yesterday was a rough day. too many i know got laid off from their jobs. i knew this was coming. i knew it could be a hemmorage instead of a blister. but i didn't know how hard it would be in ways i never expected. i know i am lucky to have a job and i'm excited for what the future will bring as these changes keep developing. all this being said, i was effin exhausted by the time i got home last night. it wasn't a particulary long work day, pretty standard timewise, but the amount of information that had to processed, the emotions that ran the gamut and back again and the suppressing of general relief that i bottled in till i got home really wiped me out.
as the metro rattled to a hault at my stop, my stomach made a corresponding lurch from not really hungry to ready to eat now. i went into the convenient store and bought a bottle of wine with every intention of pairing it with whatever non-moldy cheese was in the fridge as dinner when i got home. as i poured my first glass of pinot grigio i called nelson to find out he was picking up some fresh linguine and homemade sauce from none other than the cheesetique! see this man knows what i need after a long day: carbohydrates. as i put the wine bottle back in the fridge for a short stay i saw the 2/3 lb ground turkey i had bought when i made chili on tuesday.
ha, ha! it was meatball time!
i've only made meatballs one other time and it was with a lot more meat, i used a recipe that had way too many ingredients and i was making dozens of meatballs for what seemed like hours. i wish i had a picture of the display of spaghetti and meatballs that i presented to nelson that night. i think it was bigger than the platter that most families proudly exhibit their thanksgiving turkey on. we made a valiant effort, but still i was eating leftover meatballs for at least a week. anyway tonight, i just winged the recipe.
first, mince in your mini-prep:
1.5 cups mesclun lettuce
1/5 of an onion
1 teaspoon garlic
once minced this was added this to the bowl of meat. now from what i remember, the meat would need a binder or in my case binders. add to the bowl:
1/3 cup ground breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 teaspoons ground basil
and then of course spices:
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon burger blend spice mix
at this point, i just had added all of these ingredients to the bowl but i haden't mixed anything together yet. it's important not to overmix meat and also the best way to mix ground meat is with your hands. and you obviously only want to do that once. it's not like you can mix it and then taste the ground meat to see if it needs a tad more salt people. so add everything and then mix. but wait, you still need one more thing! which is a pretty vital ingredient to meatballs:
a good 2 TB of parmesan cheese
ok once you've mixed the meat with the ingredients together, heat up your medium-sized skillet to medium heat and drizzle with some garlic olive oil (maybe 2 teaspoons). once warm, form meat into tablespoon-sized balls and place in the pan:
once you've cooked the meatballs about half way through, maybe 4 minutes on each side or when your husband says the pasta is ready and i'm letting him down as his sous chef, add about 3 oz of your favorite sauce. this sauce was a red pepper and garlic sauce. with the sauce i added about 1/2 cup water, covered the pan and cranked the heat:
this cooked together for maybe another 5-7 minutes before we added it to the fresh linguini.
ahhh comfort food a plenty. this was just what i needed along with dancing with my sweet husband to my new favorite beatles song to help wash away the stink of the day and bring the light back into my heart.
as the metro rattled to a hault at my stop, my stomach made a corresponding lurch from not really hungry to ready to eat now. i went into the convenient store and bought a bottle of wine with every intention of pairing it with whatever non-moldy cheese was in the fridge as dinner when i got home. as i poured my first glass of pinot grigio i called nelson to find out he was picking up some fresh linguine and homemade sauce from none other than the cheesetique! see this man knows what i need after a long day: carbohydrates. as i put the wine bottle back in the fridge for a short stay i saw the 2/3 lb ground turkey i had bought when i made chili on tuesday.
ha, ha! it was meatball time!
i've only made meatballs one other time and it was with a lot more meat, i used a recipe that had way too many ingredients and i was making dozens of meatballs for what seemed like hours. i wish i had a picture of the display of spaghetti and meatballs that i presented to nelson that night. i think it was bigger than the platter that most families proudly exhibit their thanksgiving turkey on. we made a valiant effort, but still i was eating leftover meatballs for at least a week. anyway tonight, i just winged the recipe.first, mince in your mini-prep:
1.5 cups mesclun lettuce
1/5 of an onion
1 teaspoon garlic
once minced this was added this to the bowl of meat. now from what i remember, the meat would need a binder or in my case binders. add to the bowl:1/3 cup ground breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 teaspoons ground basil
and then of course spices:1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon burger blend spice mix
at this point, i just had added all of these ingredients to the bowl but i haden't mixed anything together yet. it's important not to overmix meat and also the best way to mix ground meat is with your hands. and you obviously only want to do that once. it's not like you can mix it and then taste the ground meat to see if it needs a tad more salt people. so add everything and then mix. but wait, you still need one more thing! which is a pretty vital ingredient to meatballs:a good 2 TB of parmesan cheese
ok once you've mixed the meat with the ingredients together, heat up your medium-sized skillet to medium heat and drizzle with some garlic olive oil (maybe 2 teaspoons). once warm, form meat into tablespoon-sized balls and place in the pan:
once you've cooked the meatballs about half way through, maybe 4 minutes on each side or when your husband says the pasta is ready and i'm letting him down as his sous chef, add about 3 oz of your favorite sauce. this sauce was a red pepper and garlic sauce. with the sauce i added about 1/2 cup water, covered the pan and cranked the heat:
this cooked together for maybe another 5-7 minutes before we added it to the fresh linguini.ahhh comfort food a plenty. this was just what i needed along with dancing with my sweet husband to my new favorite beatles song to help wash away the stink of the day and bring the light back into my heart.
Don't know what I like the most in this entry, the recipe, the wine, the concern for work and co-workers or the dancing with the sweet husband at the end. Guess I just like it all!!!
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