Meatballs meet Jalapeno Cream Sauce

This is another blog post sponsored by the kitchen of Rebecca & Joel, our friends who have taken us in as our kitchen is in remodel phase. You don't realize how much you use your kitchen until its gone. Fridge, oven/stove, dishwasher all in our dining room, dust everywhere, crawling under a table to get to the milk, no fun. BUT the end result will be awesome!

                     

 

Tonight's dish was a real winner and is immediately being filed my arsenal for 'go to' comforting recipes. This one isn't on the healthy side, but its worth it. You will see Rebecca doing more of cooking this evening as we tag-teamed this dish, and its her kitchen. :)  This recipe was brand new to both of us so I did the shooting, taking notes, and I drank wine. Someone has to drink wine right?

The usual subjects who always appear in sweatpants are our husbands. You can see another 'outfit' in the cuban sandwich post. Fancy fellas we have here.

The meal tonight turned out SO good. I didn't know what to think about the ingredients, as jalapeño cream sauce just didn't seem right - but its delicious and really not too spicy. I promise. Its was a pretty mellow heat and just enough spice. The cream really balances it out. We agreed initially that we should only use half the ingredients at first to ensure it wasn't too spicy, but when we stopped to taste-test, the sauce wasn't spicy at ALL. So we ended up using the full list of ingredients you see here, and it was perfect. I was impressed with our performance. We served it with garlic bread and a spinach/walnut/raspberry vinaigrette. Bon Apetit!

INGREDIENTS: 

Meatballs:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs (or 2 slices of bread if you make your own)
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup all purpose white flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Sauce:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 jalapenos finely chopped (seeds removed)
• 1 carrot finely chopped 
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 medium onion chopped 
• 2 cups half/half
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• salt to taste
• fresh or dry pasta 

DIRECTIONS:

Meatballs:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. If making your own breadcrumbs, place two slices of bread in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, until toasted. Place bread in food processor and ground to fine bread crumbs. 
3. Combine all meatball ingredients except olive oil and flour in a large mixing bowl. 
4. Roll into small 1 inch balls. 
5. Dredge balls in flower and set aside.
6. Heat 1 tbsp OO in saute pan. 
7. Cook meatballs in pan until browned on all sides. 
8. Remove from saute pan and place meatballs on baking sheet lined w/ foil. 
9. Place meatballs in 350 degree oven for approx 15-20 minutes until cooked through. 
10. Pull from oven and set aside.

Sauce: 

1. Heat OO in a different pan from what you used for the meatballs. 
2. Once onions become soft, add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. 
3. Add white wine and cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Add chopped jalapeño and carrot and saute for about 5 minutes.
5. Add in cream, half/half & milk. 
6. Bring to very low simmer and stir often - you do not want the milk or cream to burn to the pan. Low heat and stir often. 
7. When they are finished cooking, add meatballs to the sauce.
8. Add pepper and salt to taste. 
9. Pour sauce and meatballs over pasta and serve!

Meatballs Step 2: Making own bread crumbs

Meatballs Step 4: After mixing, rolling mixture into small meatballs

Meatballs Step 5: Dredging in flour

Meatballs Step 7: Cooking meatballs until browned

Meatballs Step 8: Placing on baking sheet to place in oven

Sauce Step 2: Cooking onions and garlic in saute pan

Meatballs Step 10: Removing from oven and set aside 

Sauce Step 5: Adding cream to vegetable mixture

Sauce Step 7: Adding meatballs to sauce

Final meal! Sauce, Pasta, salad & bread!

Sheldon (our friends youngest dog) wanted a seat at the table. 

Monte Cristo Egg Rolls w/ Wasabi Mojo

This recipe is slightly adapted from an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives from the Food Network. I saw these on the 'Funky Finds in Flavortown' episode and they were inspired from the North End Caffe located in Manhattan Beach, CA. I saw these and immediately knew I had to have them. I've had the traditional Monte Cristo sandwich which is a ham & swiss cheese sandwich, battered like french toast and deep fried. Yummy, but riddled with guilt.

Dish from the show - Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

These egg rolls have the ham, cheese and fried components of a traditional Monte Cristo - but get a little twist when you add in kalua pork, cabbage, seasme seeds and now fried in an egg roll! It also has a bit of Asian flare with the ginger, teriyaki, etc. These are served with a spicy, sweet and creamy wasabi mojo sauce.

I served this dish tonight with a roasted corn, asparagus & shitake mushroom salad. Click here to get the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Egg Rolls:

• 2-3 cups of kalua pork - recipe here
• 10 slices of Berkshire ham
• 5 slices of Swiss cheese cut in half
• 10 egg roll wrappers
• 1 cup roughly chopped napa cabbage
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 egg + 1 tsp water (whisked)
• Deep fryer or dutch oven
• Oil for frying - I used a special blend from Crisco

Wasabi Mojo:

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tsp shredded or finely minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp wasabi powder
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Egg Rolls:

1. If your Berkshire ham has any excess liquid, be sure to dry it out on paper towels first so there is no excess liquid in the egg rolls
2. Pull one egg roll wrapper from the package and position it where one of the corners is facing you, so you see a diamond shape. 
3. First lay 1 piece of Berkshire ham, then one of the half slices of Swiss cheese, then about 2-3  tablespoons of pork, top with cabbage and sesame seeds. 
4. On the top corner of the egg roll, the one farthest from you - using your finger, dip into the egg wash and spread egg wash about 2 inches down the left side and 2 inches down the right of the corner...along the 'V' to allow the egg roll to seal nicely and keep the ingredients in the wrapper. 
5. Pull bottom corner (closest to you) of wrapper up over ingredients, and tuck all ingredients into a tight tube like shape. 
6. Fold side corners into the middle. 
7. Continue to roll the egg roll away from you, slowly, keeping it tight until you reach the corner furthest form you with the egg wash tip. Roll until you have no wrapper left and the egg wash portion is now sticking to the rolled/filled portion. 
8. Set in shallow pan and keep covered with a towel until complete.
9. Continue steps 8 & 9 until all filling and egg roll wrappers are used. 
10. Place pan, covered with towel in fridge for 20 minutes.
11. In deep fryer or dutch oven, heat the oil to 350 degrees. Be sure to have a oil thermometer so you can test the oil. Set up a 'dry station' with paper towels on a cutting board to let the egg rolls rest once fried.
12. Once oil is ready, put 4-5 at a time into the oil. Cook for 4-5 minutes turning a few times if needed to ensure even frying and color on all sides. 
13. Once the egg rolls are turning a golden brown, pull from oil and set on paper towels to dry. 

Wasabi Mojo:

1. This is easy! Mix all wasabi mojo ingredients into a bowl until thoroughly incorporated. 
2. Place in fridge for 30 minutes. 
3. Splash with a bit more terikayi sauce if you wish - it looks nice when you do that. :) Serve with egg rolls!

Ingredients for Wasabi Mojo

Step 1: Mixing all Wasabi ingredients

Egg Roll Station

Steps 2 & 3: Assembling ingredients on wrapper

Steps 4, 5 & 6: Rolling and folding in side corners

Fry station

Step 8: Egg Rolls in pan - just before fridge

Step 13: Egg Rolls just out of fryer 

Egg Roll cut diagonally to show the yumminess!

Kalua Pork

Pulled Kalua Pork

Kahlua pork is a Hawaiian cooking method that utilizes an 'imu' which is an underground oven. The word kālua means 'to cook in underground oven'. When pork is cooked via this method its then dubbed 'kalua pork'. Now I didn't go dig a hole in the yard for this recipe, although we do have some nice holes thanks to Arlo and LuLu (our lovely fur-babies). Plus, I am not that dedicated. I am doing the faux method via crockpot, and it turned out so wonderfully. 

There is very little prep done for this, its the best of things when you keep the recipe simple. This is a 3 ingredient recipe and is delicious.

The kalua pork can be used in a variety of ways: over rice, on tacos, in scrambled eggs, tossed in BBQ sauces and used like pulled pork, or just by itself! I am using it to make two dishes this week: monte cristo eggrolls and cuban sandwiches. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 6 lb pork butt (boneless)
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp liquid smoke

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pat dry the pork butt with paper towels.
2. Place pork fat side down in crock pot and smother the pork in the 1tbsp of liquid smoke and then half of the salt. 
3. Turn fat side up, smother with remaining salt and turn to low. 
4. Cook pork for about 10-12 hours, or until the pork tears apart easily with a fork. You need the pork to be extremely tender and juicy. 
5. Pull pork from crock pot leaving the drippings. 
6. Shred and pull apart fat. Throw away fat and put shredded pork in a bowl. 
7. Strain drippings and set aside strained liquid to serve with pork. Discard solids strained from drippings.
8. Reserve drippings for future sauces or to reheat when serving leftovers
• When refrigerated the fat in the drippings will solidify so its easier to pull off the fat, reheat and use drippings again with leftovers. 
9. Toss the pork in with some of the drippings and serve.

Step 2: Pork fat side down, rubbed with salt and liquid smoke

Liquid smoke - this will make you smell like a BBQ, use gloves if you can.

Step 3: Turn pork fat side up, and turn on timer

Step 6: Pull pork apart with hands or two forks if still hot

Step 6: Continuing to pull pork apart, discarding fat
(fat on left, shredded pork on right)

Step 7: Strain drippings
ALL this liquid came from the pork itself, no liquid was added to to the roast!

FINAL PRODUCT! 

Grilled Glazed Pork Chops

Pork is a great meat. Period. There are so many parts of the pig that I respect and enjoy thoroughly - belly, ribs, chops, shanks, NOM. Pork chops are always very reasonably priced at the grocery store compared to other meats, and they are delicious! They are easy to cook, quick on the grill, absorb flavor like a champ and are very versatile.

Tonight I am making my Restaurant Redo of The Jackson Salad and knowing my husband, he likes meat w/ dinner. So instead of doing just an entree salad, I chose to make these pork chops to accompany. This is a trusted recipe for quick weeknight dinners - it will never let you down. I make the marinade, let marinate overnight, and we grill them when we get home from work. These are sweet and a bit tangy - just the perfect balance!

And here's how...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tsp dried ground oregano
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1.5 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS: 

1. In a mason jar or a bowl with tight fitting lid, combine all ingredients.
2. Shake well.
3. Place pork chops into bowl or shallow pan just large enough to hold the meat. Pour over marinade, cover and let sit for at least 2 hours, no longer than 24. I let mine rest for about 20 hours.
4. Remove pork from marinade and place on plate - heat up the grill, but do not grill yet. 
5. Place remaining marinade into small saucepan and bring to boil for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. 
• This sauce will now be used for basting the chops while on the grill - but we must boil it first since it was in contact with raw meat. It was contaminated so we boiled out all the bad bacteria.
6. Turn off heat and let sauce rest.
7. Place porkchops on grill and if you want those awesome cross-hatch grill marks, check out this video by Weber. Very cool and helpful. 
8. As you cook each side of the meat, baste lightly with the sauce that has been boiled. There is sugar in the sauce so be sure not to use too much or it will caramelize and burn. 
9. Pork should be at 145 degrees for medium rare. We usually cook ours until it registers 150 and let rest for a few minutes. 
10. EAT! 

Ingredients

Step 1 - making marinade

Step 3 - marinate the pork chops

Step 4: Remove chops from marinade

Step 5: Boiling the marinade

FINAL PRODUCT

Pork with The Jackson Salad (Restaurant Redo post)

Cauliflower & Mushroom Cream Sauce (Cooking Class)

I posted about a gnocchi cooking class that I just attended with my husband and friends. It was hosted by Chef Alex Staab who is a local KC chef specializing in Italian cuisine. If you are interested in taking any classes from him go to Eventbrite and search for cooking classes under his name.

This is one of the sauces that was paired with the gnocchi that we hand-made that evening. This was my favorite of the two sauces first off because I love CREAM. Its not the prettiest addiction, but its real. Plus who doesn't love mushrooms?!? If you aren't a cauliflower fan, this will change your mind. Just trying roasted cauliflower on its own deleted all those horrible memories of steamed versions from my youth...and sad raw versions of cauliflower seen in the standard veggie tray brought to house parties (where we all know the cauliflower is the last sad remaining veggie on the plate). Roasted is the way to go.

The sauce is rich, creamy of course, and very earthy due to the mushrooms, and the cauliflower is a bit sweet and milky which makes every bite just heavenly.

And here's how its done...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 6 oz mushrooms (we used Cremini)
• 4 oz cauliflower trimmed into small 1 inch pieces
• 3 sprigs of fresh tyme
• Parmesan cheese
• 3 tbsp of butter
• 1 cup of white wine
• Sea salt
• Olive oil
• Truffle oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Toss the cauliflower with 1 tbsp of olive oil and roast in 350 degree oven until charred in spots, not burnt. Pull from oven and set aside. 
2. In a large saute pan over medium heat melt the butter and add the thyme sprigs
3. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Once butter starts to turn slightly brown, add the cauliflower and mushrooms and season w/ salt & pepper again. 
5. Remove thyme sprigs with tongs and throw away.
6. Cook over medium heat with mushrooms and cauliflower for about 3 minutes. Then deglaze the pan with white wine.
• Deglazing is a big fancy word that means "pouring cold liquid into a hot pan to get the bits of burnt food off the bottom of the pan".
7. Once the wine has reduced, and you can't smell the alcohol anymore (about 3-5 minutes) add the cream and cook until it boils. 
8. Drizzle with truffle oil and stir
9. Reduce heat to low and grate in the Parmesean cheese
10. Toss in the pasta and serve hot
11. Drizzle with a bit more truffle oil

Before we get started, taking a wine pic!

Step 1: Roasting cauliflower

Mushrooms & Truffle Oil

Step 2 - melting butter, before thyme was added

Step 7: adding cream to mushroom/cauliflower mix

Step 7: adding cream to mushroom/cauliflower mix

FINAL PRODUCT!