Meatballs with Romesco Sauce

Mozzarella stuffed spicy meatballs with romesco sauce

Meatballs!

So after visiting the Scorsese Exhibition at ACMI I simply could not get the meatballs that his mom Kathy made out of my head! (And wanting to watch all his movies as well, this guy is a cine-genius!)

I knew I didn't want big fist-sized meatballs because I just find them too dry, eating this massive chunk of mince meat did not appeal to me, but little ping-pong ball size ones filled with gooey mozzarella cheese....ooooh yeah baby! Get in mah belly!

We had pasta at a really cute Italian restaurant in the city after the exhibition, called Il Solito Posto, it was quite cozy and the food there was lovely, will definitely be going back there again. Though then made me crave something less traditional to go with my meatballs, so I decided to go Tapas/Spanish style with Romesco sauce, if you haven't tried it before, it is amazing! My Romesco sauce is made with roasted char-grilled red capsicums, so their flavours really intensify and brings out the sweetness and slightly smokiness, there's almond flakes, breadcrumbs to give the sauce body and other spices like smokey paprika to up the pepper and smokey flavour. It went really well with the meatballs. Here's what you'll need to make this simple but yummy dish.

Romesco sauce ingredients:

• 2 large capsicums, grilled whole in the oven on high heat for 30 mins
• breadcrumbs
• almond flakes
• tomato
• garlic
• smokey paprika
• chili flakes
• red wine vinegar/balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper
• basil
• leek/onion
• olive oil

Directions

• Remove grilled capsicums from oven and place in ziplock bags, careful not to lose any of it's juices, this is vital part of the sauce!
• Let the capsicums cool in bag and remove the skins and the seeds
• In a blender thingy add all the ingredients except the basil and leek/onion and blitz til smooth
• In a saucepan, add olive oil and brown/sweat the onion/leek
• Add in the sauce, it is now ready for the meatballs to be be simmered in.

So let's get right into them.

Meatballs ingredients:

• 500 g of half pork half beef mince, you can incorporate other mince if you like
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 egg
• breadcrumbs
• mozzarella/bocconcini quartered
• mixed dried italian herbs
• chilli powder/flake
• paprika
• salt & pepper
• kasundi

Directions

• Add all the ingredients except the cheese together, mix well
• Take a spoonful of the mince mixture and flatted it a bit and add the piece of cheese in the centre, then wrap mince around and roll it up into a ping pong ball size
• Add them to a fry pan with butter/olive oil to brown on all size, doesn't need to be cooked through.
• Do this in batches until all the meatballs have been browned, then add them all to the Romesco sauce for simmering for 15-20 minutes until they're cooked through and the sauce thicken up a bit.
• Serve with some chopped basil and you may top it up with shaved Parmesan cheese if you like.

Yuuummm :D

Tuscan Sausage and Bean Stew with Kale

It's already getting quite cold here in M town, the nights starts early and last night, along with that chilly wind it was also wet. Uuuugh. It's the kinda weather that makes you want to stay at home, curl up on the couch with a good book or Netflix marathon....

I've been meaning to eat healthier, since my obsession with Fried Chicken is really not working out (super sad). So I scour the web for tonight's dinner inspiration. My current flattie is returning to Italy end of next week and is super critical of all Italian cooking. So it was with trepidation that I decided to attempt my take on a Tuscan classic, the Sausage and Bean stew with Kale.

Yummmy, so much veg

Luckily my version was met with approval :)
I think I'll be adding it to my repertoire of Winter favourites.

Here's what you need: 

• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 2 carrots, cubed
• 1 - 2 zucchinis, cubed
• handful mushrooms, cubed
• bunch of kale leaves
• 1 can of white beans
• Sausages, chucks (I used Lamb with rosemary)
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Chili
• Paprika
• Stock
• Worcestershire sauce
• Sugar
• Salt & Pepper

And how to make it:

• Heat up the pot, sauté the onion and garlic til soften, add the chucks of sausages and brown.
• Add the hard veggie (carrots and zucchini), add the mushroom
• Add the seasoning and some stock, top up with water so it slightly covers everything.
• Cover and simmer for 20 mins or so, (til your kitchen smells nice)
• Add in the beans and kale, stir
• Taste, and add more sugar/Worcestershire sauce/chili

Happy 2015

Fresh new year, fresh new start.

My new housemate Ms Romantica once told me when she first moved in that Pasta with Vongole was one of her favourite meals. Ever since that conversation a couple months ago, I've had Vongole on my mind. So for our first meal together in 2015 I decided to make this delicious pasta dish with fresh clams from the market.

 

Spaghetti alle Vongole

 It was really simple with just a few choice ingredients, but the end result was stunningly. I can definately see why this is one of her favourite dishes, I think it's become one of mine also.

So here's what I did:

 

Serves 4. Time: 15 mins

 

Ingredients:

• 1 kg Vongole
• 1 package dry spaghetti (or any pasta of your preference)
• Garlic
• Parsley
• Cherry tomatoes
• Chili (I used both powder and dried)
• Splash of white wine
• Juice and Rind of 1 lemon
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Butter
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

 

• Heat up your pan, add olive oil and butter and then garlic
• Add cherry tomatoes and vongole (make sure they were rinsed and toss out any opened ones)
• Add wine and cover pan, cook for 5 mins and then check
• Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water as directed on package
• Once all the vongoles are opened, stir in chili and lemon rind and juice, add the cooked spaghetti and some of the cooking liquid so there is a little sauce in the pan.
• Season to your liking
• Turn off heat and toss in chopped parsley
• To serve top with parmesan cheese



Slow-cooker Venture

Jamaican Stewed Peas before cooking

I do love my slow-cooker, especially during Winter. I often just chuck stuff in right before bedtime and wake up to an aromatic house. Honestly I think the smell wakes me up most of the time. LOL

So I've used my slow cooker over 4 times in the past week and a half, because my cooker is so big, I generally make a massive pot enough to feed 6 people - but there's only me. So I get sick of left overs really really fast. My friends and colleagues at work have been dragged into

tasters of my slowcooking venture. So far I have made Chinese Soups, Jamaican Stew and also an Italian dish.

Stewed Peas ah Ready!

Here's the Jamaican Stewed Peas recipe:
Ingredients

• 2 tins of Red Kidney Beans
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 ham hock
• 1 pack of gravy beef/chuck steak
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 clove garlic chopped
• 1 tspn ginger
• bunch of spring onion
• bunch of thyme
• Chili (I added lots)
• sprinkle of allspice, cloves, cinnamon
• Salt & Pepper to taste

And basically you just chuck everything in the slow cooker and wake up to deliciousness! This is such a comfort food dish for me and always brings a smile to my face. The authentic Jamaican version would have pigs tail instead of hamhock and also spinners (little doughy fingers that I was too lazy with)

Before: Chicken Cacciatorie

And the other thing I made was Italian Chicken Caccaitore, though it was ok for me. I have friends who raved about this dish, but maybe I used too much liquid and it was too soupy. Even though I left the lid off 2 hours before end.

But the slow cooker is great for Chinese soups! OMG why haven't I been doing this before? I looove soups, my family used to nickname me "Tong Wun" aka Soup Bowl because I would just drink bowls and bowls of soup everytime at dinner. I made Ginseng Chicken soup and also Dried veg with pork bones, carrots and shitake mushroom soup and they were great!