Meatballs Archives - Retro Food For Modern Times

English is meant to be one of the most descriptive and eloquent languages in the world. Why then, do some phrases sound so blah when contrasted to their foreign counterparts? Take Green Sauce, this week’s dish o’ the week. How much better would it sound if it were called Salsa Verde or Sauce Verte or even Pesto?

All of these suggest a zing, a zippiness, a brightness that plain old Green Sauce totally fails to convey. However, out of everything I made from The Meatball cookbook, the green sauce was an absolute standout highlight which I will make over and over.

This stuff is like crack. Seriously, make it once and you will want to smear, drizzle, spread this over EVERYTHING. And here’s the thing – it’s good with everything. Here are some of the stuff I have eaten it with outside of the meatballs:

Steak
Roast chicken //Poached Chicken
Pasta
Bread
Fish or any white seafood – lobster, crayfish, prawns, scallops
Baked and boiled potatoes

And it’s not just me. Everyone in the book club who made this sauce agreed it was the bomb!

It’s also a good way to get rid of some of the herbs you have used in other recipes that might otherwise go to waste. I have added tarragon and mint into the mix and it was delicious both times.

Make it. Make it today. You will not be disappointed. I promise.

Oh yeah, the meatballs were good too! These are the chicken, cheese and corn balls.

No real recipe fails this week – just me failing to make some Banana Buttermilk Pancakes (which have been top of my list for weekend breakfasts) for maybe the tenth week in a row. I’ve given up, I’m making a saffron and pistachio kulfi with the buttermilk as we speak.

This week I am looking forward to cooking:

After the meatfest that was meatball week, I am looking forward to making some salads and this Cucumber, Pistachio, Grape and Feta salad from Australian Gourmet Traveller is hitting every button I have.

So is this Shaved Asparagus, Cured Beef and Manchego Salad but I’m not sure if I can be arsed curing my own beef. Does that make me lazy? Or is that asking too damn much? What is a good substitute? I was thinking I could use pastrami. Suggestions gratefully accepted!

Hmm…there’s buttermilk in that dressing. Maybe the banana pancakes are back on the menu.

In the oven at the moment is Vincent Price’s Champagne chicken for the #treasurycookalong over at Silver Screen Suppers, it is smelling delicious!

In Other News I Am

Listening To

I have downloaded but am yet to listen to The Message Podcast. I’ll let you know how that one works out.

Reading

Still on Orphan #8. Had a moment this week sitting in the doctor’s waiting room to get my foot x-rayed whilst reading about a woman who had her whole life destroyed by x-rays and briefly wondered if I should make a run for it. Sadly, the most I could have managed was a slow hobble.

Reading/Listening

For some reason my computer decided to wipe all the files for Life After Life. Which is a shame because I was really enjoying it. I’m not totally upset though because I think it is something I will like even more by actually reading it.

I have switched to audio reading Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and I am loving it. I think Jon Ronson is brilliant and have read (nearly) all of his books and never been disappointed. There is something about those smart witty British boys (Ronson, Alain De Botton, Louis Theroux) that does it for me BIG time. I am also totally loving that Jon Ronson is reading the audio himself. I would recommend this to anyone who has any online presence (this means you) in terms of how to behave on the old dub-dub-dub that we all share.

Niki Sengit’s The Flavour Thesaurus is a book I have dipped in and out of for years. I am now reading it cover to cover. And loving it too. I can’t tell you what I enjoy more, her scalding wit or the great recipe suggestions.

Watching

I watched Best in Show earlier today and it was as funny as ever. I had totally forgotten some of the mad random bits of hilarity such as Eugene Levy’s two left feet. Utterly watchable!

I have a real hankering to go back and watch some early XFiles. I have yet to scratch that particular itch but it’s there….

Here is the Green Sauce Recipe and if you are only ever going to act on one thing from this blog make this green sauce.

It comes from this book:

Green Sauce – From Meatballs The Ultimate Guide by Matteo Bruno

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

50g (a large bunch) flat leaf (Italian) parsley, leaves picked
50g (a large bunch) basil, leaves picked
1 clove of garlic
35g blanched almonds
10g anchovies
Juice of 1 lemon
120ml extra virgin olive oil
25 parmesan cheese, finely grated

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Blitz the herbs, garlic, almonds, anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper in a food processor for around a minute or until a smooth sauce has formed.
Add the parmesan and blitz for another minute.

What’s going on in your life / kitchen? What was the best thing you made this week?

What are you looking forward to making next week?

What are you reading, watching, listening to?

Please share!

Have a fabulous week everyone!

Happy Cooking!

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Umami Meatball Sandwich — Molten Meatball Sandwich

Did you miss me? I’ve been on holidays – three weeks out of the grey Melbourne cold and into the warmth of sunny Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. The holiday was amazing and I will fill you in on the details over the next few weeks, most particularly about the amazing food.

Here is (literally) a taster….

You know how in most supermarkets you get tasting plates? For example, earlier today in my local supermarket I got to sample 3 kinds of dumplings (prawn, scallop and mushroom), 5 flavours of kombucha tea and some chia pudding…(yeah, my local supermarket is awesome!) Well, in Cambodia, the taster plates consist of Bamboo Worms…and only $2 a kilo!

And these are deep fried crickets….an even better bargain at half the price of the worms…

This is me about to taste one of the bamboo worms:

But before we go there, I wanted to talk to you about meatballs. As much as we love Asian food, after three weeks of it we were craving something that wasn’t. Funnily enough, we both had cravings for pretty much the same thing.

He wanted spaghetti bolognese. I wanted spaghetti and meatballs. I was doing the cooking so spaghetti and meatballs it was! As I was cooking these, I realised why this is such awesome comfort food (it’s not like either of us has Italian heritage). My meatballs are crammed full of umami flavours – parmesan, mushrooms, tomatoes, red wine….Hmmm…is red wine umami? Well it’s pretty damn good even if it isn’t. Also, the original recipe for this called for an anchovy fillet. I didn’t happen to have any so I added saltiness with a dash of fish sauce…guess what? More umami!

The spaghetti and meatballs were delicious and everything I wanted – something to warm our bones in the winter cold, something that was quick and easy to cook after a day of travelling and something familiar – comfort food at it’s best!!!

They also require very little in terms of fresh ingredients so you can keep shopping to a minimum. And, if you were super organised, you could make a batch and pop them in the freezer before you left. (Massive sigh). I would love to be that organised!!!!

So, it was spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and then, (this mixture makes a lot of meatballs) I made a molten meatball mountain (i.e, a meatball sandwich ) for my lunch the next day. The meatballs were great with the spaghetti but for my mind, even better in the sandwich the next day. And Oscar was on hand for any leftovers.

Of which there were none!

Remember these?

They tasted like this:

I wouldn’t say this was the worst thing I have ever eaten…but it sure wasn’t good. The outside was kind of crunchy and not so bad. It was the inside that was gross. It didn’t taste so much of anything, it just had an unpleasant texture – mushy and slightly gritty. Not to mention the thought that was impossible to dispel. “That thing in your mouth? That’s worm guts…you’re eating worm guts…that thing you just bit into, that was probably work heart….”

Not good.

Thank goodness I found much better things to eat in Phnom Pehn. Which I will tell you about next time…

Have a fabulous week!

PS – Is anyone doing the kombucha thing? I kind of want to grow my own….if you are please let me know!

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Retro Food For Modern Times

Tag: Meatballs

The Dishiest Dish – Green Sauce

This week I am looking forward to cooking: