Meatballs - Two ways

Last weekend I was going through various food blogs and came across this recipe for meatballs. They come from a well known chef, Rocco DiSpririto (though I hadn't heard the name before) and apparently he has made quite a business of selling meatballs made from his mother's recipe. You can order them online or make them yourself from the recipe. Meatballs are not a dish I have made very often though when I described them to G, she said, "I'll try them". With that endorsement, I decided to give them a try. The recipe calls for beef, pork and veal but I ended up using two parts extra lean beef and one part ground dark turkey. The meatball mix seemed a little wet; maybe I should have added more breadcrumbs. They cooked up fine, though it was hard to keep them round.

During the prep time, I talked with V who wasn't too keen on the tomato sauce part. He has made meatballs numerous times, but he never serves them with a tomato sauce. So once all the meatballs were browned, I cooked half of them in Trader Joe's marinara sauce and the other half in Campbells cream of chicken soup with 2/3 cup chicken stock added. I simmered both for about an hour. The meatballs simmered in marinara were great; I served them over penne pasta. Of course once served, G wouldn't try them but baby D thought they were wonderful and polished off his bowl. V enjoyed his meatballs sans tomato sauce. I didn't get a pretty picture, but there are some great pictures at Under the High Chair.

Daring Bakers - Party Cake

This month's Daring Baker challenge was to make a lovely white Party Cake. It would have been perfect for Easter brunch dessert, but... I just couldn't fit it in this month. Oh well, there is always next month's challenge. You can still check out all the other wonderful cakes here.

Butterscotch Pudding

I got to test out a recipe from Cooks Illustrated for Butterscotch Pudding. I hadn't made this kind of pudding before, but it seemed interesting. Butter and sugar are cooked into a caramel, then cream and milk are added. I was a little intimidated by the caramel, but I followed the directions for stirring and cooking to 295F, and it turned out fine. The hot caramel and milk is then added to cornstarch and eggs and cooked until very thick. The pudding is then flavored with vanilla and rum.

After several hours in the refrigerator, we had pudding! It was thick and rich and creamy. It tasted wonderful, with just a hint of the rum. Since this is a test recipe that hasn't been published, I can't print the recipe here, but if you see it in a future Cooks magazine, give it a try.

Strawberrry Spring Thaw

For Easter Brunch I made a frozen strawberry dessert called Strawberry Spring Thaw. My grandmother had cut it out of some newspaper ages ago (probably around 20) and I inherited her recipe box and binder when she died. She used to make this for Easter too. It is really easy and it tastes like spring.

A few notes: I used a bowl instead of mixing it in the jelly roll pan. Also, I was out of white flour and used King Arthur's white whole wheat flour with fine results. Walnuts, pecans, and almonds all work well.

Strawberry Spring Thaw

1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Stir melted butter and sugar together in a jelly roll pan. With a fork, mix in flour and nuts. . Distribute the mixture over the bottom of the pan and bake it at 400 F for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (watch carefully or the nuts will start to burn). Set the crumb mixture aside to cool.

2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup heavy cream

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks while gradually adding sugar. Add sliced strawberries, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat at high speed until stiff peaks are formed. (The beaters will crush the sliced strawberries.

Whip heavy cream and fold into the strawberry and egg white mixture. Spread 1/2 of crumbs on the bottom of 9 inch springform pan. Top with strawberry mixture, and then sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Freeze. To serve, remove ring from pan and transfer to serving platter. Cut into wedges.

Serves 12.

Korean-style Pork Tenderloin

I found this recipe over at Batter-Splattered and it is a great recipe for a week night meal. The pork tenderloin is marinated overnight in a soy sauce, ginger, garlic and a little red pepper. Then the pork is cooked on the stove top for 6 minutes and followed by the oven for 15 minutes. While the pork cooks, the marinade is cooked down into a sauce. I served this dish over brown rice and it was delicious. It was a hit with all three kids plus my husband. I was the only one who tried the pork with the sauce and it was sweet with a little bit of spice. The pork was tender and had a very nice flavor. I had some more today cold in a sandwich, also very good. I will definitely have to make this again.

Korean-Style Pork Tenderloin

Serves six

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; add pork. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 8 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat a large ovenproof skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Remove pork from bag, reserving marinade. Add pork to pan; cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides.

Place pan in oven; bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 160° (medium) or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.

Bring reserved marinade to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.

Cut pork into 1/4-inch-thick slices; serve with sauce.

French Bread

This months Daring Baker's Challenge was to make French Bread a la Julia Child. This month's challenge was hosted by Mary from Breadchick and Sara from I like To Cook. The recipe with instructions was 18 pages long, a bit intimidating and it takes all day to make. I wasn't sure if I would have the time this month to do the challenge but got it together last weekend. Of course every time I had to do something with the dough kids were complaining, or fighting or needing my attention in some way. But the bread got made despite all that.
The ingredient list is very simple: yeast, salt, flour and water. I decreased the salt by a little since a number of other bakers had commented that their bread had seemed quite salty. After mixing everything together I turned out on the board and realized the dough seemed very wet. Quick check of the recipe, I was 1/2 cup short on flour. So back into the bowl with an extra cup of flour. The dough still seemed a little wet but I was able to knead it, adding a bit more flour along the way.

Then back into the bowl for a three hour rise. A bit more kneading and then another rise. I ended up splitting the dough into three pieces and then formed them into batards. They actually looked really nice at this point and puffed up nicely. The hard part ended up being transferring the loaves to the cookie sheet for baking. They didn't look quite as nice after being moved but once in the oven, they baked up just fine.


The end result was delicious. I couldn't wait a full two hours for the bread to cool, we cut into it after about 1 hour. The crust was crispy and the inside was soft and still warm.


This was definitely fun to make and a nice challenge working with the dough. If I have a long day with no plans I just might try to make it again.

Bran Muffins with Blackberries

I recently made some bran muffins from the Farmgirl Fare blog. These muffins are very easy to make and they contain a LOT of bran: two cups of wheat bran and one cup of oat bran with a little bit of wheat flour to round it out. The recipe calls for half molasses and half honey as the sweetener though I used just honey. The bran is then held together with oil and yoghurt (I used low fat Greek yoghurt). I also added two large handfuls of frozen blackberries from Trader Joes.
Despite all the bran, these muffins are very moist and have a good flavor. They held up well over several days, though the second time I made them I think they were gone after two days. The recipe with the added blackberries made 12 large muffins and were great for a quick on the go breakfast.