Category: Meat & Poultry

2-Ingredient Lazy Meatballs

We all have those days. You know, when you’re up all night with a sick child (or spouse) and you walk around in a daze barely able to cope. Or when you’re just too tired or sick to even think of making supper. Cereal and milk or grilled cheese will do every now and then, but it’s great to have a quick and easy meal that’s also healthy and hearty – to fall back on.

Would you believe it if I told you that you could make meatballs with just 2 ingredients? That’s right – just TWO ingredients! It’s why I call ’em lazy meatballs. But you know what? You’d never know it. I serve these up in front of my kiddies and they are as thankful as ever. You’d think I slaved over them for hours. They’re tasty, moist and perfect over some rice or spaghetti.

Actually, speaking of spaghetti, I’ll tell you something else. I usually prepare a big batch of these babies. The first night, I serve em up over rice. Then, the next night, I take whatever’s left and mash ’em up with a potato masher. The meatballs fall apart into the marinara for a split-second “bolognese”. I spoon the meat sauce right over some spaghetti and I’m the best momma ever.

The secret to these meatballs is NOT to use lean ground beef. The extra fat keeps the meatballs moist, so you don’t need to add anything else to them. The minimal handling of the meat as well as the small size of the meatballs also contribute to their tenderness.

Lazy 2-ingredient Meatballs

1 pkg ground beef (not lean)
1 jar marinara sauce
1/2 jar water

Method:

Bring marinara sauce and water to a simmer. Roll ground beef into golf-sized balls and add to the sauce. Simmer meatballs gently for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally, so meatballs don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Day 2 Leftovers: Split-Second Bolognese

Mash leftover meatballs into the sauce using a potato masher. Serve over spaghetti.

 

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Pumpkin Pot Pie

I was lying in bed one night thinking about how I could take advantage of the adorable little pumpkins that are so bountiful this season (yes, these are the sort of things food bloggers think about when they go to bed at night). I knew I could make my own pumpkin puree, or carve out a spooky design (although I don’t celebrate Halloween), but I wanted MORE. Something fresh, and exciting, and oh yes – warm (have you seen the weather forecast lately?!).

I thought about real comfort food – you know, something I’d want to eat around a fireplace (if I had one) on a cold November night. And it came down to – you guessed it! – chicken pot pie. At first I thought about reinventing the chicken pot pie and making a vegetarian version with pumpkin and autumn spices. That got me thinking about all the winter pumpkins soups that are cleverly served inside the pumpkin – when I realized – I could have my pumpkin and chicken pot pie and eat it too!

This recipe combines the flavor of fresh-roasted pumpkin with creamy parsnips, carrots and mushrooms. It’s seasoned with fresh thyme and sage and topped off with flaky puff pastry for the perfect fall comfort food!

And would you look at the festive autumn design on these beauties? These pretty pumpkin packages (say that three times in a row!) are as good to look at as they are to eat. They’d make the perfect appetizer for your Thanksgiving meal!

Pumpkin Pot Pie

6 small sugar pumpkins
extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper & allspice, to taste
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 container button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup flour
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups diced chicken (roasted, grilled, or leftover from your chicken soup)
2 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp fresh sage (or 1 tsp dried)
s&p, to taste
1 pkg puff pastry, cut into squares (or 6 puff pastry squares, plus additional for decorating)
1 egg + 1 tbsp water, for eggwash

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tops off the sugar pumpkins and remove the seeds. Brush the insides of the pumpkins with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and allspice. Bake, flesh side down, until tender, about 30 minutes*.

Saute the onion in olive oil until golden and add garlic. Saute until fragrant. Add the carrots, parsnips and mushrooms and continue to saute until tender. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and continue to saute for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer until thickened. Stir in the diced chicken, thyme, sage, salt and pepper.  Ladle the filling into the pumpkins and cover with a square of puff pastry. Cut leaves out of extra puff pastry and glue it to the squares with egg. Brush the remaining puff pastry with egg and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

*Don’t let the pumpkin get too soft or it will start to fall apart. You still want it to hold it’s shape (keep in mind that it will also be cooking for an additional 20 minutes when it’s covered in the puff pastry).

VARIATION: You may use turkey instead of chicken.

Related Recipes:

veal shepherd’s pie with celery root mashed potatoes
leftover turkey pot pie
chicken pot pie Passover croquettes

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Rainbow Cobb Salad

Each year, the week that the Torah portion of Noah* is read, my kosher newsfeeds are flooded with rainbow cakes and crafts of all kinds. It’s fun to get the kids involved in the Shabbat menu but if I had it my way, I’d rather not load them up on food coloring. I’m guilty of creating these rainbow cupcakes last year, but this year I decided to think of something a lot less sugary, and a lot more healthy. Which is how THIS happened.

If you’re not familiar with Cobb salad, it’s a culinary classic, alongside the popular Nicoise and Caesar varieties. Classic Cobb salad is not kosher, as it calls for both bacon and blue cheese. In my kosher version, I subbed pastrami for the bacon and smoked turkey for the traditional grilled chicken. Incorporating popular Shabbat food like cold cuts, will make this rainbow salad a sure hit on your lunch menu. And with all the bright beautiful colors – you may just get your kids to eat it too!

*In the story of Noah, G-d promised never to destroy the world again with a flood, and as a symbol of that promise, he made a rainbow appear.

Rainbow Cobb Salad

1 handful chives, roughly chopped
1 cup romaine lettuce, chopped
1 avocado, diced
1 cup iceberg lettuce, chopped
4 hardboiled eggs, whites and yolks chopped separately
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1 cup smoked turkey, cut into cubes
5 slices pastrami

Dressing:

1/2 cup light olive oil
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Prepare all the salad ingredients and set out strips of each on a serving platter. Whisk the dressing ingredients until emulsified and drizzle over salad (or serve separately).

VARIATION: Feel free to experiment with different vegetables of similar color to suit your taste.

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Corned Beef Arancini

I love the challenge of turning leftovers into something new. Especially after a long holiday, when the last thing you want to do is eat the same food you’ve been eating for a week. I open my fridge, take out all the leftovers and spread them out on the counter. Then, like a Chopped-Champion-Wannabe, I play around with my ingredients to make something new, fresh and exciting.

In the past, I whipped up a lightened up turkey pot pie with my leftover turkey roast. When I was challenged to come up with a dish for my leftover corned beef and some delicious risotto that was too good to throw away, I knew just what to make. Arancini made the perfect light dinner, with a side of leftover vegetable soup.

If you’re not familiar with arancini, it’s a traditional Italian dish of fried rice balls made with leftover risotto. While risotto is usually made with parmesan, salty corned beef makes the perfect substitute in this meat version. If you don’t keep kosher (as I do), feel free to add a bite of gooey mozzarella in the center.

If you’ve got other leftovers from the holiday and your family is turning their noses at the idea of eating it – think outside the box. Turn your leftover chicken into chicken pot pie or your leftover mashed potatoes and brisket into shepherd’s pie. Your extra matbucha can become some breakfast shakshuka or your leftover salmon can turn into the perfect pasta dish. If you need inspiration – I’m up for the challenge! Just message me on Facebook and I’ll give you some ideas!

Corned Beef Arancini

1 1/2 cups leftover risotto (recipe follows)
1 cup leftover corned beef, diced small
1 egg, lightly whisked
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
canola oil, for frying

Method:

Gently combine the leftover risotto and corn beef and form into balls. Dip in egg and bread crumbs.

Pour enough oil in a heavy large saucepan to reach the depth of 3 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat to 350 degrees. Deep fry the risotto balls in hot oil until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain.

Serve hot with marinara sauce spiked with a touch of mustard.

VARIATION: If you don’t have corned beef, you may use leftover pastrami.

Dairy-Free Saffron Risotto:

3 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf (optional)
generous pinch of saffron
1 1/2 tbsp margarine (I prefer Smart Balance)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper, to taste

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer along with the bay leaf. Remove 1/2 cup of the stock and pour over the saffron threads. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil and margarine in a skillet and add the onions. Cook until translucent, but not browned. Add rice and cook, stirring continuously, until well-coated, but not browned. Add the wine and continue to stir until completely absorbed. Season with salt and pepper.

Begin adding one ladle full of stock at a time (about 1/2 cup), stirring continuously until all the stock is absorbed. Do not add more stock until the previous addition is completely absorbed. Add the saffron-infused stock towards the end (about 15 minutes after adding the wine), and continue to add stock until the rice is tender with a little bite to it (al dente), about 25 minutes total.

Other leftover ideas:

leftover cake: quick & easy individual trifles
leftover rice: pineapple fried rice
leftover challah: perfect pareve french toast
leftover chicken: curry chicken salad or Asian chicken salad or pulled chicken sammies
leftover salmon: salmon cakes or salmon pasta salad

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Meat & Rice Stuffed Baby Eggplants

As we approach the last days of the holiday of Sukkot, I wanted to share a nontraditional “stuffed” recipe, for those looking for a change from traditional holipches/holishkes (stuffed cabbage). If you’ve always wondered why Hungarian style stuffed cabbage is served up on Sukkot, it’s because we want to celebrate the abundance of the harvest season. Fall is when farmers harvest their wheat in Israel, and stuffing vegetables with filling symbolizes their desire for a year of overflowing harvest. Although it is customary for many to eat stuffed cabbage, any stuffed recipe is well suited to honor this custom. You can stuff grape leaves, zucchini, peppers, or even fruit for dessert!

As I mentioned in this post, I was first introduced to the idea of mechshie when I married into a sephardic family. My mother in law taught me to prepare various dishes of meat & rice filled vegetables – each with it’s own unique flavor. Having grown up with these traditional Syrian dishes, my husband loves when I surprise him by making them. Although my twist on tomato & zucchini mechshie (which I’ve dubbed “mechshie ratatouille”) is my all time favorite, this lighter stuffed eggplant version is a close second.

If you want to go the traditional route, but you’re overwhelmed by the idea of making stuffed cabbage, try my Bubby’s cabbage soup with flanken. It tastes just like stuffed cabbage, without all the work! You can even leave out the flanken and make mini meat & rice balls instead.

Meat & Rice Stuffed Baby Eggplants

6-8 baby eggplants

Filling:
1 1/2 lb ground meat
2/3 c rice (I prefer basmati)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp allspice
kosher salt, to taste

Sauce:
3 cups water
juice of 1 lemon
1 head garlic, peeled
2 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt, to taste

Method:

To prepare the filling, combine the meat, rice, allspice, salt and water in a bowl and mix well to combine (I like to do this by hand, using gloves). Try to handle the meat gently, don’t squeeze it too much as this tends to toughen it up.

Slice the eggplants at both ends and core them using a paring knife (or a long vegetable corer, known as a ma’vdeh). Place all the pulp from the insides of the eggplants into a strainer and sprinkle generously with salt. Allow the pulp to rest for 20-30 minutes (this draws out the bitter liquid). Rinse the pulp with water to remove salt and add to the bottom of a wide saucepan.

Stuff the eggplants with the meat filling, taking care not to fill them too tightly as the rice will expand during cooking. Place them in the pot, sprinkling the garlic cloves all around. Drizzle the eggplants with olive oil, lemon juice and sprinkle with salt. Pour water into the pan, cover the pot and bring the liquid up to a boil over high heat. Lower the flame and simmer for 1-2 hours. For the last 30 minutes, uncover the pot and cook until the liquid reduces to a thick sauce.

NOTE: If you have leftover meat filling, roll it into small meatballs and place in the pot alongside the eggplant.

Related Recipes:

zucchini and tomato mechshie “ratatouille”
globe zucchini mechshie with tamarind and prunes

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