Hello all!! As I'm writing this blog, I have two dinners roasting away in the oven. Those will be in the next post later this week :) Tonight's blog is similar to the last blog post in that the recipes use a common ingredient. If you couldn't guess it by the title of this blog, that common ingredient is meatballs! Up first is Rachael Ray's "Veal & Pork Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy & Egg Noodles".Using the leftover meatballs, the second recipe in this post will be Rachael's "Stuffed Peppers with Broken Meatballs & Rice". First up, the meatballs, constructed.
So first up I made the meatballs. This recipe is a great go-to recipe for meatballs and would be perfect to make extra and pop them in the freezer for when you wanna make meatballs. These meatballs use a mixture of ground pork and ground veal. Where i live in NY now they have something called meatloaf mix. It's a mix of ground beef, pork, and veal. You could use that in this if you wanted. If not, you can get a pound and a quarter each of ground pork and ground veal. For my friends back in Alabama, unless you go to Whole Foods or a butcher shop, you might have a problem finding the ground veal. If so, you can totally substitute 2 1/2 lbs of ground pork. First I preheated the oven to 400 and then I put the bread in a bowl and doused with milk. A great tip is to save white bread when it starts going stale by popping it in the freezer. All you have to do then is thaw out a couple slices when you need them. Next i put the ground pork and veal in a bowl. Then I took the bread slices, squeezed the milk out of them, and crumbled the bread into crumbs in the bowl with the meat mixture. The milk soaked bread will help to bind the meatballs and keep them moist. Next i added in the beaten egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg and a healthy drizzle of EVOO. At this point I mixed up the meatball mixture. You want to make sure all the ingredients are well combined, but don't over mix. Once mixed, I portioned out the meatballs. I find the easiest way to do this and get them all about the same size is to use a small ice cream scoop (which I actually never use for ice cream lol). Once all the meatballs are made you should have about 40-48 meatballs. Rachael Tip: Place the meatballs on a cooling rack over a baking sheet so that the heat gets all the way around them in the oven. I also put some foil down on the baking sheet to catch the fat as it drips. It makes for easier cleanup later. The meatballs will bake for about 18-20 minutes. While they are in the oven you can make the mushroom gravy!
First up I added the dried porcini mushrooms into a small sauce pot and covered with about 2 cups of chicken stock. Dried mushrooms are pretty common in the regular grocery stores these days but if you can't find them, you can omit them. The downside to omitting them is that you won't get the added bonus of the mushroom stock that comes from reconstituting the mushrooms. Bring the pot to a low boil and then turn down to a simmer and let the mushrooms steep while you work on the gravy. I added the EVOO and butter to the skillet and while it melted I sliced the crimini mushrooms. Rachael Tip: NEVER run mushrooms under running water to clean them. This makes them rubbery. Instead, take a wet paper towel or kitchen towel and wipe them down. Once the butter foamed I added in the mushrooms and let them brown. Rachael Tip: DO NOT salt the mushrooms until they are deeply browned. Adding salt will draw out liquid and will slow down the browning process. Once browned I added the shallot, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and let it cook a few minutes to soften the shallots and garlic. Be careful not to let the shallots or garlic burn. These cook up very quickly and if they go too far it will turn the garlic bitter. After the shallots and garlic were softened i sprinkled in some flour and stirred for a minute or so to cook out the flour. At this point I added in the wine. The recipe calls for Marsala. Marsala and mushrooms is a marriage made in heaven. I didn't have Marsala on hand and just didn't wanna make a trip to the wine store. I did have dry sherry so I used that instead. You could also substitute a dry white wine as well. After the wine cooked out for a few minutes I removed the reconstituted porcini from the stock, chopped them and added them into the gravy. I then added in all but the last little bit of the porcini stock. Rachael Tip: When working with dried mushrooms, always reserve the last bit of stock. Grit from the dried mushrooms will settle in at the bottom of the pot and if you pour all the stock in, you'll be pouring in the grit as well. Once the gravy thickened i added in a little cream, stirred to combine and reduced the heat to low to keep the gravy warm while I made the boiled the egg noodles. Once the noodles were done, the dish was ready to plate up. I plated some of the noodles, piled the meatballs on top, and poured the mushroom gravy on top.
This one was really great and reminded me of a classic Swedish meatball dish. The recipe for the meatballs makes two trays of meatballs. One is used in this dish and the other tray is used in the next dish. Here is the steps for the meatballs, deconstructed.
In this meal, the leftover meatballs are coarsely crumbled and combined with a rice pilaf to make a stuffing for bell peppers. The first thing to do is to prepare the peppers. You can use bell peppers of any color you choose. Rachael used Red so naturally, I did what Rachael did. By all means, if you wanna use a different color or even mix and match different ones, go for it. To prepare them, I sliced them lengthwise in half and scooped out the ribs and seeds from the peppers. Using a pairing knife, I made an "X" in the flesh of the peppers. Be careful doing this. I got in a hurry and actually sliced all the way through one of my peppers. It held up ok, but still, be careful. At this point I salted and peppered the inside of the peppers, placed them cut side down in a baking sheet, drizzled with EVOO and baked them for 20 minutes. Doing this helps to soften the peppers a bit and gives them a head start for when you add in the filling. While the peppers were in the oven, I started the filling.
The first thing I did was make the tomato sauce. I grated the plum tomatoes on a box grated into a dish. This skins the tomatoes while you grate them and makes quick work of the whole process. Once the tomatoes were grated, I grated in the purple onion and garlic and added in the chopped fresh thyme, salt and pepper. This recipe calls for a fresno chile pepper to be grated into the sauce. For whatever reason, I haven't been able to find these in months up here. So like in the last post, I used a rounded tablespoon of the chili paste I have in the fridge. Once the sauce was made I started the rice pilaf.
For the pilaf I added a drizzle of EVOO and some butter to my rice pot. When the butter foamed I added in about 1/2 cup of broken thin spaghetti. Something that is a little easier, and actually what the recipe calls for, is to use 1/2 cup of Orzo pasta. Orzo is rice shaped pasta and works perfectly in rice pilaf. I mistakenly bought thin spaghetti at the store a couple months ago, so rather than waste it, i'm using that for pilaf when I make. Anyway, once added to the pot I let the pasta toast until deeply golden, as you see in the picture here, and it has a nutty fragrance. Once the pasta start to brown, it will brown quickly, so keep an eye on it. Once the pasta was nice and golden I added in half the tomato sauce and the rice and stirred it a couple minutes to allow the rice to toast up a little bit. At this point I added in the chicken stock, brought it to a boil, and reduced the heat to simmer. For long grain white rice, it should take 18 minutes to cook. I always go by 18 minutes and it always comes out perfect. While the pilaf is cooking, you can crumble up the meatballs. You want the meatballs to be coarsely crumbled. If you crumble it too fine, the meat will get lost in the stuffing. Once the rice pilaf was done I added the rice mixture to the meatballs along with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. At this point I stuffed the peppers. I read one reviewer on food network.com who said that you could probably cut the filling in half. DO NOT DO THAT! My guess is this person didn't see Rachael make this and didn't see that she packs the peppers full. The filling was just enough to stuff all the peppers for me. Don't be skimpy with it. Pack them full!! Once the peppers were stuffed I topped them with the remaining tomato sauce, some more parmigiana-reggiano cheese, and and a drizzle of EVOO.
Once they were baked I took them out of the oven and plated up two pepper halves per plate. These were so delicious. I've never been a huge stuffed pepper fan but these were great. I'll definitely be making these again. Hope you guys enjoy these recipes. Later this week, I'll be doing another post. That one will be a first for me. Tonight I made dinner and then also did a make ahead meal for Wednesday. I joined the gym yesterday and will be going for a training session Wednesday night so I needed to be able to get dinner on the table quickly after that. Rachael would be so proud to know I'm using her Week in a Day recipe and the strategy of cooking ahead for the week. Until then, Hope you guys enjoy the recipes and give them a shot. As always the recipe links will be below. Also, the link for Rachael's #9millionmeals challenge will be listed as well. If you can, please take the time to donate. $10.00 can supply 100 meals. Until next time guys, Buon Appetite!!
Recipes:
Both of these recipes were featured on Rachael Ray's Week In A Day and can be found at the links below:
Veal & Pork Meatballs w/ Mushroom Gravy & Egg Noodles:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/veal-and-pork-meatballs-with-mushroom-gravy-and-egg-noodles-recipe.html
Stuffed Peppers w/ Broken Meatballs and Rice:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/stuffed-peppers-with-broken-meatballs-and-rice-recipe.html
Donate to Rachael Ray's #9millionmeals challenge here:
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/9-million-meals/
So first up I made the meatballs. This recipe is a great go-to recipe for meatballs and would be perfect to make extra and pop them in the freezer for when you wanna make meatballs. These meatballs use a mixture of ground pork and ground veal. Where i live in NY now they have something called meatloaf mix. It's a mix of ground beef, pork, and veal. You could use that in this if you wanted. If not, you can get a pound and a quarter each of ground pork and ground veal. For my friends back in Alabama, unless you go to Whole Foods or a butcher shop, you might have a problem finding the ground veal. If so, you can totally substitute 2 1/2 lbs of ground pork. First I preheated the oven to 400 and then I put the bread in a bowl and doused with milk. A great tip is to save white bread when it starts going stale by popping it in the freezer. All you have to do then is thaw out a couple slices when you need them. Next i put the ground pork and veal in a bowl. Then I took the bread slices, squeezed the milk out of them, and crumbled the bread into crumbs in the bowl with the meat mixture. The milk soaked bread will help to bind the meatballs and keep them moist. Next i added in the beaten egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg and a healthy drizzle of EVOO. At this point I mixed up the meatball mixture. You want to make sure all the ingredients are well combined, but don't over mix. Once mixed, I portioned out the meatballs. I find the easiest way to do this and get them all about the same size is to use a small ice cream scoop (which I actually never use for ice cream lol). Once all the meatballs are made you should have about 40-48 meatballs. Rachael Tip: Place the meatballs on a cooling rack over a baking sheet so that the heat gets all the way around them in the oven. I also put some foil down on the baking sheet to catch the fat as it drips. It makes for easier cleanup later. The meatballs will bake for about 18-20 minutes. While they are in the oven you can make the mushroom gravy!
First up I added the dried porcini mushrooms into a small sauce pot and covered with about 2 cups of chicken stock. Dried mushrooms are pretty common in the regular grocery stores these days but if you can't find them, you can omit them. The downside to omitting them is that you won't get the added bonus of the mushroom stock that comes from reconstituting the mushrooms. Bring the pot to a low boil and then turn down to a simmer and let the mushrooms steep while you work on the gravy. I added the EVOO and butter to the skillet and while it melted I sliced the crimini mushrooms. Rachael Tip: NEVER run mushrooms under running water to clean them. This makes them rubbery. Instead, take a wet paper towel or kitchen towel and wipe them down. Once the butter foamed I added in the mushrooms and let them brown. Rachael Tip: DO NOT salt the mushrooms until they are deeply browned. Adding salt will draw out liquid and will slow down the browning process. Once browned I added the shallot, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and let it cook a few minutes to soften the shallots and garlic. Be careful not to let the shallots or garlic burn. These cook up very quickly and if they go too far it will turn the garlic bitter. After the shallots and garlic were softened i sprinkled in some flour and stirred for a minute or so to cook out the flour. At this point I added in the wine. The recipe calls for Marsala. Marsala and mushrooms is a marriage made in heaven. I didn't have Marsala on hand and just didn't wanna make a trip to the wine store. I did have dry sherry so I used that instead. You could also substitute a dry white wine as well. After the wine cooked out for a few minutes I removed the reconstituted porcini from the stock, chopped them and added them into the gravy. I then added in all but the last little bit of the porcini stock. Rachael Tip: When working with dried mushrooms, always reserve the last bit of stock. Grit from the dried mushrooms will settle in at the bottom of the pot and if you pour all the stock in, you'll be pouring in the grit as well. Once the gravy thickened i added in a little cream, stirred to combine and reduced the heat to low to keep the gravy warm while I made the boiled the egg noodles. Once the noodles were done, the dish was ready to plate up. I plated some of the noodles, piled the meatballs on top, and poured the mushroom gravy on top.
In this meal, the leftover meatballs are coarsely crumbled and combined with a rice pilaf to make a stuffing for bell peppers. The first thing to do is to prepare the peppers. You can use bell peppers of any color you choose. Rachael used Red so naturally, I did what Rachael did. By all means, if you wanna use a different color or even mix and match different ones, go for it. To prepare them, I sliced them lengthwise in half and scooped out the ribs and seeds from the peppers. Using a pairing knife, I made an "X" in the flesh of the peppers. Be careful doing this. I got in a hurry and actually sliced all the way through one of my peppers. It held up ok, but still, be careful. At this point I salted and peppered the inside of the peppers, placed them cut side down in a baking sheet, drizzled with EVOO and baked them for 20 minutes. Doing this helps to soften the peppers a bit and gives them a head start for when you add in the filling. While the peppers were in the oven, I started the filling.
The first thing I did was make the tomato sauce. I grated the plum tomatoes on a box grated into a dish. This skins the tomatoes while you grate them and makes quick work of the whole process. Once the tomatoes were grated, I grated in the purple onion and garlic and added in the chopped fresh thyme, salt and pepper. This recipe calls for a fresno chile pepper to be grated into the sauce. For whatever reason, I haven't been able to find these in months up here. So like in the last post, I used a rounded tablespoon of the chili paste I have in the fridge. Once the sauce was made I started the rice pilaf.
For the pilaf I added a drizzle of EVOO and some butter to my rice pot. When the butter foamed I added in about 1/2 cup of broken thin spaghetti. Something that is a little easier, and actually what the recipe calls for, is to use 1/2 cup of Orzo pasta. Orzo is rice shaped pasta and works perfectly in rice pilaf. I mistakenly bought thin spaghetti at the store a couple months ago, so rather than waste it, i'm using that for pilaf when I make. Anyway, once added to the pot I let the pasta toast until deeply golden, as you see in the picture here, and it has a nutty fragrance. Once the pasta start to brown, it will brown quickly, so keep an eye on it. Once the pasta was nice and golden I added in half the tomato sauce and the rice and stirred it a couple minutes to allow the rice to toast up a little bit. At this point I added in the chicken stock, brought it to a boil, and reduced the heat to simmer. For long grain white rice, it should take 18 minutes to cook. I always go by 18 minutes and it always comes out perfect. While the pilaf is cooking, you can crumble up the meatballs. You want the meatballs to be coarsely crumbled. If you crumble it too fine, the meat will get lost in the stuffing. Once the rice pilaf was done I added the rice mixture to the meatballs along with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. At this point I stuffed the peppers. I read one reviewer on food network.com who said that you could probably cut the filling in half. DO NOT DO THAT! My guess is this person didn't see Rachael make this and didn't see that she packs the peppers full. The filling was just enough to stuff all the peppers for me. Don't be skimpy with it. Pack them full!! Once the peppers were stuffed I topped them with the remaining tomato sauce, some more parmigiana-reggiano cheese, and and a drizzle of EVOO. Recipes:
Both of these recipes were featured on Rachael Ray's Week In A Day and can be found at the links below:
Veal & Pork Meatballs w/ Mushroom Gravy & Egg Noodles:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/veal-and-pork-meatballs-with-mushroom-gravy-and-egg-noodles-recipe.html
Stuffed Peppers w/ Broken Meatballs and Rice:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/stuffed-peppers-with-broken-meatballs-and-rice-recipe.html
Donate to Rachael Ray's #9millionmeals challenge here:
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/9-million-meals/
No comments:
Post a Comment