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Sweet and Spicy Asian Style Pickled Carrots | Make Ahead Mondays

April 16, 2012 by 20 Comments

I harbour no illusions about my family’s eating habits. I know some of them are weird. Take, for example, the fact that when my sons were turning 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2, respectively, we served onigiri at their collective birthday party. Not weird in Japan, admittedly, but we weren’t in Japan. We were in Western New York. And while most of the friends present were pretty psyched to try something new, a couple kids and parents looked at us askew while making sure there was a clear path between them and the door.  One poor woman involuntarily threw an onigiri back at the plate and it skittered across the table when she asked what the black stuff was around the rice ball and I responded, “Toasted seaweed!” enthusiastically.

Oh well. Can’t convince them all.

All of this is to say that since that moment, I’ve been a little more circumspect about what I serve where and to whom. I try to know my audience, so to speak. This works pretty well for the most part.

Then this past weekend, I posted the following query on the Foodie With Family facebook page:

“I have a question for you all. I’m positively addicted to these sweet and spicy pickled julienned carrots I make… I put them on slacker sushi bowls, on bahn mi, on other sandwiches, on salads, in homemade sushi. Are any of you out there interested in the recipe or is that too weirdo for you?”

I thought the question would be D.O.A. In fact, I kind of wondered why I even posted the question. Imagine my surprise when I saw that within ten minutes of posting the question, there were already four people who said they’d love the recipe. I think my jaw might’ve slackened a little bit. But that wasn’t where it ended. Within hours, twenty four people had assured me that they, too, wanted the recipe and twenty two other people had liked the status. At that point, my mouth was hanging open so far I looked a bit like a cod. We chat back and forth on facebook, but I can honestly say this was a pretty clear sign that I need to ask you guys more often what you’d like for me to post.

Here I’d been withholding one of my favourite staples from you all on the grounds that I was a dork and it was too strange/unique/niche/whatever for you guys when I could’ve just asked all along. Duh, right?

Lesson learned. I will now ask. But for the record, y’all are weirdos, too and I like you that way.

Let’s talk some practicality here… because who wants to go to the trouble of canning something unless you know you’re going to use it, right? Where can you put these gorgeous little orange strips? Use these anywhere you want a little bit of sweetness and a little bit of spice. Remember the candied jalapenos? These are in that category. Some ideas:

  • On bibimbap. This classic Korean dish gets a nice bit of oomph from the sweet and spicy pickled carrots.
  • On top of slacker sushi bowls. Rice piled in a bowl with sushi dressing poured over it, topped with these carrots, shrimp/tuna/salmon, cucumber cubes, cream cheese, green onions, wasabi, soy sauce, nori, sesame seeds, etc… Think of a Philadelphia sushi roll exploded in a bowl. Many deep thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake and her sister for the addition of cream cheese and a cool name to something we’d been making haphazardly for years. )
  • On sandwiches. Yes. Homemade bánh mì, simple turkey sandwiches, chopped up in egg/chicken/tuna salad, etc… They all taste incredible with these spicy, sweet, tender crisp carrot sticks tucked into them.
  • On salads. Toss a few of these and a fistful of chow mein noodles on a salad before drizzling a nice sesame vinaigrette over top. You’ll be blown away.
  • In summer rolls or spring rolls. These add a mega punch of flavour and texture to summer and spring rolls. Since you all told me you want an Asian style pickled carrot recipe, I’m going to go ahead and assume you like summer and spring rolls, too. See how I get?
  • By themselves. Every now and then I grab a jar of these out of the fridge and a pair of chopsticks and just nibble. Sometimes it’s exactly what I need.

Some Cooking Notes:

  • In the recipe, I tell you to julienne the carrots (in other words, cut into matchstick size/shaped strips.) If this is too much effort and/or you don’t own a mandoline slicer, you can always use a vegetable peeler to peel thin strips from the carrots. It won’t tuck quite so neatly onto slacker sushi bowls or look quite so polished as the mandoline rendered strips, but it’ll do and it’ll taste every bit as good.
  • Don’t be tempted to leave out the star anise. My husband hates (and I don’t use the word lightly) star anise, but loves what they do here. They give the carrots a certain je ne sais quoi. Just try ‘em.

One final bit of business. A reader asked where she can find all of the Make Ahead Monday recipes. If you are looking for an easy way to keep track of recipes in any category here on Foodie With Family, try the “Recipe” tab under the logo and header. I’ve categorized all of the recipes and Make Ahead Mondays has its very own section. Tada! …Or you could just click THIS. Ask and you shall receive!

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Sweet and Spicy Asian Style Pickled Carrots | Make Ahead Mondays

Sweet and Spicy Asian Style Pickled Carrots | Make Ahead Mondays

These simple-to-make pickled carrot strips are sweet, spicy, tangy and flavourfully crisp-tender. Put them on sandwiches, bibimbap, sushi rice bowls, relish trays, tuck into salads and springrolls or just snack on them. Once you try them, you'll want to keep lots on hand!

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds of peeled carrots, julienned (or use a vegetable peeler to peel long thin strips of carrots.)
  • 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup rice vinegar
  • 3 whole star anise
  • 3/4 cup raw or granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Clean and sterilize 3 pint jars, lids and rings (For instructions on how to do this, see this link )

In a stainless steel -or other non-reactive pot- combine the vinegars, water, star anise, sugar, crushed red pepper flakes,ginger root, garlic and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring just until the sugar is dissolved. Use a slotted spoon to remove the star anise from the boiling brine and divide them evenly between the jars.

Add the carrot sticks to the boiling brine. Bring the liquid back to a boil, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat. Immediately use tongs or a slotted spoon to divide the carrot sticks between the jars, packing if necessary to fit them all in. Use a ladle to pour the hot brine over the carrot sticks, being sure to cover the carrot sticks with brine. Insert a sterile chopstick or knife into the jars to release air bubbles and add more brine if necessary to keep the carrots covered.

Moisten a paper towel with vinegar and wipe the rims of the jars. Position a lid on top of each jar and screw on the rings to finger tip tightness. If you over-tighten, the jars will not process properly.

Place the jars on a rack in a canner, add hot tap water to cover the jars by at least an inch and cover the pot. Bring to a full rolling boil and process for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, but leave the cover in place and let the jars rest for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes have passed, carefully transfer the jars to a cooling rack or towel lined counter to cool, undisturbed for 24 hours.

Check the seals after 24 hours have passed. If it is a good seal, the center of the jar lid will be slightly sunken in and will not "poing" back up when pressed lightly with the finger. If the lid is domed, or it pops back up when pressed, store in the refrigerator.

Wipe down the jars with good seals, remove the rings, and label before storing in a cool, dark place for up to a year.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/04/16/sweet-and-spicy-asian-style-pickled-carrots-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Component Foods, Condiments, Healthy Foods, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning

April 3, 2012 by 8 Comments

I am a collector of herbs and spices. I like to have a little bit of everything just in case I need a little bit of anything. I have just about every herb and spice on hand that you could possibly want. (And a few extras: anyone need za’atar or nigella? Anyone?) One thing I hadn’t bought until recently, though, was lemon pepper seasoning.

I can’t really explain why I didn’t buy it. I love lemon and pepper together. My version of using lemon pepper usually involved squeezing and zesting a lemon and grinding a bunch of pepper on top.

Last week, a coupon and a sale conspired to convince me to buy my first ever little shaker jar of lemon pepper seasoning. I got it home, opened the safety seal, dipped my finger in and took a taste. Then I made a face and scraped at my tongue with my fingernails. EW. I mean really. The top note of this well respected manufacturer’s lemon pepper seasoning blend was citric acid followed by chemical followed by IDunnoWhat.  Egads, that stuff was awful! If I thought really hard about it, I could kind of taste lemon in there somewhere, but I think that was the power of concentrating on the yellow that was provided by the yellow food dye. FOOD DYE. In seasoning. Sigh.

It’s often the little things -a pinch of this, a smidgen of that- that make the difference between a recipe that is good versus one that is great. I’ve seen quite a few recipes that call for lemon pepper seasoning and I’ve always done my lemon juice/zest/pepper hack, and it usually worked out just fine. After trying the stuff that flies off the market shelves, though, I was convinced that I could easily do much, much better at home.

And I did.

Here you have Foodie With Family’s Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning. All the GOOD stuff, and none of the crizzap. Sprinkle this over grilled fish, chicken or pork. Use in place of commercial lemon pepper seasoning in equal amounts called for in other recipes. Put a dash or two over buttered popcorn. Go nuts. Now that I have the homemade stuff, I’ll never be without it again.

Bonus: The homemade mix comes in significantly cheaper and worlds tastier than the commercial stuff. Give it a try… I know you won’t regret it!

And in case you’re wondering whatever became of the shaker top of lemon pepper seasoning I bought at the store, you’ll be glad to know it didn’t all go to waste. My kids peer pressured each other into trying it as a feat of strength, “Try THIS! It’s REALLY GROSS! Can you handle it?” What can I say? Homeschooled kids have weird peer pressure.

 

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Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Add a punch of flavour to grilled fish, chicken, pork, popcorn, dips, salads and whatever else your heart desires with this perfect blend of salt, lemon zest, cracked black pepper rounded out with hints of onion, garlic and celery seed. You'll never want to be without it again!

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons lemon salt , preferably, or kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons raw sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
  • the zest of one lemon, just the yellow part- avoid the bitter white pith
  • a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of granulated onion
  • a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of granulated garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon celery seed

Instructions

Stir together all of the ingredients and store in an airtight jar at room temperature. This can be refrigerated if desired. Because there are no funky preservatives or anti-caking chemicals added to the mixture, you may find it has a tendency to clump slightly. Just break it up with your fingers or a fork before using if this occurs.

Replace using commercial lemon pepper seasoning by substituting an equal measure of homemade lemon pepper seasoning.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/04/03/homemade-lemon-pepper-seasoning/

Filed Under: Component Foods, Condiments, Happy Healthy and Wise, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Honey Chipotle Oyster Crackers | Make Ahead Mondays

April 2, 2012 by 6 Comments

For today’s Make Ahead Monday I wanted to go in a not-freezer direction.  You know I love my freezer full of goodies, but there are certain staples I make ahead of time that have nothing to do with the chill chest. They’re too good not to share and so? I shall share!

I specifically wanted to talk snack food-slash-salad toppers. I have a thing for salads. It’s my mom’s fault. (Hi, Mom!) Every night we’d ask mom what we were having for dinner. Nine nights out of ten, her answer went something like this, “Some _____, a little bit of _________, a _________, and A BIG GREEN SALAD.”

As kids, my siblings and I didn’t necessarily appreciate the effort that went into providing a BIG GREEN SALAD (which is always in all-caps because of the enthusiasm with which mom always said it.) in Northern Michigan in deep winter in the middle of nowhere. That took some planning!  Mom always pulled out all the stops on salad. This is probably why I’m a salad-a-holic.

My mom’s salads have always been festive. There’s no such thing as a boring salad from my Mom. Heck. My mom is just festive. Period. But we’ve covered that ground before. Mom is big on salad toppings. We would raid the camp kitchen for Baco-s (perennial favourite), but we’d also toss on anything that was handy: frozen peas, hard boiled eggs, onions, bell peppers, cheese cubes, raisins, chow mein noodles, croutons, potato chips, corn chips, crushed pretzels, and anything else that held still long enough to get tossed on top. This brings me to a point…

Have you ever noticed that most things that are delicious and crunchy out-of-hand are also wonderful on salads? It’s true. It is a universal law. These Honey Chipotle Oyster Crackers are not an exception, but they are exceptional. Exceptionally habit forming, that is. Oh, Mama. Oh, Mom. Slightly sweet and slightly spicy with hints of garlic and onion, these crunchy little gems beat snack-attacks and top salads or soups with equal aplomb. Can snack crackers have aplomb you ask? These ones do.

I’ve given the recipe here today in what I think of as a baby amount. In other words, it’s in a quantity calculated to serve a family that is not as big as ours. If you’re a snacky sort (as I am) or you have a bigger family (as I do), you’re going to want to double or even triple the recipe.  The crackers last for up to fourteen days in an airtight container, and if they start getting a little on the softer side, they can be recrisped in the oven. Whether you simply munch these from a bowl or pop ‘em on your salad, you’re going to be so glad you made them.

It’s Spring; It’s time to get your BIG GREEN SALAD on and top it in style! Or as Vince would say, “Stop having boring salad. Stop having a boring life!”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRyj5cHIQA[/youtube]

 

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Honey Chipotle Oyster Crackers | Make Ahead Mondays

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Honey Chipotle Oyster Crackers | Make Ahead Mondays

Turn boring old oyster crackers into these slightly sweet and slightly spicy, crunchy little Honey Chipotle Oyster Crackers with hints of garlic and onion that beat snack-attacks and top salads or soups with equal aplomb.

Ingredients

  • 1 (10 ounce) bag oyster crackers
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon water
  • ½- ¾ teaspoon chipotle powder
  • ½ - ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
  • ½ teaspoon granulated onion

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a rimmed 11-inch by 17-inch (or equivalent sized other pans) with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the canola oil, honey, water, chipotle powder, salt, granulated garlic and granulated onion until it is smooth and even. Add in the oyster crackers and toss gently to coat them evenly, then spread them in a single layer over the prepared pan.

Bake the crackers for 15 minutes, stirring -especially around the edges- every 5 minutes, or until the coating is dried on the crackers. Let cool completely on the pans and transfer to an airtight container. These will be good for up to 14 days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/04/02/honey-chipotle-oyster-crackers-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Condiments, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork and Carnitas Rice Bowls | Make Ahead Mondays

March 12, 2012 by 13 Comments

Let me tell you about last week. It was busy. Oh, it was biz-ay. B to the HOLY-COW-HOW-WILL-I-GET-ALL-THIS-DONE to the U-S-Y, man. Or wo-man. Woah, man.

I was hauling my rear (and a bunch of children to boot) all over this stretch of God’s country in my big ugly purple van. I drove people here. I drove people there. I dropped people off. I picked people up. In fact, I went one place with my five boys and came home with seven, only three of whom I had birthed. I balanced brooms in the kitchen to show off the awesome wackiness of the solar flares. I spent the entire week wondering how we could possibly make it to all of our commitments.

On the subject of solar flares, I’d just like to say one word. WEIRD.

Okay, I have a couple more words. Did you balance your broom? I’m not even kidding. Did you know that during solar flares you can take a broom –even a raggedy old angled one like mine- and balance it with no support? Go on. Test it. All the cool kids are doing it. You know you want to. (As a homeschooling mom, I have to practice my peer pressure skills so my kids don’t have to miss out on all the good stuff.)

I’m still not entirely sure how we did it, but we did manage to get to everything we had on the schedule and threw in a big family get together on Saturday for good measure. The biggest yeehah of them all, though,  the icing on the cake, was when the entire family (including those who had come to visit earlier in the day) went to watch a battle of the bands in which my fourteen year old bass-playing eldest son and my eight year old “Animal” drummer participated. It started at eight o’clock at night.

Did you catch that?

As in the same night as the time change. In other words, my  husband and I and our fourteen, twelve, ten, eight and six year olds were in a large auditorium full of big, loud, boomy amplifiers and microphones and screaming rock guitars (and some screaming vocalists) along with my sister, her husband and their eight, six and two year olds, and my mother. Nana was banging her head. At least I’m fairly certain she meant to and wasn’t being thrown back against the wall by the sub-woofer.

This brings me to another point. Can I talk about how much I despise this time change? They are taking an hour from me! Who decided that was a good idea? Do they not know how much I’m trying to cram into a day?

When we were in the process of moving to where we live now, I joked with friends that in order to buy the home, we had to convert to the Amish faith. Since moving here, I’ve gotten to know many Amish and one of the most fascinating things I learned was that they don’t  “do” the time change. Well, hallelujah. I think I’ll convert after all.

Solar flares, time changes, extra kids, battles of the bands, and go, go, GO! I hit my freezer food bank pretty hard this week. And on the subject of a stash of food…

You all know I love me some pulled pork. In fact, one of the all-time most popular posts ever here on Foodie With Family is my Cuban Pulled Pork recipe. It tastes wonderful and it makes enough to stash away three or four meals worth of food (even for a family our size!) It is so good. So good, in fact, that for a very long time (longer than I care to admit), I didn’t make pork shoulder in any other way. Why?

Because IT WAS SO GOOD!

You know what? It’s still that good, but I realized something really crucial. Expanding the pork shoulder repertoire does not mean I love the Cuban Pork any less. It just means I have more opportunities for eating pork!

Pork shoulder is the busy person’s best friend. You wouldn’t think it to look at that massive cut of meat, would you? You look at the marbled hunk of meat with that bone down the center and think, “All that work! Who has time?” You do! I promise. It is one of the most economical cuts of meat and requires so little hands-on time that it’s almost criminal not to take advantage of it.

For this Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork, we begin with the same method used in the Cuban Pork recipe; cook overnight in the slow-cooker, chill during the day, shred the pork, reduce the pan juices, and pour it over the pork. Instead of our well loved Cuban spices and juices, we add cola, onions and chipotles in adobo. Rawr. Then we diverge a bit more… Instead of baking the pork, we press a goodly amount of the shredded pork into a super hot pan until it’s crispy brown around the edges. Flip it over, make it crispier and then? And then. Oh, then.

This, my friends, is the stuff of dreams. Crispy pork carnitas.
We can serve that crispity yet juicy, delectable, slightly spicy and sweet, flavour-packed pork on tostadas, pizza, in tacos, or like we’re doing today on Carnitas Rice Bowls. You cannot possibly imagine a meal that is this easy to throw together can taste this incredible.

This is good enough to bump itself into the rotation with my beloved Cuban Pork.

And much like Cuban Pork, it makes enough to feed a massive crowd ~or~ sock away several meals worth of already cooked meat. With that in the freezer, like all of our other Make Ahead Mondays recipes, dinner is just minutes away.

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Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork and Carnitas Rice Bowls | Make Ahead Mondays

Rating: 51

Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork and Carnitas Rice Bowls | Make Ahead Mondays

Slightly spicy, smoky and a little sweet, this slow-cooker cola pulled pork is so easy to make you'll be shocked and is so good that you'll be thankful it yields enough for several meals-worth to be stored in the freezer. One of our favourite ways to use it is on Carnitas Rice Bowls; hot cooked rice piled with the crispy "little meats" and a variety of flavourful toppings. Go wild and really pile it high. This meal pleases all ages and is easy on the wallet.

Ingredients

    For the Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork:
  • 3 large onions
  • 6-9 pound bone-in pork shoulder or pork butt
  • 2 small cans of chipotles in adobo
  • 2 (12 ounce) bottles or cans of your preferred cola (I like Mexican Coca-Cola.)
    • For Each Serving of Carnitas Rice Bowls:
  • ½-3/4 cup slow-cooker cola pulled pork
  • 1 teaspoon canola, peanut or vegetable oil
  • 1 to 1 ½ cups hot, cooked rice
    • Optional, but oh-so-tasty:
  • salsa
  • shredded pepper jack or Cheddar cheese
  • Smoked Paprika and Chipotle Sauce
  • sour cream
  • sliced or diced avocado
  • finely diced red onion
  • chopped cilantro or parsley
  • lime wedges

Instructions

To Make the Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork:

Cut the stem and root-ends from the onions, cut the onions in half and remove the peels. Arrange the halved onions over the base of the slow-cooker. Position the pork roast –fat layer facing up- on top of the onion halves. Pour the cans of chipotles in adobo (with all the sauce) over the pork shoulder then pour the colas over the chipotles. Cover the slow-cooker and cook on ‘LOW’ for 8-9 hours.

Cool the pork roast (still in its juices in the slow-cooker insert) completely until the pork fat congeals around the roast on top of the cooking juices. Scrape away and discard the fat. Transfer the pork roast to a cutting board and pour the remaining contents of the slow-cooker into a sieve positioned over a saucepan. Push the contents of the sieve with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Set the saucepan over medium high heat and bring it to a boil. Let it boil and reduce until it is about ¼ of the original volume.

Pull the cooled pork roast apart and scrape excess fat from the meat. Use your hands or two forks to shred the pork. To get smaller pieces of pork, you can chop through the pile of shredded pork with a large knife a couple of times. Put the pulled pork into a large mixing bowl, pour the reduced pan juices over the top and toss until the juices are evenly distributed.

To Freeze to Serve Later:

Divide the pulled pork between zipper top bags in meal-sized portions. Try to squeeze as much excess air from the bag as possible before sealing. Try to flatten the bag so that it takes up less room in the freezer. Freeze for up to 8 months.

To Serve from Fresh:

Put a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat and add the oil to the pan. Swirl to coat, then pile the pulled-pork in the center of the pan. Use a spatula to press the pork into the pan. Fry until the pork is brown around the edges. Use a spatula to flip the pork until crisp on the other side.

To Serve From Frozen:

Thaw the pulled pork in the refrigerator or in the microwave. Put a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat and add the oil to the pan. Swirl to coat, then pile the pulled-pork in the center of the pan. Use a spatula to press the pork into the pan. Fry until the pork is brown around the edges. Use a spatula to flip the pork until crisp on the other side.

To Assemble the Carnitas:

Put the hot, cooked rice in a bowl, use a spatula to place the crispy pork on top. Pile any or all of the toppings on the crispy pork.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/12/slow-cooker-cola-pulled-pork-and-carnitas-rice-bowls-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Freezer Pleaser, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Make Ahead Meatballs | Baked Meatballs and Polenta (Make Ahead Monday)

February 13, 2012 by 11 Comments

Update: A very astute reader (thank you, Elizabeth!) noticed that I had inserted one of my children’s math problems in the “how to make meatballs without a disher” portion of the recipe. If you had followed the instructions I gave, you’d end having SIX HUNDRED tiny, wee, adorable meatballs and cursing my name. Yeesh.  In case you were wondering, the problem was 30X=600. Solve for x.  Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t write and derive.

I vow not to correct my children’s math homework while finishing a post again. At least until next week.

With a Grandma from Arkansas and a Grandpa from West Virginia and a Mom -their daughter-  who learned to cook from them, I was brought up on good Southern food. The fact that I lived in Kentucky for six years as a child in my formative years helped matters along a little, too… In short, I run on grits.

There are very few things that grits can’t make better. Cold outside? Eat grits. Broken heart? Cheese grits. Nervous about anything? Simple buttered grits with salt and pepper. Feeling celebratory? Shrimp ‘n grits. Hungry? GRITS.

What can’t grits do? Creamy, chewy, soft, and hearty, grits are corn done right. So what does my Ode to Grits have to do with the dish pictured above? That’s polenta. And leaving aside the stoneground cornmeal vs. lye water soaked field corn bit of the discussion, polenta is, as my kids so poetically refer to it, Italian grits. Pronounced, in this case, EYE-tahl-ee-uhn.

We are nothing if we are not classy.

Italian grits bridge an argument that my dear, sweet, deluded husband and I have been having for years. Concisely, he likes his pasta gross. Seriously. He likes fine pastas (angel hair, thin spaghetti, etc…) and he likes it cooked past tender. As in mushy. I like substantial pasta (buccatini, shaped pastas, linguine) and I like it al dente. How have we ever made this work? By chucking most pasta dishes and agreeing on polenta. We both prefer polenta under meatballs and sauce, beef stew, and other various saucy morsels of goodness.

So while other couples make like Lady and the Tramp this Valentine’s Day, my sweetheart and I will be sharing a bowl of Italian grits topped with sumptuous baked meatballs and trying to eat faster so we can get the last spoonful.

In addition to being classy, we’re competitive. This makes us doubly fun on game night.

This meal is a fast one when you use a Make Ahead Monday advantage. I have to say that I’ve tried quite a few meatballs in my day, and these come in at the top for taste, ease and versatility. Yes, this recipe makes a lot (referring to both the frozen meatballs and today’s baked meatball recipe) but the uses are many.

The frozen meatballs can be baked up in a pan full of sauce like I did here, but they’re also divine in sweet and sour meatballs, tossed in barbecue sauce and kept warm in a slow-cooker for a party, or tossed in a cream sauce for a non-traditional (since it lacks pork) but incredibly delicious Swedish meatball dish. And if you find yourself with half a pan of baked meatballs in sauce leftover, you could do much, much, VASTLY worse things than meatball subs or a meatball pizza. When I tell you that those make boys happy, I speak empirical truth. All the minions back me up on this one.

For just one minute, I’m going to do something I don’t often do. I want to address two separate groups of people. First…

To Those Cooking for Three or Fewer People Per Meal:

Don’t panic when you see the quantity of meat called for in this recipe. Once these meatballs are made and “flash-frozen” then stashed in the freezer, you can take out and warm as few as one meatball or as many as you’d like if you’re serving guests. The meatballs are good for eight months, properly wrapped in the freezer. Since the recipe yields sixty meatballs, a person cooking for one would only have to consume approximately three meatballs every other week to go through these in time. That is totally do-able. Yes? In other words, I wouldn’t reduce this recipe. You never know when my family might show up at your door hungry. And what would you do then? Hmmm???

To Those Cooking for Four or More People Per Meal:

Don’t, under any circumstances, reduce this recipe. In fact, you wouldn’t be crazy if you doubled it. And if you’re cooking for six or more people? Triple it. If you have teenage kids? Quadruple it. I think you get my point, right? This is hard-core kid-pleasing food. You might be surprised how often you rely on your stash of meatballs.

~~~

Why not just buy frozen meatballs at the store? Because they’re gross. Every frozen meatball I’ve ever purchased (from store brand to boutique brand) has tasted waterlogged and bland (WHERE, I ask you WHERE are the herbs? Garlic? Spices? Flavours?). And even when they were on sale and I had a coupon, the expense was not justified by the product. My thoughts about commercially available meatballs can be summed up with a resounding, “Blech!”

Homemade frozen meatballs are most emphatically not blech! They great, are a massive convenience, and can be made when meat is on big sale at the store or butcher’s.

This leads me to a final word about the choice of meat in these meatballs. Most recipes for meatballs and meatloaf call for a blend of beef, pork, and veal in order to keep them tender and moist. I buck tradition here and not only call for all beef, but also for lean beef at that. Crazy? Well, it might not be what most recipes call for, but for me, it is the perfect meatball. It holds together, it’s moist, it’s flavourful, it’s like Mary Poppins: practically perfect in every way. If you’d prefer to use a blend, feel free -by all means- but this is my favourite version by far, and after this many years in the kitchen, I no longer feel like I have to do things “the right way” all the time.

 

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Make Ahead Meatballs | Baked Meatballs In Sauce and Polenta (Make Ahead Monday)

Make Ahead Meatballs | Baked Meatballs In Sauce and Polenta (Make Ahead Monday)

There is no dish more comforting than a bowl of creamy polenta topped with piping hot perfect meatballs in garlicky red sauce with a generous handful of grated cheese on top.

...And when the meatballs are waiting for you in the freezer, this dinner comes together in mere moments. Make Ahead Mondays save the day! These versatile meatballs are also great in barbecue sauce, in sweet and sour meatballs, in soups and on sandwiches and pizzas.

Ingredients

    For the Make Ahead Meatballs:
  • 4 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
  • 1 cup onion, minced super fine (I use the food processor to obliterate them to placate the anti-visible veg crowd)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and very finely minced or pressed
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (or substitute 3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes)
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (preferably freshly ground)
    • For the Baked Meatballs in Sauce:
  • 25-30 frozen meatballs, directly from the freezer
  • 5 cups of your favourite red sauce (Marinara, ragu, etc...)
  • 2 anchovy fillets,finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup shredded Romano, Parmesano or Asiago cheese
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • nonstick cooking spray or olive oil to grease the pan
    • For the Creamy Polenta:
  • 5 cups chicken stock (or water)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal (polenta grains)
  • 1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese (substitute Parmesan cheese if you don't like bleu cheese!)
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • coarsely ground black pepper to taste
    • Additional Optional Garnish:
  • Freshly grated Parmesano, Romano or Asiago cheese
  • Minced fresh parsley

Instructions

To Make the Make Ahead Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line 2 rimmed half-sheet pans (13-inch x18-inch) with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix it gently until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Use a medium sized disher* to scoop equal sized amounts of the meat mixture onto the prepared pans leaving about 1/4-inch of space between the meatballs. If the shapes are shaggy, you can go back through and lightly roll each one between your hands to even out the shape a bit.

*No disher? No problem. Cover your work surface with waxed paper and turn the meat mixture out onto it. Gently pat it out into a large rectangle. Use a pizza cutter or knife to mark the mixture into 10 evenly sized columns on the long side of the rectangle and 6 evenly sized rows on the short side. This will give you 60 equally sized amounts. Roll each one into a meatball, placing them on the parchment lined sheets as directed above.

Bake the meatballs for 30 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to a platter, cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cool. Place the platter in the freezer until the meatballs are frozen through. When they're completely hard, transfer them to a resealable plastic bag, squeezing as much air from the bag as possible before sealing. Label the bag and freezer for up to 8 months.

To Make Baked Meatballs in Sauce:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray or brush with olive oil. Arrange the frozen meatballs evenly in the pan

In a mixing bowl, stir the sauce, chopped anchovy fillets, and shredded Romano, Parmesano or Asiago cheese together. Pour the mixture over the meatballs, then sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top.

Bake, uncovered for 30-40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly, the cheese is slightly browned and the meatballs are heated through.

To Make the Creamy Polenta:

Bring the stock or water to a boil over high heat in a medium, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the salt, lower the heat to medium and then whisk in the cornmeal, a little at a time, until it is all in and the cornmeal begins to swell and stay suspended in the liquid. Drop the heat to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the polenta is quite thick, the grains are all swollen and tender and the liquid is absorbed.

Turn off the heat, add in the butter and crumbled or grated cheese, and stir until both are completely melted and incorporated.

To Serve:

Ladle the polenta into serving bowls and top with 3-6 meatballs, depending on how hungry you are! Garnish the bowls with additional grated Parmesano, Romano or Asiago cheese and minced fresh parsley if you'd like.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/13/make-ahead-meatballs-baked-meatballs-and-polenta-make-ahead-monday/

 

Filed Under: Component Foods, Main Dish, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,

Ninfa’s Green Sauce (Bonus Recipe Hack)

February 10, 2012 by 17 Comments

Full disclosure: I’ve spent some time in Houston but I’ve never been to Ninfa’s. I’m not even sure I’m pronouncing the name properly. Is it NIN-fahz? NEEN-fahz? neen-FAHZ? However you say it, though, I now want to eat there desperately because if this sauce is a sign of what they have to offer… Well, let’s just say that it’s all bound to be spectacular.

The truth is, I had neither heard of the aforementioned place, however it’s pronounced, nor the recipe I’m about to give you until I saw this post by Lisa Fain of Homesick Texan, whose blog I have loved for a very long time. This is one of those recipes where -while reading it- you know exactly how it will taste and you know you want it. Badly. Now.

And so, after seeing this recipe a little over two years ago, I made it a mere year and a half later for the first time. Sigh. It’s really hard to source certain ingredients around here. Avocados, cilantro, sour cream, jalapenos? Oh sure. Easy peasy. It’s those green tomatoes that gave me fits. First of all, when I had green tomatoes on the vine this summer I was so busy I didn’t know whether I was coming or going and forgot ALL ABOUT THE DADBURNED RECIPE. Pardon me while I go bang my head on the wall for a minute or two. Secondly, when I remembered the recipe there were no green tomatoes (or yellow as the recipes suggests substituting) anywhere within a two hour drive.

Well, shoot.

I’m resourceful? Why was I letting this lack of green tomatoes stop me? (Because I wasn’t thinking, that’s why.) I had an entire shelf full of green tomato salsa verde I had made over the summer staring me in the face. Big, fat duh! I hacked the recipe. While the original called for 3 green tomatoes, I simply substituted 2 cups of homemade green tomato salsa verde* and a splash of water, then proceeded as directed with the rest of the recipe. Well, except for that whole Greek yogurt vs. sour cream thing… but I’ll get there momentarily.

*You can’t find green or yellow tomatoes and don’t have homemade green tomato salsa verde on the shelf? No problemo. Use an equivalent amount of store bought salsa verde in its place. Yes, most commercially available salsa verde is made with tomatillos, but that’s certainly not going to hurt the overall affect here! Live boldly! Substitute!

Speaking of substitutes, I decided to sub in a cup and a half of the zero fat Greek yogurt I had snapped up on clearance at Aldi last week. I’m not a no-fat/low-fat proponent by any means, but cheap is cheap and this stuff is good anyway with no weird preservatives or flavour improvers. Heck yes. Go Team Frugal! It worked like a charm! I mean, why wouldn’t it? What took me so long to think of the recipe hack? Yeesh.

This sauce. Let me tell you. It is smooth. It’s so smooth it’s smoove. It’s velvety, it’s rich (thank you, avocados), it’s spicy, it’s creamy, it’s garlicky. I ate it on tacos, Fritos, on a spoon, on my finger… So darned good. Mama. I considered rubbing it on the pulse points as perfume. Hubba hubba. I know my husband would approve.

Here’s another bonus. You know avocado’s distressing tendency to brown after being cut/smashed/whatevered? It doesn’t in this sauce or at least it does it at a far slower rate. My amateur food scientist theory is that the happy bacteria in the Greek yogurt (and I’d imagine the same could be said for sour cream) and the acid in the tomatillos/green tomatoes keep it from oxidizing. But that’s just a theory. And who cares? The sauce is good. And pretty. And pretty good. Geez. It’s better than good. It’s great. It’s habit forming.

Now what are you waiting for? You need this sauce. You need it tonight. You need it for the weekend! Go forth and create green sauce!

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Ninfa’s Green Sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Yield: about 5 cups

Ninfa’s Green Sauce

This creamy, dreamy, spicy, garlicky, smooth-as-silk avocado salsa is simply magical. Use as a sauce or dunk to your heart's content.

Recipe originally from the Houston Chronicle via Homesick Texan and recipe hack by yours truly!

Ingredients

  • 3 medium green or yellow tomatoes, coarsely chopped (Or 2 cups green tomato salsa verde or commercially available salsa verde with about 1/2 cup of water.)
  • 4 tomatillos, peeled of the paper husk, rinsed and coarsely chopped
  • 1 to 2 jalapenos, stemmed and chopped (if using the salsa verde, also remove the jalapeno seeds.)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 3 ripe avocados, halved, pitted, and scooped from the shells with a spoon
  • 4 stems worth of cilantro
  • 1 tsp. of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups of sour cream (or Greek yogurt, which is my preference.)

Instructions

Add the green or yellow tomatoes (or the salsa verde and water) to a heavy-bottomed saucepan along with the tomatillos, jalapenos, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the tomatillos are tender. Remove the pan from the burner and let the mixture cool for about 15 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the pan into a food processor or blender with a metal blade. Add the avocados, cilantro and salt and blend until completely smooth. Use a rubber or silicone spatula to scrape the sauce from the food processor or blender into a mixing bowl and whisk in the sour cream or Greek yogurt until evenly coloured. Serve immediately or store in a jar or other container with a tightly fitting lid for up to a 4 days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/10/ninfas-green-sauce-bonus-recipe-hack/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Condiments, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Pesto Pinwheel Rolls | Arugula and Walnut Pesto

February 9, 2012 by 7 Comments

There isn’t anything that is necessary to say about these rolls other than a resounding “WOW!” but not being a woman of few words, I’m going to say a bunch anyway. Once again, I break out what is now pretty firmly cemented as my best-loved bread dough of all time. But I should backtrack a bit…

Before my husband went on his mega-monster business trip, I went to the grocery store and panic purchased not just the toilet paper, paper towels and saltine crackers, but also massive cuts of meat, human-sized bags of oranges and potatoes, and food service packages of salad greens and arugula. After nearly three weeks of constant arugula consumption (not that I’m complaining) I realized I still had a large quantity of arugula that was near the end of its usefulness, and being a waste not want not sort of person, I knew there was no way it was going to be tossed. I decided to bust out the food processor and whip up a batch of arugula pesto.

Arugula pesto is one of those things I love madly but often forget to make. I think of pesto as a summer dish and spend almost the entire month of August up to my armpits in basil and olive oil and whatnot and then forget all about any pesto other than the stuff I’ve crammed into my freezer.

But really people. Have you been in Western New York in February? It’s usually awash in blinding white and gunmetal grey and various shades of brown. It’s not green. And when that third month of winter rolls in, I am so desperate for a glimpse of green, that I become a green food maniac: kale chips, spinach quiches, spanakopita, mustard greens, and so on and so forth. And arugula pesto is an uppercut of green. Every time I make it I think to myself, “WHY did I WAIT so LONG?” Just look at it.

What makes arugula pesto so special? Arugula greens are naturally peppery and bright in flavour that hold their own when combined with the earthy sweetness of toasted walnuts, salty pungency of Parmesan cheese, fragrantly kicky garlic and smooth olive oil. You’ll never miss the pine nuts with those toasted walnuts present. (And oofah! have you seen the price of those pine nuts? After tasting pesto made with walnuts you may never go back!)

After making that glorious pesto, I realized I had far, far more of it than we could possibly consume over pasta, roasted potatoes, rice, or whatever else I could rustle up and so took  inspiration from this beautiful pan of food and that brings me back to where I started…

I rolled out a double batch of my best beloved bread dough and slathered it generously with my verdant arugula pesto, rolled it up jellyroll style and cut it into rounds á la sweet rolls. I filled two cake pans and a muffin tin, just to see which we liked better, let it rise and then baked them off. Oh my. You know that magical smell that bread dough has when it’s baking? Yeah. That smell! It’s just that much more drool-inducing when it’s filled with garlic and toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese and arugula and olive oil. Oh me.

When the rolls came out of the oven, we decided as a group that visually, the ones baked in the muffin tins were prettier with their tall, tight whorls, and smooth edges.

Texturally, though, we liked the ones in the cake pans because it was fun to unravel them (like you would a cinnamon roll. You do eat them that way, too, right?) and nibble away.

Both ways we baked them, the rolls were incredibly tender, soft, and packed with pesto flavour. The decision, therefore, is up to you. Bake them either way, just do bake them!

*You will please notice I said ‘we’. That’s right. Even the gruesome-twosome anti-vegetable contingent threw back these rolls like they hadn’t eaten in a week. In other words, THEY ATE VEGETABLES WILLINGLY. Score one for Team Big People. I’m telling you, these two honyaks WILL knowingly like vegetables if it kills me.

We made a dinner of these dinner rolls. I didn’t make another thing to serve alongside them because they were perfect on their own. Oh sure, they would’ve been grand alongside pasta, salad or soup, but I just wanted to taste them on their own. And hey, they’re chock full of arugula. That makes them healthy right?

So how would you serve these lovelies?

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Pesto Pinwheel Rolls | Arugula and Walnut Pesto

Yield: 24 rolls

Pesto Pinwheel Rolls | Arugula and Walnut Pesto

Fragrant, vibrant arugula pesto is rolled into tender, fine-crumbed, semolina dough to form these stunning and simple dinner rolls. Served alone or accompanying pasta, salad, or soup, they are a feast for the eyes as well as the body.

Ingredients

    For the Arugula and Walnut Pesto:
  • 4 cups baby arugula or mature arugula leaves with the stems removed, firmly packed
  • 3/4 cup walnuts
  • 3 large garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3/4 to 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste
    • For the Pesto Pinwheel Rolls:
  • 1 batch Semolina Bread Dough
  • 1 1/2 cups Arugula Pesto
  • non-stick cooking spray or olive oil to brush pans

Instructions

To Make the Arugula and Walnut Pesto:

Place a heavy-bottomed skillet or frying pan over medium heat, add the walnuts and toast them, shaking the pan frequently to prevent scorching, until the nuts are shiny and fragrant. When they reach this point, immediately turn them into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

Add the garlic and arugula leaves, fix the lid in place and turn on the food processor. With the machine running, drizzle the olive oil into the feed tube until it reaches your desired consistency.

Scrape the pesto into a bowl and stir in the grated cheese, then taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

To Make the Pesto Pinwheel Rolls:

Use non-stick cooking spray or brush olive oil into four 8-inch round cake pans or two 12-cup muffin tins. Set them aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle that is about 24-inches by 18-inches.Spread the pesto over the surface of the bread dough, leaving about an inch of one long edge clean.

Gently but firmly roll the dough, beginning at the long edge that is spread with pesto, jelly-roll style, until you reach the clean edge. Pinch the dough together at the seam. It may not hold together completely, but that is okay. Lay the tube seam side down and cut first in half, then cut each half into 12 equally sized rounds. Put them into the prepared pans (6 rolls in each cake pan or 1 roll in each cup of the muffin tins.)

Lightly cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until slightly puffy looking (about 30 minutes.)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Bake the rolls for 18-24 minutes, or until completely set and rich golden brown. Allow the rolls to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a rack. They can be eaten warm or cooled and stored at room temperature for 3 days in a tightly covered container.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/09/pesto-pinwheel-rolls-arugula-and-walnut-pesto/

 

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Bread, Comfort Food, Component Foods, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Rebecca, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Soup Dumplings and Irresponsible Wonton Soup (Make Ahead Monday)

February 6, 2012 by 40 Comments

My husband has been doing a lot (A LOT) of business travel lately. As in he’s been gone more than he’s been home, unfortunately.  Before he headed out for a particularly long stretch a couple weeks ago, I ran to the store and bought giant multi-packs of paper towels, toilet paper and saltine crackers. As he helped me unload the back of the car, he threw me a weird look. I said, “If I don’t get all this, it’s a certainty that as soon as you leave everyone is going to start throwing up and I’ll have to go to the store with a fever and five kids in tow looking like death warmed over trying desperately to find toilet paper and paper towels and saltine crackers because no one can keep anything else down. And when I get to the store I’ll find that there’s been a run on crackers for some reason and they only have the one-ply toilet tissue. You wouldn’t want that to happen would you?”

I get a little panicky when I know I’m going to be flying solo for a long period of time. Call it neuroticism informed by experience, but I’m sure many of you have been down this same path.

The car was pulling out of the driveway when I heard, “Mom… I feel like I’m gonna…” and  you know what came next. It was going to be one of THOSE WEEKS. It was almost inevitable. But hey, I had saltines…

Saltines, however, can only sustain a family so long. So what are you to do when all available grown-ups are either feeling punky or are out of town, the kids are sick and it’s dinner time? That’s when you have a couple options: a.) order out. b.) eat chips c.) take something out of the freezer. If you’re like me, none of that sounds particularly appealing. But I’m being tricky. I have an ulterior motive.

With the casserole and cream-of-whatever-soup centric once a month cooking, food from freezer has taken a bum rap lately. I’ve already talked about my dissatisfaction with OAM cooking, so I won’t belabour the point except to say this; I get really tired of eating things that taste alike day after day. And again? I’m being tricksy and beating around the bush.

This is where I break into my own story to make a quick announcement. I’m adding a new feature here on Foodie with Family (fanfare! Bum-ba-da-DA!) Every Monday we’re going to revamp freezer food’s reputation together. Make Ahead Monday is going to feature one recipe were we do the bulk of the work on a recipe and freeze it properly so we can have fresh, varied, delicious food cooked from frozen on THOSE NIGHTS.

“But wait!” you say, “Isn’t that pretty much the same thing as OAM cooking?” Well, no, and let me explain why. One of the main points of OAM cooking is taking one or two days to cook all of the meals you’ll need for the month. Make Ahead Mondays is -at its essence- making one item every week to stash in your freezer to help you get meals on the table when you’re too busy to think.

And because the quality of food that’s been frozen is largely reliant on the way you freeze it and cook it after freezing it, Make Ahead Mondays will include instructions on the best way to stash and reheat your goodies. Most Make Ahead Mondays will feature a new recipe, but every so often, we’ll go back into the Foodie With Family archives to highlight an older recipe that holds up well to this treatment.

For our inaugural Make Ahead Monday, I’m excited to share one of my favourite soups of all time with you: Wonton Soup. This fast soup is made using fragrant ginger and scallion pork stuffed wontons that you make and freeze ahead of time. With the wontons in the freezer, this soup pulls together with only six essential additional ingredients that you usually have on hand (or nine if you want super tricked out wonton soup.)

This isn’t just my favourite soup here. It holds the distinction of being the one and only soup that absolutely everyone in the household loves madly. We’re all crazy about it. It is the only soup that I don’t have to threaten to withhold dessert in order to get the two youngest to eat. It is just about perfect in every way. Clear, fragrant, and ever-so-slightly garlicky broth with soft, pillowy ginger scallion pork dumplings and matchsticked carrots poured over thinly sliced scallions is a recipe for pleasing everyone in our home. Okay, so I omit the carrot sticks and thinly sliced scallions in the bowls of the two little ankle-biters, but that’s no big shakes. They have no idea how much scallion they’re ingesting in the dumplings. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Speaking of children and wonton soup, the name of our soup requires a little explanation. As I was preparing this very soup the other night, my eldest son entered the room and asked what I was making for dinner. “Wonton soup!” I replied. He got a wry look on his face and said, “Wouldn’t you say that’s irresponsible?” and waited for my reaction. It took me a full minute to get the joke, but when I did, I felt very secure in the knowledge that our vocabulary work has paid dividends. We have changed the name of the soup to Irresponsible Soup.

You can make as many wontons ahead of time as you’d like, just keep in mind that they’re good for up to six months in the freezer when properly frozen and wrapped, so plan accordingly. And like the dumpling recipe itself, the soup recipe lends itself to scaling up beautifully. Just apply the same cooking method and you can make dumpling soup for a crowd as easily as soup for one. If you don’t think this soup beats every container of take-out wonton soup you’ve ever had, I’ll eat my, well, I’ll eat the soup for you. How about that?

I’d love your opinion. Do you think Make Ahead Mondays will be helpful to you or am I going to have to do some real convincing to get you to agree that there’s nothing irresponsible about it? I can’t wait to hear what you all think!

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Frozen Soup Dumplings and Irresponsible Wonton Soup (Make Ahead Monday)

Frozen Soup Dumplings and Irresponsible Wonton Soup (Make Ahead Monday)

Clear, fragrant, and ever-so-slightly garlicky broth with soft, pillowy ginger scallion pork dumplings and matchsticked carrots poured over thinly sliced scallions is a recipe for pleasing everyone in our home and is certain to please you and yours, too.

Make a big batch of the soup dumplings (double, triple, shoot for the moon!) to keep on hand in the freezer for busy nights and last minute cravings.

Ingredients

    Frozen Soup Dumpling Ingredients:
  • 1 package wonton wrappers (about 48 3-inch square wrappers)
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • a 2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated or very finely minced
  • 6 scallions, finely minced
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch
  • 2 tablespoons dry sherry or rice wine
  • 1 egg, beaten
    • Additional Ingredients to Make One Serving of Soup:
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 3 cups chicken stock or broth
  • 7 frozen soup dumplings
  • 1/2 of a small carrot, cut into matchsticks
  • 1 clove of garlic, peeled but whole
  • 1 scallion, thinly sliced, green and white parts separated.
    • Optional For Serving With Soup:
  • fish sauce or soy sauce
  • chili garlic sauce or Sriracha
  • fried chow mein or wonton noodles

Instructions

To Make and Freeze Dumplings:

Line a large platter or baking sheet with parchment paper or plastic wrap and set aside.

Add the pork, fish sauce, ginger, scallions, corn starch and sherry or rice wine to a mixing bowl and stir together vigorously until it is evenly combined.

Lay out four wonton wrappers at a time on a cutting board or clean work surface and brush the entire top surface with beaten egg. (This keeps the dumplings from popping open while simmering in the soup.) Scoop a scant teaspoon of the meat mixture into the center of the wonton wrapper. Gather up the edges around the filling, pinch together and give a gentle twist to seal. They will resemble a beggar's purse or little head of garlic or onion. Place each dumpling on the prepared platter with enough room between them so they do not touch. Repeat with remaining meat and wonton wrappers.

When you have completed the dumplings, cover with plastic wrap and lay the platter or pan in the freezer. When they are fully frozen, transfer the dumplings to a resealable plastic bag, gently squeeze the air from the bag and keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.

To Prepare the Irresponsible Wonton Soup:

Drizzle the bottom of a heavy-bottomed saucepan with sesame oil and place the frozen dumplings flat side down on top of the oil. Place the garlic clove alongside the dumplings and scatter the matchsticked carrots and the whites of the scallion over the top of the dumplings.

Add one cup of stock and turn the heat to medium high. The stock will only come partway up the dumplings.

Bring the stock to a full boil. then add another cup of the stock. When that reaches a full boil, add the final cup of stock and bring once again to a boil. Allow it to boil fully for 5 minutes.

Add the thinly sliced green parts of the scallions to a serving bowl. Use a deep spoon to transfer the dumplings and carrots to the bowl and then pour the hot broth over top.

If desired, you can serve with a splash of fish sauce or soy sauce, a dollop of chili garlic sauce or Sriracha and a handful of fried chow mein or wonton noodles.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/06/soup-dumplings-and-irresponsible-wonton-soup-make-ahead-monday/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Component Foods, Freezer Pleaser, Happy Healthy and Wise, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Stretching your dollars
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