Spicy Meat-a-balls!

Nearly as good as Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls, you can put these meatballs into anything from spaghetti to a submarine, or just munch on them as a nighttime snack. You can follow the recipe at Williams-Sonoma's website for the Meatball Subs and just make the meatballs if you want. I'd make about 3 pounds worth so that you can save some for later. Two important things to remember are to use about 85% Lean ground beef (or higher, too much fat will ruin your sauce) and that you should ALWAYS wear an apron. There is so much splatter from the meatballs/sauce that you're bound to ruin your clothes unless you wear protection [insert Peter Griffin laughter].


Last night I made spaghetti and meatballs for only $5, which fed 3 people. The subs pictured above I made last week and they were freaking delicious. During the last five minutes of simmering the sauce, I halved all of the French rolls, layered them with mozzarella, and put them in the oven at 350 until the cheese was melted and the bread slightly crispy. Then I added the meatballs, sauce, and more cheese. Everybody thought they were great, and four people ate for only $10 which included a simple side salad with a homemade oil and vinaigrette dressing.

Have You Ever Eaten A Cookie So Good That...

You ate another, and another, and then tried eating one more but you turned into a giant chocolate bar? That just might happen when you make these Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies. They feature Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate AND Ghirardelli Semi Sweet Chocolate. And Walnuts. These cookies are so good they just might get you laid (hasn't worked yet for me).

Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

• 12 ounce(s) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 11 1/2 ounce(s) 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 6 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup(s) sugar
• 1/3 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1 cup(s) chopped walnuts

Directions
In double boiler over hot water, melt bittersweet chocolate chips and butter. In large bowl with electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs and sugar until thick; stir into chocolate mixture. In small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder; stir into chocolate mixture. Gently mix in semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts. Using a sheet of plastic wrap, form dough into two logs, each 2 inches in diameter and about 12 inches long. As dough will be quite soft, use plastic wrape to hold dough in log shape. Wrap tightly; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. (Dough may be frozen; thaw in refrigerator before proceeding with recipe.) Heat oven to 375°F. Unwrap dough; with sharp knife, cut into 3/4-inch slices. Place slices 1 1/2 inches apart on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until shiny crust forms on top but interior is still soft. Cool on baking sheet; store in airtight tin up to 1 week.

Five Star Meals at Home

Man, I wish I had taken pictures of these excellent dinners. The following links are to entree's that I've already proven to be easy and delicious. A lot of them are from Williams-Sonoma cookbooks, whose FoodMadeFast series are an excellent resource for the amateur chef.

Steak With Parmesean Butter, Balsamic Glaze, and Arugula

This is one of the best entrees that I've ever made. It takes less than 30 minutes to prep, cook and serve. Ultimately, you get a perfectly cooked Ribeye steak topped with mouth-watering parmesean butter which is complemented by the sweet and tangy bite of a balsamic glaze. The glaze is simply your pan drippings, butter, shallots, dark brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar. The steak is served over a bed of arugula and parmesean cheese shavings, all of which is drizzled with a bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice. I served this simply with some homemade garlic bread. Talk about a mouthgasm....

Beef & Asparagus Stir Fry

If you're like me, you like Stir-Fry. Beef or chicken with some asparagus, bell peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, whatever. Myriad types of sauces can be made with the Asian basics: Soy sauce, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, chili oil, rice wine vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes, etc. If you don't already own a Wok, get one. $30 will get you a decent wok which will vastly improve your stir-fry's. It makes mixing the meat and vegetables easy, and with all the drippings that gather at the bottom, a great sauce is only minutes away.

If you are more of a chicken person, I'd recommend trying the Lemongrass Chicken and Asparagus. It's use of lemongrass (or lemon zest and juice) with freshly minced ginger lends a nearly floral, citrusy flavor. Another favorite at my house is the Sesame Chicken and Sugar Snap Peas stir-fry.

Beer Braised Beef

And how could I forget the dish with my two favorite things built right into the title: Beer and Beef. Mmm delicious. This slow-cooked dish turns 3 lbs. of ordinary beef chuck into a super tender, flavor loaded meal. And all those carrot, onion and celery pieces that you initially caramelize before cooking the beef practically disintegrate into the sauce, releasing their succulent sugars that help tenderize the beef. I got this recipe from GQ and copied it here. I served this with Skin-On Red Mashed Potatoes, Creole Seasoned Snow Peas, and Homemade Cornbread.

3 lbs. Beef chuck in chunks
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Beer
Chopped carrots and onions (I also added a few celery ribs)
3 sprigs of parsley

1. Generously season the beef with salt and pepper.
2. Over medium flame, heat enough olive oil to evenly coat the base of a large heavy-bottom pot. When the oil is hot, add the beef and cook on all sides until evenly brown and crispy. Remove and place on a plate uncovered.
3. Pour in a bit of beer. Let simmer and scrape up the tasty brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the vegetables. Use enough to make a deep bed. Maybe two large onions and 3 big carrots. You can also add unpeeled garlic. Fennel and ginger are a nice touch with pork. Cook on low flame, stirring occasionally for about 45 mins. til well-carmelized.
4. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Place the beef back in the pot nestled among the vegetables. Add the parsley. Pour in the rest of the beer so it comes about half way up the sides of the meat. You may need more than 1 can.
6. Cover. Place in the oven and cook for 2-3 hours until the meat is meltingly tender.
7. Remove the meat and place on a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Pour the cooking liquid through a mesh strainer and discard the vegetables. At this point you can serve the liquid as is or you can put it back on the stove in a smaller pot over medium heat to intensify the flavors.
8. To serve, keep the meat in chunks or shred it, and place it on a platter. Pour some of the cooking liquid over it. Serve the rest on the side.
*(suggested sides) Serve with buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes or pureed celery roots.

Cheap Eats: $10 Tuna Casserole

Seeing as the majority of our household is unemployed, we often try to cook affordable, palatable, and filling meals. Casseroles are a perfect example of something that's fast and easy to make in just one pan, and it can feature ingredients from every sector of the Nutritional Food Pyramid. Tonight Dick and Schroeder made the Tuna Casserole that's pictured above.

Simply said and simply done:

• Make enough rice to yield 8 cups total per directions on the back of the package (Usually 4 cups dry is 8 cups cooked)
• Now preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
• Spread rice evenly in a lightly greased 13" x 9" glass casserole dish.
  
• Top with one or two cans of cream of mushroom soup.
• Top with canned Tuna, cooked and chopped Chicken, or any meat of your choosing.
• Cover with vegetables, if using any. Broccoli works well, it's up to you.
• Then grate a block of cheddar cheese and spread that across the top.
• Cover with tinfoil and place in oven until cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.
  
• A greasy treat is to top that with broken Lay's potato chips. Now return uncovered in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.
• Let rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.
  

This is a great dish to make when you have a little extra time. It makes 8-12 servings which you can freeze or place in the fridge to eat later. Like I noted above, you can use anything in your casserole. Last week we BBQ'd some chicken because it was such a nice day. Then we chopped that and put it in the dish. Let your imagination run wild... unless you're poor and hungry like us, just use what you have in the pantry already.

Homebrewed: Honey Oat Stout

Dick and I recently made a Honey Oatmeal Stout. It was our first homebrew made with individually picked ingredients, as opposed to the pre-assembled boxes that we used for our first two beers (an Irish Red Ale and a Scotch Ale). We found the recipe online at the Beer Recipator (http://hbd.org/recipator/) which has tons of information and recipes for every skill-level homebrewer. The Honey Oat Stout can be found here (http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator?group=16&item=6884). We bottled the beer two weeks ago, which is when it starts to carbonate itself inside the glass bottles. We drank a trial beer this weekend to see how it was progressing and the result was nearly delicious. Already the brew has a great mouthfeel, and a nice balance between all the sweet honey (4 lbs total) and the three varieties of hops that we added (Magnum, Challenger, and Argentina Cascade [Tettnanger was unavailable]). Give it another two weeks for this to be one tasty brew--and a potent one, too, weighing in at approximately 8.0% alcohol by volume.



While we were at Wine Craft Atlanta (our local homebrew supply store) we noticed a package of Thujone, aka Wormwood. This is the suppossedly psychoactive herb used to make Absinthe, and it can be used in beer, too. Unfortunately, I researched recipes and it seems to taste terrible in beer while offering none of the halucinogenic properties we'd be chasing after. I think I'll pass.