Wonton meatballs

I made Nom Nom Paleo's wonton meatballs in a double batch tonight. I made a similar dish some years ago in the style of sui mai dumplings, which was a similar recipe steamed in zucchini "cups." This time I just followed Michelle Tam's recipe and made meatballs. Delicious. I made a double batch b/c I bought a 1lb frozen shrimp package when it was on sale, and just froze some of it to make again later.

At the time of this meatball consumption, I am in the midst of an obsession with Christine and the Queens. This song is the current one on repeat. OMG. I am in love with her. Other videos showcase her moves, which inspire me to dance in the kitchen and get all swoon-ish at the same time.

Wonton Meatballs (by Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo)
¼ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water for at least 30 minutes
½ pound shrimp peeled and deveined
1 pound ground pork 
2 scallions finely chopped
¼ cup cilantro minced
1 tablespoon coconut aminos
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
½ teaspoon fish sauce
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1) Hydrate your dried mushrooms - mine take 30 minutes in warm water. 

2) Preheat the oven to 400°F, and squeeze the water out of the shiitake mushrooms. Cut off the hard stems, and finely mince them.

3) Finely chop the shrimp until you’ve got a chunky paste.

4) Place the shrimp in a large bowl and add the pork, mushrooms, scallions, cilantro, coconut aminos, salt, fish sauce, white pepper, and sesame oil.

5) Use your hands to squeeze and mix the meatball mixture until a sticky and tacky mass is formed.

6) Heat up a small frying pan over medium heat and add a little cooking fat. When the pan is hot, form a little patty and cook it in the pan. Taste it and see if the seasoning is right. Adjust with additional salt if needed. (Not cooking yet? You can store the meatball mixture in the fridge for up to 12 hours.)

7) Form the mixture into 1½-inch balls. Roll the mixture into round balls and arrange on a baking sheet. You should end up with about a dozen balls.

8) Bake the meatballs in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. I finished mine off under the broiler to get a good sear. 
This time I ate these with roasted broccoli and eggplant and some sriracha. I've also used them in noodle soup with tasty results.

Tangy Stew

I made this stew last week, and pronounced it my favorite stew recipe yet. It isn't all that different from my own made-up, or riffed-on stew recipes, except that it had vinegar in it, and anchovies. And mushrooms, which I don't usually put in stew. And more garlic than usual. I love this stew! I love the tang of it. I guess that is why I have previously liked eating sauerkraut with stew.

I appear to be on a Food 52 kick, because this is the 2nd recipe this week from them, and I've bookmarked a couple more that I want to try. I think I just visited there for inspiration a week or two ago, and achieved that end. I modified their recipe some: I didn't have leeks, used less meat, and added a potato and sunchokes. My anchovy paste, having moved a household over 3 years ago and still hanging out in the butter drawer, expired in 2014. (Maybe it moved two households? From here, to there, and back again?) I used it anyway, and also added a dash of fish sauce in case it had lost some potency. It just seems unlikely that anchovy paste goes bad?! I am not a strict adherent to expiration dates, clearly. It all went alright. I guess I'll buy more anchovy paste to have on hand for the next 6 years.

Tangy Stew serves 8
2-3 pounds beef stewing meat, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
salt and pepper for the beef
¹/₃ cup olive oil
2 med onions, diced
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
4 celery ribs, diced
4 ounces white mushrooms, roughly chopped
¹/₄ cup tomato paste
2 anchovies (or anchovy paste)
¹/₂ cup red wine vinegar
1 cup red wine
3+ cups beef broth
1 cup canned whole tomatoes with juices
1 large potato, chopped
2-3 sunchokes, chopped (opt)
1 ¹/₂ teaspoons salt
3 bay leaves
³/₄ teaspoon dried thyme
¹/₃ cup chopped parsley

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper on both sides. Brown the meat in batches in a 5-6 quart Dutch oven over high heat, adding more oil as needed. Remove to a plate.
2. Lower the heat and add all the vegetables. Cook for 5-10 minutes until softened. Stir in the tomato paste and anchovies and cook to melt the anchovies and distribute.
3. Add the beef back in, with its juices. Add the wine, vinegar, and tomatoes with juice (breaking them up against the side of the pot as you go) and bring to a boil. Add the stock to cover (you may need a bit more than 3 cups). Put in the salt, bay leaf, thyme, bring to a boil. Simmer, partially covered, for 3 hours until the meat is tender.
4. Mix in half of the parsley and garnish with the rest. Serve!

Meatloaf - Pork and Beef

This is a really good, very traditional meatloaf recipe from Food 52. I will make it again, as I think it is my favorite meatloaf recipe thus far (I like mushrooms and carrots in there, and all the parsley). I modified it just a little to be GF. This hit the spot for something easy and filling, and cozy for this cloudy bit of weather. I ate it with fried potatoes. Yum.

Meatloaf
olive oil 
2 stalks celery
1 medium carrot
¹/₂ small onion 
¹/₂ cup parsley with large stems removed
1 small bell pepper diced
6 mushrooms, with tough part of stems removed
1 pound 80% ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 cup GF oats
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
spoonful of tomato paste (or a small diced tomato)
2 tsp salt, plus pepper to taste
2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
splash of fish sauce (opt, for some umami!)
ketchup to slather on top of loaf

1. Preheat oven to 375° F and lightly oil a rectangular baking dish or loaf pan. Dice celery, carrot, parsley and onion into small bits. Alternatively, process in a food processor until the vegetables are ground.
2. Dice the pepper and mushrooms and sauté them in a small amount of olive oil until the pepper softens.
3. To a large mixing bowl add the meat, ground vegetables, sautéed pepper and mushrooms, oats, egg, tomato paste, salt and pepper, and cream (if using). Mix with your hands until it's all combined. (To check the seasoning, fry off a tiny test patty, taste, and adjust accordingly.)
4. Plop the meat into the oiled baking pan and shape into a loaf. Cover with ketchup. 
5. Bake for 1 hour, remove from oven, and let sit for 15 minutes before slicing. 

Cauliflower pizza crust (paleo)

I experimented with a cauliflower pizza crust, and found it really tasty. I have not made homemade pizza in many years, so it was just fun to try and make my own toppings. Yum. Most cauliflower pizza crust recipes seem to include cheese, which I don't eat much of, so I looked for a dairy-free recipe.

Up sides of this cauliflower crust: very little nut flour, mostly cauliflower, very subtle cauliflower taste.
Down sides: I could not pick up a full slice that would hold together (I could pick up a partial piece and it had enough structural integrity about it); pulsing raw cauliflower in the food processor is fussy and messy! Do-able. But fussy.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Post first baking

1 head cauliflower, stalk removed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup almond or tapioca flour
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
2. Place the cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until finely shredded (I did in 2 batches).
3. Steam the shredded cauliflower for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain well, let cool, and strain any excess water using a towel. (Quite a lot of water comes out!)
4. In a bowl, combine the cauliflower, eggs, oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, almond flour, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything thoroughly.
5. Transfer to a pizza pan or baking sheet and shape into a pizza crust shape. (You are just pressing it into a big circle. It's very strange! Next time I will maybe try putting parchment paper down first to assist in transfer of pizza to the butcher block.)
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes.
7. Spread pizza sauce/toppings on top of the crust. Bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until toppings are nicely cooked.

I made my pizza with half pesto, half tomato paste sauce. Then I covered the whole thing with my mild Italian sausage, red onions, red peppers, mushrooms, and some diced tomatoes and shredded asiago. And a little magic salt. So tasty!!

Mild Italian sausage

I generally buy my meat from Hilltop Pastures Farm, because it is all grass fed and they deliver nearby and it is a good price. And their bacon is amazing, and much cheaper than the good stuff at the co-op, and I can get goat! I often now get some amount of ground pork for meatballs or breakfast sausage, but have thus far not made other sausage preparations.

I decided I wanted to try making a cauliflower crust pizza sometime this week, on which I wanted a mild sausage. So. I mixed up an Italian sausage recipe to try on the pizza, and ate it first on spaghetti squash (it's good to mix up the sausage in advance and let the meat sit so all the flavors absorb and get extra delicious). It turned out GREAT. And, as a thrifty bonus, if I were to order Italian sausage from the farm, it would be $6, as opposed to the $4 for the ground pork. So. I feel very happy to mix up my own sausage for these purposes from now on!

The sausage recipe below was adapted from this one I found on the interwebs. I just made 1 pound, but next time I'll make a couple or few to freeze.

Mild Italian Sausage
1 pound ground pork  
1 T apple cider vinegar  
1 tsp salt  
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper 
2 T fresh parsley (dried would work too)
1 tsp onion powder   
1 tsp paprika  
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground fennel seed 
1/8 tsp dried oregano 
1/8 tsp dried thyme

Add all ingredients in a bowl, use hands to mix well. Refrigerate for several hours, or a day.

I made this really simple "pasta" of spaghetti squash, a few mushrooms, garlic, butter, salt, spinach leaves, and the sausage. Plus a little asiago. It was delicious. 

Magic Wings and homemade Ranch dipping sauce

My friend made these Nom Nom Paleo wings for a dinner some weeks ago, and I've been wanting to make them ever since. There was something decadent about them, and about the really delicious ranch sauce, maybe just because it is not something I usually make at home. Once in awhile I get the wings at Geek Love cafe as an easy dinner, because there is something so tasty about wings. But these are even better! I finally made them last night, along with a salad (because, homemade ranch!) and some sweet potato "fries" (aka sweet potato slices).

The tasty part about the wings is the special umami salt, what Michelle of Nom Nom Paleo calls Magic Mushroom Powder: it's dried porcini mushrooms mixed with salt and spices. It's really good. And of course the ranch with homemade mayo. Both of those recipes are listed below the one for wings.

Magic Wings, 4-5 servings
3 pounds chicken wings

1 1/2 tablespoons Magic Mushroom Powder (see below)
1 tablespoon olive oil 

 

1. Place the wings in a large bowl, and throw on the Magic Mushroom Powder. Toss the chicken with your hands to evenly distribute the seasoning. Cover and marinate the wings in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

2. A half-hour before serving, take the wings out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 425°F with the rack in the middle position.

3. Place a wire rack (if you have one) on top of an oiled, rimmed baking sheet, or just oil a rimmed baking pan. (I have to do both because my wire rack and pans are not big enough). Grease the rack with the melted fat before arranging the chicken wings in a single layer. Don’t overcrowd the wings, or they won’t brown properly!

4. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then,flip each wing and rotate the tray. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the skins are crisp, taut, and brown.

5. Plate and serve immediately with ranch dipping sauce! (recipe below)

 

Magic Mushroom Powder - makes about 1 1/3 cups
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms (I bought mine at Seward)
2/3 c sea salt
1 T red pepper flakes
4 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1) Grind the mushrooms - I did this in my coffee grinder, and had to do it in 2 batches. Be sure to let the mushroom powder settle right after grinding - don't remove the lid for a few minutes. Otherwise it plumes out in mushroom cloud. (Michelle warned of this, and I opened my grinder after only a minute and it was still pluming.)
2) While waiting, measure out all other ingredients into a bowl. Add mushroom powder, and mix thoroughly. Done!

Ranch dressing makes 1/2 c
1/4 c homemade mayo
1/4 c heavy cream or coconut milk
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried dill
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Stir everything together and eat!

Gluten Free Teff Sourdough

Once in awhile I buy the Thuro teff sourdough loaf from the co-op for toast and fancy breakfast eating. It's dark and tastes grainy from the teff, and doesn't have weird stuff in it. It is not cheap ($10 I think?) but it is tasty. I recently got a bit nostalgic about baking bread, and also got curious about making my own sourdough after looking at Thuro's ingredient list. Internet research revealed that teff is one of the easiest flours to ferment, so I had a go at it the past few weeks.

It turned out delicious! As good as Thuro's, even better because I get to eat it fresh. Yum. It's nice and chewy - definitely not light and airy - more of a dense, rye seeming bread. I really like it.

I followed these instructions for making my starter, and found the photos helpful to reassure me that I was on the right track. All you do is put teff and water in a clean mason jar and set it in a warm location. Then you "feed" it more teff and water each day, or every other day. My bread recipe called for 4 cups of starter, so I just added about 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 c water every day or two until I got to the right amount. It had a nice fermenty smell, and often the liquid layer that separated from the rest was a dark brown.

My bread recipe was from an internet search, with ingredients that most resemble the Thuro loaf. The link is useful for first time making of this bread to see photos of consistency and to get a feel for the right texture (to know when to add more flour or water). This is because starter is really inconsistent, so you are going more for a texture than exact amounts of flour.

The recipe includes psyllium husks (to bind the flours), which you can buy in bulk at the co-op, and ground chia seeds (also a binding agent). I had not previously ground chia seeds - they get fluffy! I did it in a coffee grinder, which worked great. This also makes a bigger loaf that you can buy, and it really is quite gleeful to make myself. I can't wait to make more, and maybe I'll try a little buckwheat flour in the bread with the teff.

Starter:
50 grams teff flour
100 grams water
*I have a scale so weighed these out; it is about 1/2 cup of each.

1) Mix the two ingredients together in a grease free bowl.
2) Transfer the mixture into a grease free glass jar and then cover with a lid. The lid doesn’t have to be airtight.
3) Let the jar sit in a room with temperature between 63-77℉ or 17-25℃ for 18-24 hours.

Teff sourdough loaf: makes 1 9x5 standard loaf
4 cups gluten-free sourdough starter, active and bubbly (mine was only subtly bubbly)
1/2 cup warm water, + more as needed to achieve desired consistency
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp maple syrup or agave
4 Tbsp ground chia seeds
4 Tbsp whole psyllium husks
1 to 1-3/4 cups teff flour (or any combination of whole grain gluten-free flours)
1/4 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot powder

Prep:
1) Place starter in large mixing bowl. Whisk in the liquids and salt (warm water, salt, olive oil, maple syrup).
2) Next, whisk in the ground chia and psyllium husks.
3) Add the flours (Avoid letting the mixture sit more than a minute or two, as the chia and psyllium start bulking the dough up quickly!)
4) Mix them all together with a strong large spoon until dough is thick and still drips off the spoon. This is where you need to get the right texture and it is worth checking the photo in the link.
5) Oil a 9×5 bread pan and pour your dough into it. Level the bread out. Cover with parchment paper or a cookie sheet.
6) Place in a warm place so that it can rise for 3-6 hours. For me, this is near the stove. If the environment is warm, it should rise in about 3 hours. If it’s pretty cool, it could take up to 8 hours to rise. My dough only rises a little bit, which is what the recipe author experiences too. (And must be common, because even the Thuro loafs are squat.)

Baking:
7) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the bread until it reaches an internal temperature of 205 degrees. *This is important, and is worth having a thermometer for. Apparently baking bread is quite variable, but internal temp is the way to go for consistent done-ness. It took about 2 hours for my loaf to get to 205, and the edges pulled away from the sides and got more dark.
8) Let it cool on your counter for 10-20 minutes. Then remove it from the pan by running a large spatula around the perimeter of the pan to loosen it. Slide the spatula under the bottom of the bread to gently loosen it from the pan. Mine came out easily when I tipped it. Allow it to continue cooling on a clean cutting board or a wire rack.
*The recipe author suggests slicing it when fresh for better storage, which is what I did. I froze most of the loaf/slices, but left out a few pieces to eat fresh/store in the fridge.

With soft boiled eggs

With nutritional yeast and butter! (PB&J behind)