbul. The best manti originated in Kayseri and is filled with minced lamb. Image by Phil Norton via Flickr CC license
We came to the conclusion that using meat-filled tortellini would make everything so much easier and that it would taste essentially the same. So that is what I’m suggesting you do, too. Our homemade version was delicious, but we do not think the time and effort involved made a huge difference from buying ready made tortellini (except for the shape, which most Americans won’t know about anyway).
So — buy enough meat-filled tortellini for your family and cook it as directed on the package.
Manti; Image by Sean Munson via Flickr CC license
For the Manti taste, you definitely need the sauce. Here’s how to make it:
Melt 1/4 c. butter (or use extra virgin olive oil) in a skillet.
Add 2 or 3 (or more to taste) cloves of minced garlic (cook briefly), then add 2 t. paprika, 1 t. dried red chili flakes (or use 1/2 t. is you like less spice). The recipe says to add some dried mint (2 t.) but we didn’t have it that way in Turkey so I didn’t add that.
To serve:
Top each serving of hot, freshly cooked meat-filled tortellini (our Manti substitute) with a large dollop of plain Greek yogurt and a generous drizzle of the flavored butter (0r olive oil) mixture. Stir to combine as desired and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with grated parmesan cheese.
Serve with a salad and warm, crusty bread. YUM!!
You could use cheese tortellini to make this a vegetarian dish. You could also use (meat-filled or cheese-filled) ravioli instead of tortellini if you want bigger bites. You might need to make more sauce if you use ravioli, though.
Ingredients needed:
Enough meat-filled tortellini for your folks and hot boiling salted water in which to cook it
2 c. plain Greek yogurt (full fat is better than non-fat for this dish)
1/2 c. butter or olive oil
several cloves of garlic
paprika
dried red chili flakes
(optional: dried or fresh mint)
parmesan cheese
Making manti, turkish dumplings, as seen in the February 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living. Each dumpling is filled with lamb, onion and parsley. They are served with a yogurt sauce and melted butter.
Image by Annie Mole, cooked meatballs via Flickr CC license.
This Make Ahead Meatballs recipe is originally from the 1999 Quick Cooking cookbook, but you can find it online now.
The magazine had a feature on getting more than one meal from an original item. For example there was an easy recipe for making Roasted Chickens (2) and then you could make chicken enchiladas with the extra chicken for another meal.
This meatball recipe made it into my “Family Favorites” notebook, though. My semi-picky eater daughter has always eaten these meatballs.
I cook pasta or tortellini and then heat up some sauce in a separate pot. People can combine it to please themselves. Meatballs on the side? Or on top of the sauce? Or with no sauce at all?
Here is the recipe with my tweaks. The original recipe is for 4 pounds of ground beef, but I very rarely make that many.
My recipe is for 1 pound of meat.
Combine in a large mixing bowl and stir together the following: 1 egg 1/2 c. fine breadcrumbs (chopped up dry toast is fine, but I often use packaged bread crumbs) 1/8 c. finely chopped onion (I use Penzey onion powder, about 1/2 t.) 3/4 t. salt 1 t. Worcestershire sauce (the original calls for 1/2 t., but I like more) 1/4 t. white pepper (black pepper is fine) 1 lb. 85% lean ground beef (or leaner if you prefer)
Using a scoop to make meatballs: Adventures of Pam and Frank, via Flickr CC license
Mix. Shape into small meatballs or use a scoop. Brown in a skillet with olive oil, turning until nicely browned and cooked through. Alternatively (and much easier if making more than a pound at a time), bake the meatballs on a tray in the oven at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, turning at least once.
A good way to make a lot of meatballs quickly is to flatten the meatball mixture out about 1 inch think into a square or rectangle on a clean surface. Using a knife, cut the meat into squares about 1 inch wide — cut 1″ strips in one direction and then cut 1″ perpendicular strips. Roll the squares quickly between your hands as you put them onto the baking tray so they look a little more meatball-ish. Bake as directed in the recipe. Done!
1JLS meatballs via Flickr CC license
Tweaks:
I often add some garlic, either to the meatball mixture or at least to the olive oil in the skillet. I sometimes add 1 t. or so of Italian Seasoning (Penzey, of course!). Chopped fresh parsley would be fabulous if you don’t happen to have a picky eater at your house who immediately turns up their nose at anything green. I do happen to use the white pepper for this recipe most of the time just because I have some, but it really isn’t a necessity. I think they taste best topped with some shredded Parmigiano cheese.
Oh — here are the partner recipes that were published with this meatball recipe:
The Tromp Queen COOKS! 