Cook Like Mad

Very early on in this blog’s life I posted a recipe for turkey meatballs, which I called “Pimm’s Polpette.” It’s a bit of an unconventional recipe for meatballs, using Pimm’s for the liquid component and adding orange zest for tang. Last night I made more traditional turkey meatballs (what you’d call a “trusty, stand-by” recipe) and folded them into a pasta dish with asparagus, swiss chard, and a light white wine sauce.

What I love about this dish is that the variations are endless. You can use virtually any ground meat or poultry to make the meatballs, any mix of fresh vegetables and your favorite shape of pasta, short or long. I like to add red pepper flakes for a hint of spice, but it’s up to you. So here’s a great weeknight dinner recipe that can be made in under 30 minutes. Fully flavored yet light, soft and crunchy, spicy but soothing, this dinner is one for kids, boyfriends, or just nights alone with a good book. Enjoy! : )

Turkey Meatballs with Farfalle, Swiss Chard, and Asparagus

Makes 4 Servings

For the Turkey Meatballs

1 lb ground turkey

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano, dried

2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, minced

1/2 tsp coriander, dried

1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

canola oil, for cooking

2 cups farfalle

1 lb asparagus, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 packed cup fresh swiss chard (frozen can be substituted)

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup butter, diced into small pieces

juice of 1/2 lemon

pinch hot red pepper flakes

salt, to taste

Method

1. Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat with enough canola oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Mix all ingredients for meatballs together and form mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls. Once the oil is hot, place 1/2 the meatballs in the pan, cook for 5 minutes, or until fully cooked inside, transfer to a plate lined with a double layer of paper towels and repeat this process with the rest of the meatballs. Set aside while you assemble the rest of the dish.

2. While the meatballs are cooking, cook the pasta in abundant amounts of salted, boiling water. Drain the pasta but reserve 1/4 cup pasta water in a separate dish. Do not rise pasta or coat pasta with oil!

3. Add white wine to the saute pan you cooked the meatballs in and add the asparagus and swiss chard. Once vegetables are just barely cooked and the wine is reduced by half, add butter, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, reserved pasta water and a pinch of salt to the pan. Swirl and stir the ingredients over medium heat until combined and the butter is melted. Add pasta and meatballs to the pan and fold ingredients together to warm and evenly coat with the sauce. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Serve immediately and enjoy!

-M : )

Ever find a special alcohol or ingredient that you just have to have in the store, buy it, drink it or cook with it once and then totally lose interest? Yeah, it happens to me, too. Normally I can resist these urges, but when I had a Pimm’s Cup at Bar Martignetti a couple weeks ago, I loved it so much I just had to buy some Pimm’s to recreate the drink at home and enjoy it for less than $11 a glass. So I bought the Pimm’s, a cucumber, a bottle of ginger ale, and some lemonade, and recreated the refreshing drink and enjoyed it. Once. Its not that I didn’t like my version, but I was satisfied after that one glass so much that I just didn’t crave another.

Most drinks made with bitter alcohols like Pimm’s and the more familiar Campari are meant to be apertifs. That is to say, drunk before dinner (or any meal, really) to open the palate and get the stomach juices going so you can more easily digest your food. The thing is, the bitterness, even when balanced with something sweet like fruit juices or sodas, lingers in a way that makes you not want a refill. Its meant to be a small drink, rather than a cocktail you’ll want seconds (or any number of multiples…) of. So even though that Pimms Cup was delish and I was proud of myself for recreating something so tasty, I haven’t been craving one since I made the first about 2 weeks ago. Not that Pimm’s goes bad, but I hated seeing the full bottle staring back at me every time I opened my food cupboard. It nagged me to be drunk or used in some other creative fashion, and today I finally took up the challenge of the second option.

So what do I do with my Pimms? I made mini turkey meatballs. WHAT?? Yeah. You read what I said. I made mini turkey meatballs with Pimms. How were they? Well, duh, would I put the recipe up here if they weren’t delicious and I wanted to share my discovery? Of course not. They “rock” as my dad would say, and they’re healthy too. What more do you want? A sauce to go with it? Ok, you win. Heat some extra virgin olive oil with 1 clove smashed garlic and cook over medium-low heat until the garlic turns golden. Toss in some pasta (I like stringy pasta with meatballs, especially angel hair since it gives a nice light contrast to the dense meatballs, but use whatever you like) and your cooked meatballs, turn off the heat and sprinkle grated parmesan, chopped parsley, sea salt, and some freshly squeezed lemon juice over the top of the dish and serve immediately. You can also add some chopped tomatoes when you add your garlic if that interests you. It would certainly add some more color, which is always appreciated. In fact, why not add more Pimms with those tomatoes? The sweetness of the tomatoes would really balance out the Pimms’ bitterness.

And one more note about experimenting with this recipe- the point is not to go out and buy Pimms to make these meatballs, and then find yourself- as I did originally- with a bottle of liquor you don’t know what to do with (unless that is, you really want a bottle of Pimms in your liquor cabinet, and then by all means, go ahead and buy it). The point is to use Pimms or Campari if you’ve got it, and if you don’t, use another liquor. Play around- who knows, maybe cranberry juice tastes great in these. You can even mix in some dried cranberries. Food is fun, afterall! : )

Pimms Polpette

1 lb ground turkey breast

1 shallot, minced

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/4 cup italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 tsp orange zest

1 slice bread, crusts removed, soaked in 1 cup Pimms

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil, for cooking

1. Mix together all ingredients except for the ground turkey until the mixture looks well combined.

2. Add ground turkey and mix it in very gently to avoid overworking the meat.

3. Form polpette from the mixture. You’re aiming for mini meatballs with 1” diameters.

4. Heat a large pan with enough olive oil to coat the bottom surface over medium high heat.

5. When the pan’s hot, add the meatballs and leave alone for 3 minutes to ensure nice browning. Flip the meatballs over and finish cooking and browning on the other side, about another minute. Transfer to a plate if you’re going to serve them immediately, or to a baking sheet if you’re going to keep them in a low oven (no higher than 150) while you finish the rest of your meal.

Note: Your pan probably won’t fit all the polpette in one go, so divide the uncooked meatballs in half and brown them in two batches to avoid overcrowding them. (If you overcrowd your pan, you won’t get nicely browned meatballs. The extra food in the pan will cause the heat to drop and your meatballs will steam in the juices they exude. Your meatballs will still be tasty, but they won’t have the depth of flavor that browning gives.)

Enjoy! : )

-M