Italian Meatball Subs Sandwiches for Superbowl Sunday!

There are three kinds of people who get excited about Superbowl Sunday. Firstly, the football fans, those who watch every game and get excited by reading stats all season are in the same camp this weekend with the fairweather-playoff-only-fans. Secondly, there are those people who save all their attention for the commercials, with the football footage as a moment to go to the bathroom or read twitter. Thirdly, there are those of us who are happy hunkering down in the kitchen, excited to have a reason to make guacamole, nachos, meatballs and and whatever else. 

Can you tell I am a happy member of the snack-food-making group? I support my Pats and am pro-football watching for everybody else. I just can not keep my attention on that game for more than 2 minutes. My mind wanders and then I am like "...what is happening? Don't I have something else to do?" That is the story of me and football. I will make sure to visit the living room during half time to catch Katy Perry.

So what are we making for the SUPERBOWL? 

MEATBALL SUBS! They epitomize football for me, messy, greasy, cheesy, total guy food, with bold flavors. They are a favorite of my husband, and both the subs and the meatballs themselves are totally easy to put together. This is my recipe from Global Meatballs, my brand new cookbook! 

Firstly, we need ground beef, onion, eggs, milk, bread crumbs, oregano, chili flakes (or powder because I cant find the flakes), parsley, garlic powder (you don't even need to use fresh garlic!) It's dead easy. Remember to get some sort of sub roll, all I could find at TJ's was the baguette, which is a good substitute ;)  And cheese, don't forget the provolone.

Friends, I recommend always making you stuff from scratch, like tomato sauce. And 95% of the time I do. Making marinara sauce isn't hard, especially with canned tomatoes. But sometimes we all have busy days. For those days, keep a jar of a good quality organic marinara sauce in you cupboard. An organic one without preservatives or added junk. Put that in a pan to warm on the stove, if you are using jarred sauce a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar can do wonders to freshen it up. And chili flakes if you roll that way. 

Mince up a yellow onion, saute it in olive oil until softened. Mix bread crumbs, milk, salt, spices and herbs. Add the eggs, ground meat, parsley. Preheat the oven to 400°.

Mix by hand, incorporating all the ingredients together. If things feel dry, add a splash more milk, this is what makes them tender. I like to let the mixture fall through your fingers, sort of sorting it over and over, rather than kneading and massaging it. This will keep the breadcrumbs light and fluffy, helping the meatball to stay tender. 

When you are pleased with the mixture, rinse your hands. Get out two sheet pans to bake the meatballs on. To roll nice smooth balls, moisten your hands under cool water occasionally. I find it makes the process go much faster. I make my meatballs golf ball size. I know some people like really big meatballs in their subs, so ok, just cook them longer. 

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. When done they will be sizzling, cooked though, and crispy on the bottom. Don't fuss over crisping all sides, they all get smothered in sauce. 

Use a thin spatula to remove them from the sheet pans. Deposit them into the red sauce. turning to coat. Set aside. 

Get out the bread and cheese.

slice that bread crosswise, sandwich ends connected. (Hard baguette problems? Pssst...put in it in microwave, makes it all soft.) And LAYER up that cheese. 

Is your oven still hot? No, ok, turn on your broiler for a moment while we melt this. Looking good! And a little line of meatballs, with extra sauce.

Some grated parmesan cheese makes it a pretty picture. 

Enjoy the game, in whatever way you like it. Ill be there making meatball sub sandwiches talking over all the important parts. Here is a good story you can distract people with. Did you know that meatball subs are a totally American food? Subs, hoagies, grinders, or whatever you call them where you are from have only been around for like 100 years or less. I have read they were developed sometime between the year 1900 and 1940. The exact New England city is not known, somewhere between Maine and Pennsylvania lies the home of the sub sandwich. What better thing to eat while our New England Patriots go and crush Seattle! (No offense Seattle, you have cool people in your city.) Cheers to a fun weekend! 

Meatball Sub Sandwiches

for the meatballs:

• 2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 teaspons dried oregano
• pinch of red pepper flakes

For sandwich making:

• Sub rolls or french bread
• marinara sauce
• provolone cheese
• (mozzarella and parmesan cheese optional)

Chorizo Meatballs Tapas Style

It's meatball season! Seriously, not only did my Global Meatballs cookbook come out on bookshelves and kindle this week, (buy it here!) but I have been seeing meatballs everywhere. On magazine covers, menus and all over twitter. Even my favorite Parisian chocolate king David Lebovitz is making meatballs this week.

Meatballs are economical comfort food, they both feed a crowd and make good leftovers. Meatballs are a canvas, easy to try some funky and try new things, but not too far out of a comfort zone.

In keeping with Sunday Night Football and the day when many of you make food for those who sit back and watch the AFC Championship, I give you these Spanish Chorizo meatballs. The meatballs are bite sized, use toothpicks or fingers, no forks necessary. They have a country style chunky texture and a smoky flavor that pairs well with chips, guacamole, wings and other game day foods.

The meat you will likely need to go to a store for, but all the other ingredients are simple and likely in most pantries. White wine, bread, paprika, parsley, salt, pepper. And an egg.  Note- you could use a light beer in place of the wine with good results!

I laid out all the ingredients today and then realized the egg carton was empty! What a nasty trick, an empty egg carton in the fridge, and I had just been to the store. I heaved a sigh and pulled on winter boots, enormous parka complete with fuzzy hood, and mittens. In the 15° sunshine I walked down the road to my aunt's house to buy some of her chicken eggs. I found her chickens in a barn door  huddled from the wind and basking in a slice of strong sunshine.

Eggs resupplied, onward I moved with meatball making. 2 slices of bread soaked in white wine. All bread is good, but best to stay away from seeded bread here, and if the crusts are very tough, omit them. This time I used white gluten free white bread from Canyon Bakehouse and it worked great! Mince parsley and garlic. Crack in one egg and measure salt, paprika, and pepper. To this, add ground pork and chorizo removed from the casings.

Roll into balls smaller than golf balls, about 1 inch across, like a ping pong ball. After I roll about 8 balls the meat gets sticky on my palms. I find a brief rinse of my hands in cool water will stop the stickiness from happening.


As they are made, place onto a baking tray or two. Parchment paper or foil makes for easy cleanup, but is not necessary to avoid sticking while baking.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes.

When done the meatballs will sizzle on the pan, they will have tightened up, taken on a golden color, and an internal temperature of at least 160°.


Pile onto a serving platter with napkins and toothpicks nearby and watch them be enjoyed. I like a glass of crisp white wine with mine, but beer would is just as good, if not more appropriate for the Patriots vs. Colts and the Seahawks vs. Packers playoff games. It will be a tense afternoon.

Stay tuned for two opposing meatball recipes for Superbowl Sunday!

Chorizo Tapas Style Meatballs

• 2 slices bread (regular or gluten free)
• 1/3 cup white wine or light beer
• 4-6 ounces uncooked chorizo sausage 
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 egg
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°

Soak the bread in the wine for 10 minutes.

Mince garlic and parsley. Mix in a bowl with the egg, paprika, salt, black pepper and mushy bread and wine mixture.

Remove the chorizo sausage from their casings. Add the sausage meat and ground pork to the bowl as well. Using a hand, squeeze everything together over and over to combine it very well.  Bread, herbs, and meat should we well mixed, yes you can see the independent parts but they are evenly distributed.

Roll into ping pong sized balls (1 - 1.5 inches) place on a baking tray, bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 350°. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Favorite Spiced Frikkadels, Meatballs of the Rainbow Nation

I have made and eaten a lot of meatballs by now. You see, I wrote a book with over 100 meatball recipes, and that requires eating hundreds of meatballs. I have many favorites, and sometimes they change, but these Picnic Favorite Spiced Frikadelles from South Africa are always in the top 10. Why are they called that, because they are loaded with fragrant spices and because of the nice crust, seem to be the type of food which would travel well. Bring them for picnics, lunches or healthy snacks. No sauces necessary.

I do think that these are one of my favorite meatballs my entire Global Meatballs book. They have an ideal texture, first we encounter a distinct crispy crust fragrant with spices. These spices foretel even more spices inside. The interior is tender with a perfect ratio of breadcrumbs to meat. A mixture of ground beef and pork is used. I like a 2:1 beef:pork ratio, for texture, flavor and fat. Similar to a meatloaf and stuffing but mostly they are unique. 

In writing the book we wanted a representative group of meatball from around the globe. I ended up with recipes from over 40 countries and cultures. In doing the research some were easier to nail down than others. Denmark's national dish is a sort of meatball sandwich (Frikadeller Smorrebrod), lamb meatballs from Greece or Sweedish Meatballs are all well known emblematic dishes of their countries. 

Some parts of the world have huge traditions of meatballs, where it is impossible to pick an iconic one of the many. This may be due to the tradition and popularity of the meatball as a foodstuff, but I note this tends to happen in to areas of the world where diverse cultures have coexisted (often not so peacefully) for years. 

This overlay of cultures and usually results in cooks borrowing the best things from different traditions, food fusions and blurry lines. Regions like the Middle East, the Americas, and South Africa have rich traditions of meatballs with blurry lines of where they "came from" resulting in some of the most innovative and modern recipes. 

South Africa has an fascinating history, local tribes, tribes from further lands, spice traders, displaced people from India and East Africa, the Dutch and English colonists, and more, making up the people of this southern cape. Imagine all the different types of food they liked to eat. But I swear, all of them probably had some type of meatball tradition. 

In my research I found that the people of South Africa have as many favorite meatball recipes as there are cooks. I find this Spiced Frikkadel recipe emblematic of the Rainbow Nation, the taste, ingredients and and how it is made is made, is from everywhere and nowhere in particular. Could we go so far to call it a democratic meatball? There are European, African and and Indian elements in this one delicious food.  

You will find they are flexible at the table, I like them served alongside a big green salad. Or a rice pilaf, cous cous, potatoes, or a pile of cooked vegetables would support them well. Use leftovers in a sandwich the next day. They are equally good eaten hot or at room temperature.

(Note about temperature: The jury is still out about pork, the FDA recommends cooking ground pork to 160° and that what I put in my book. A lot of cooks say 145° is good, this is a hamburger cooked at Medium. I cook mine to 145°. You can Google it and make your choice. I take no responsibility for your overcooked, undercooked, or unnecessary fears of meat.)

Holler back if you try them and tell me what you love about them! I would like that.

Favorite Spiced Frikkadels
22 large meatballs, 5 servings

• 1 cup (115g) unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup (115g) plain yogurt
• 1.5 (680g) ground beef and pork
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 
  
• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2+ tablespoons safflower or canola oil

Combine the breadcrumbs and yogurt in a bowl. Allow the mixture to rest for 5 minutes. Add the meat, egg, garlic, onion, cilantro, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper to the bread crumbs. Using your hands incorporate all together. Add the meat and incorporate into the bread mixture.

In a shallow dish, mix together the chickpea flour, turmeric, paprika, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350° (180°C) Line a baking tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Heat a frying pan on medium high with the safflower oil.

Wet hands will keep the meat from sticking. Form 2.5 inch (6 cm) balls in by rolling them in between your hands. Roll each in the chickpea flour, covering the surface. Place in the hot frying pan and cook the balls in batches. Shake the pan a few times, to brown the surface all over. Cook for 5 - 7 minutes, remove to the prepared baking tray. Repeat with remaining meatballs. 

Finish cooking the meatballs in the 350° oven, 10 -14 minutes should cook them through. A meat thermometer should read 160° for well done meat. (The jury is still out about pork, the FDA recommends cooking ground pork to 160°, a lot of people say 145°. I cook mine to 145°. You can Google it and make your choice.)

Global Meatballs - its here!

Hi friends, those of you who know me in person probably know this already, I wrote a cookbook! You probably don't know that you can buy it now! I am still wrapping my head around the the real-ness of it all. It was a big project which began about a year ago, to write a book about meatballs. All meatballs, all balls, all the way!

Most of my recipes are traditional meatballs from over 40 cultures and countries around the world. The few which are not historical meatballs are riffs of unique ingredients or other food traditions.

I know, MEATBALLS? You love meatballs,  you say? So do I! Everyone loves them, kids, old peeps, all of us in between, which is really the point of the book.

This is like a teaser, because I have to run to work now, but I promise I will post the first recipe tomorrow! I just HAD to share this news with you now!

in the meantime you can check out my Thai Yellow Curry Meatballs here at my publisher's blog.

And if you just NEED TO OWN IT NOW,  go here for all the links where you can buy my book!!!

Cheers!

Indian Food Feast and Celebrating Diwali: Part 1

Happy Diwali to everyone, the Indian festival of lights. Celebrating the triumph of light over darkness, happiness and goodness over sadness and all the badness. The holiday serves as a moment to bring luck and prosperity to the year ahead. Diwali is celebrated all over India, making it unique among Indian holidays, which vary much from region to region. Everyone regardless of religion can happily celebrate these ideas, lightness winning out over darkness.

Candles are lit in every dark corner, illuminating both city and country in what is called the brightest of all festivals. There are fireworks and firecrackers, and lots of sweets to share. Diwali continues for the next few days, it officially begins today on October 23rd. So light all your candles and make a good wish against the darkness and the storms. 

I had a chance to celebrate Diwali, one evening early, with my culinary book-club. We had collectively read from two books by chef Vikram Vij, Vij's: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine, and the more laid back  Vij's at Home: Relax, Honey.  A wide variety of recipes, with sweet stories about which ones his daughter loves, and which are favorites at the restaurant. Everything we cooked from the book was delicious, however we did find that some of the recipes could have been made more efficient for home cooks. It was agreed among all that although the recipes look long, once you get started it is very simple, as most of the ingredients are spices!

His food is clearly Northern Indian, with earthy spiced curries, and rice pilafs. Our pot-luck event netted Punjabi lentil curry, aka Daal Makhani, black lentils with kidney beans. Cauliflower rice pilaf. Potato and mushroom buttermilk curry. Brocolli rabe, tomato and mushroom yogurt curry. Chili spiced toor daal. Basmati rice and cucumber raita. Look at the variety of colors, we had full plates!

Considering the holiday, I wish I still had my copy of Great Indian Feasts, by Mridula Baljekar. She lays out favorite dishes for at least 6 holidays, Diwali being one. With fantastic stories of the dishes, how they are prepared, served and enjoyed. As well as what each one symbolizes or celebrates, a book full of riches. 

So what to make for Diwali?! Ill include the Daal Makhani recipe here, realizing with all my adaptations it is a nearly different recipe! And be on the lookout for Diwali Part 2, with a sweet recipe! As the sweets are really what Diwali is known for.

Daal Makhani, Black Lentils with Kidney Beans

11/2 cups whole urad lentils

1/2 teaspoon asafoetida (or garlic powder)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

6 cups water

2 cans 14 oz kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup melted ghee (or butter)

2 medium sized yellow onions

5 cloves garlic

1-2 tablespoon finely chopped ginger

1 teaspoon finely chopped chili pepper

1 teaspoon garam masala 

The lentils do not need to be soaked, however they cook in nearly twice as fast if they are soaked. Put lentils into an 4 quart pot. Add 6 cups of water, salt, turmeric, asafoetida (or garlic powder) and bring to a boil over high heat. 

Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes (or 15-20 if lentils were soaked.) The lentils will hold their shape, they are done when tender, they smush gently when pressed. 

While the lentils cook, make up the onion. They onion must be cut very small to hide in the daal, this is best done by grating the onion or using a food processor. Cut the onions into 4 wedges. Remove the skin and bottom. Place onion into food processor, blitz until it is all ground up, yes it will look soupy. Melt the ghee in a medium sized frying pan. Add the ground onion the the ghee. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, they onion will become translucent and fragrant. Chop the garlic, ginger and chili into equally small pieces, this can also be done in the food processor. Add the minced garlic, ginger, garam masala, and however much chili you want into the cooking onion. Stir, frying the onion for 5 minutes more. Some brown areas would be ok, mine remained pale.

Add the drained kidney beans to the lentils. Add the fried onion garlic mixture as well. Stir to include them, and simmer for 10 minutes so the flavors meld. The lentils hold up and can be simmered to keep it warm for an hour easily. 

Some people like to finish the daal with a good dose of cream. I personally dont, it is just beautiful as it is. 

Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for a week. Reheat and serve with everything. I even ate some for breakfast today!

I do Sophie Dahl's Cardamom Rice Pudding and make it Vegan

This is a story about the rice pudding I made for my culinary book club night, which was all I felt like eating because I have had a toothache for a week and today after having my tooth fixed, I get to eat the leftovers which will be perfect because it is soft, warm and feels like a hug from the inside which is exactly what I need. I would like to thank Sophie Dahl for giving me an excuse to make a delicious and enormous pot of pudding, and for my flakey book club where only half of us showed up, which means, more pudding for me! 

Sophie, if you ever read this, I really loved your book. Voluptuous Delights, was...perfectly delightful. Good storytelling must run in the blood, I found the chapter intros a wonderful read, loaded with imagery. The recipes are simple in a familiar way, a nice twist on ideas here and there, rifs on comforting foods. Our book club dinner was yummy, on one of the first chilly evenings of fall our menu was perfect! Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese and Harissa, Grilled Croquettes and Aubergines (zucchini and eggplant) with Halloumi cheese, Veggie Lentil Pie with Champ, and Cardamom Rice Pudding. All Ms. Dahl's recipes went well together, making a lovely dinner to ring in the fall season. And notably all vegetarian, hoorah! 

For those Americans who aren't aware, Sophie is the grandaughter of the beloved Roald Dahl. Ms. Dahl is known in the UK as having an enviable career modeling, blogging and food writing. However, she is quite lovable, and I think we would be good friends.  

Back to the rice pudding. 

Sometimes rice pudding is cooked in a pot on the stove, sometimes it is an oven affair. Ms. Dahl does hers on the stove. I very nearly followed the recipe. I tried, but now that I am counting up my changes, there are many. Im hopeless! So, my recipe here is based on hers, she uses cows milk and white basmati rice, and the mace was my addition. And she uses raisins but I had run out and used dried apple instead. 

Nobody noticed the hemp milk instead of cows milk. The end result was heavily spiced and warming. Raisins would be nice, as they are more juicy than apples. But apples are all about fall. Try it with both!

Cardamom Rice Pudding

8-10 servings

5 1/2 cups unsweetened hemp milk (or almond milk)

1 cinnamon stick

1 blade mace

1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, or seeds from 1 vanilla pod

8 cardamom pods

1/3 cup organic sugar

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup dried apples

1 cup water (if needed)

The process is quite simple. Heat the milk, cinnamon stick and mace to a simmer in heavy bottomed 6 or 8 qt pot. Stir in the rice and vanilla extract. Keep at low heat for about 40 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and that the milk does not boil up. 

Crush the cardamom pods, discarding the pod and keeping the seeds. When the rice, as Ms Dahl puts it, "looks like a soupy milky risotto" stir in the sugar, cardamom seeds, almonds, and dried fruit. 

Cook on very low heat for another 10 minutes. If it gets too dry, add water or more milk. The rice will be tender when done. Past the al dente stage. If it still has a bite, it needs more cooking. 

It is lovely served on its own, or with fresh fruit or even jam. 

This is a very lovely desert since you can make it ahead, and keep it in the oven or on top of the stove and heating it up when dessert comes around. It also makes a good breakfast. 

This pudding is so yummy, I had to resist eating it all while I was taking these pictures before book club. I wish Sophie was my friend, if you are looking to make somebody a friend, you made them some rice pudding, it will win them over. Seriously.

Morning Tea & Reading: a Sunday Ritual

Sunday morning has always been a special time carved out for reading. Anytime before noon it is acceptable to be curled up, doing no work, simply reading and indulging in my best cup of tea. Sunday mornings are sacred in our own way, we read the New York Times and the Boston Globe all morning, passing sections back and forth, pointing out articles. We read out loud the best parts and discuss.

As children we started with the (oh so special!) comics. We slowly graduated to the entire breadth of the paper, which is a great excuse for lounging and reading until noon. Now living three blocks away from my parents I begin my Sunday morning reading at my own house and inevitably travel over there before the morning is over for more reading, especially when my sister is in town. 

Sunday is also the best day of the week for really taking time to enjoy the best cup of tea. For me it is Earl Grey from Upton Tea Imports, made in a glass tea pot, served in a china tea cup with my favorite miniature creamer (unsweetened hemp milk) next to it. It is nice to take time to enjoy special something special and thoughtful for oneself.

I was especially excited today to dive into my haul of new and used cookbooks I acquired over the last two days on a visit to Maine. I will write about the phenomenol cookbook store very soon. But, see all the books, a dozen of them! All full of promise...

 (the blender cookbook from 1961 and ABC of Casseroles is sort of a joke.) But look at it, each letter of the alphabet has a poem about casseroles. Im not kidding.

The beautiful gray book in the top photo, Good Things in England by Florence White has a cheerful end paper. 

This is a new reprint of her 1933 compendium of British cookery. Between the wars she was urging her countryfolk to stop trying to cook like French people, as it does not suit the British taste at all. ... "Anyhow, we must not become a weak inferior imitation of any other country, however great or friendly, or however much we may admire its people and their ways."  

I love the book, the soft gray cover and the early typeset. Like reading an antique book but the binding is oh so solid! Without any delay she tells how to make a correct cup of tea. I checked, my cup of tea was well made according to Ms. White. Although I steep mine for 4 minutes before removing the leaves.

There are 370 pages full of historical recipes, 1399 to 1932. Documented from houses of Queens, lords, normal folk and down to odd specialties from the Isle of Mann like Limpets and this "Dumb Cake" which reads: 

" 'This cake,' says Mrs. Cashen, or Peel Castle, 'must be made of flour and water without any leaven, and is mixed and maked in the hot turf ashes. A piece which must be eaten walking backwards to bed. A number may join in the performance and they will dream of their future husbands.' "

I will skip the doubtful Dumb cake as it seems I already have a suitable husband. However, this book has me all excited to make english muffins and try a few other things also. I will post them here!