Spiced Meatballs with Tahini Sauce

Well, here we are a little over 2 months into lockdown. I've continued to NOT find myself with scads of free time in which to constantly be cooking - things have remained pretty busy keeping the remote wheels turning for the music store I work for. Though I gave up being general manager years ago and shifted to just handling email & website for the most part, now...that's all there is, so it's kinda like managing again. I'm grateful that it's making up for lost income from not playing gigs though, so I'm keeping at it...and though it exhausts me at times, it does give me a sense of purpose to help keep a beloved small business afloat when so many have had to shutter completely.

So I've been cooking fairly simply for the most part; by the time dinner rolls around I'm often bleary-eyed from too much screen time and mentally done. But, I'm occasionally whipping up more complex things. A couple of days ago, we did our first grocery store trip since lockdown started. We've had a lot of paranoia about it, but it was surprisingly fine (we did not opt to wipe everything down when we got home, but there was lots of handwashing through the unpacking process...I think it's fine). We went after 8pm and there weren't many people there. Some precautions at the store seemed a bit...lackluster? But they were quite well-stocked on almost everything we needed. We probably did not need to buy quite as much as we did, but I figured as long as we were there and they had stuff, get some more of those non-perishables and we'll be good for a few more weeks. We have no interest in going out in public more than is absolutely necessary. Sure it'd be nice to enjoy public life again, but it's not yet safe to do that, we'll keep on keepin' on at home.

A weekly Hungry Harvest delivery has been keeping us in fresh produce, and we usually add on bread and sometimes other things. I've contemplated joining our CSA again, but I think we'll stick with Hungry Harvest because there's a bit more variety, we can add on bread, etc - and it's delivered to our door (and we're a bit hesitant to do the up-front payment for months of CSA). There have been a couple of Amazon Fresh/Pantry orders, but I think we'll give that up now that the grocery doesn't seem quite as scary. And we've been getting some other grocery goods from Farmhouse Greens, a local fast-casual salad place that has opened up a pop-up pantry with easy online ordering & curbside pickup. Also my friend notified me that Liberty Delight - a local farm that sells sustainably/ethically raised meats at our farmer's market - was doing home deliveries. She and I went in on a meat order together to meet their minimum for delivery, so our freezer is now full of ground beef & turkey, 3 kinds of sausage, bacon and a pork loin. It's pricier than grocery meat but I feel better about the farming practices and supporting a local farmer. Aaaand I was kind of getting tired of beans.

Alright, so now we're finally getting around to these meatballs. Usually I feel like meatballs are more prep than I wanna deal with (I'll generally just make burrito bowl type meals, chili or pasta sauce with ground meat). But I gave these a whirl with our Liberty Delight ground turkey. I wanted to do some kind of middle eastern-y spiced meatball and as usual, looked at a bunch of recipes and then did my own thing. I'm not an experienced meatball maker but they seem pretty flexible; you can use any kind of ground meat (lamb would probably be awesome), add some vegetable bits, etc. I meant to add minced onion but forgot - just the green onion was fine. If you have parsley or other fresh herbs, definitely use them (I didn't have any). You can also cook the meatballs on the stovetop; I find it easier to bake them. Tahini is great for making a quick sauce with little effort. I'm almost at the end of my Trader Joe's jar so I'll have to look for that on my next trip.

I read an article today that said something like: right now, it feels like almost the only thing we have control over is what we cook and put in our mouths. Yeah, I feel that. Some folks may roll their eyes at other's food photos and documentation...I get that too, but I like seeing what people are cooking and eating out there. It gives me ideas for when I'm finally motivated to make something blog-worthy, and - I like looking at and reading about food. So thanks, if you're reading.

OK, good lord, here's the "recipe!" (because I didn't measure anything, of course!!). I served this with produce from Hungry Harvest: roasted potatoes (olive oil, lemon pepper) and sauteed broccolini with garlic and a spash of lemon juice.

Spiced Meatballs:

1 lb ground meat (I used turkey)
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/2 tsp salt
~1/4 tsp each turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika
1 chopped green onion (add some regular onion too, ifya want)
1 clove garlic
small piece fresh ginger

- Grate the ginger & garlic on a microplane into a medium-size bowl. Beat in the egg.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix gently with your hands or a spoon until incorporated.
- Form smallish (~1.5"?) balls and place on an oiled baking sheet. Roll around in the oil as you put them on the sheet.
- Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes.

Tahini Sauce:

3 heaping tablespoons tahini
juice of half a lemon (I used bottled)
a sprinkle of turmeric (optional but gives it a nice golden color)
garlic powder (or fresh minced/crushed garlic), salt & pepper
sriracha or other hot sauce

Mix it all together and then add enough water to make a drizzle-able sauce.

Deep Dish Cast Iron Pizza

Greetings from Week 6 of Quarantine. We've made it thus far without a trip inside an actual grocery store, though that's probably going to have to happen in the next week or so. Thanks to weekly Hungry Harvest produce deliveries, a couple of Amazon Fresh & Pantry orders, a handful of takeouts from local restaurants and one Giant online pickup order where we got less than half of what was ordered, we've been kept well-stocked with minimal human contact.

A couple days ago I made my Spaghetti [Squash] Pie and had some leftover red sauce with Italian sausage. I was figuring I'd just make more pasta for it, but...there has been much pasta these last few weeks. A voice said "Girl, ya got flour and yeast, make pizza!" I don't remember the last time I made pizza with from-scratch dough. At least 10 years? At one point I had a pizza stone but I think I got rid of it as it never got used.

I've come across recipes for pizza made in a cast-iron pan and figured that was a good starting point to get a good crust. So I browsed several recipes...and as is often the case with online recipes, every one was different! Who do you trust?? Some had you pre-heat the pan in the oven and then put the dough in...that's how I make my easy Dutch Oven Bread, but you don't have to poke that around in the pot, and it sounded like a recipe for burnt fingers. Some had you make dough and let it rise/ferment overnight (again, like the bread)...but I wanted pizza TODAY (though if I plan ahead, I'll try the overnight dough as it does make the bread really good). Eventually, I came across Minimalist Baker's recipe for deep-dish pizza in a cast iron pan, and thought that sounded like a good way to go. Put a good amount of oil in the pan and let it "fry" in there while it bakes...yum!

So...that recipe links to another site's recipe for the dough, and said to use half the dough. So I was figuring I'd freeze the other half. But when I got to the final step before dividing it and putting it in the pan, it really didn't seem like half the dough was gonna be enough for a deep-dish style pizza. So I made a game-time decision to use all the dough for one pizza. I mean, dough-sauce-and-cheese...how can you really screw up?

It was definitely pretty "bready" - but it's deep dish, so I think that was the right call!

Now as for the rest of the ingredients - we only had sharp cheddar and sliced Havarti, but I figured those could work (dough-sauce-and-cheese, right??). Of course mozzarella would be best if you have it. I had a zucchini and some portobella mushrooms so I broiled those in the oven with some olive oil & Italian seasoning:

Put whatever you want on pizza in this pizza!

Here is the dough recipe I ended up with. You want to start it at least 90 minutes before you want to bake - I ended up letting it rise longer, but at least an hour is fine.

- 1 cup warm water
- 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 Tbl olive oil, plus more
- 3 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 5 minutes, until slightly foamy. Add the salt, sugar and olive oil.

2. Mix in the flour, in increments. I used a wooden spoon and then my hands. Knead in the bowl until a smooth ball forms.

3. Grease another large bowl with olive oil and put the dough in. Spread a little oil on the top too. Cover with a towel and let rise for 60-90 minutes; it should about double in size.

4. Flour a work surface and knead the dough a few times. Then roll into a 12-14" circle.

5. Put a couple tablespoons of oil in a 12-inch cast iron pan and spread around so the bottom and sides are coated. Put the dough in and build up the sides on the edge of the pan.

For the rest of the pizza:
- Red sauce, jarred or homemade (I'm not sure how much I used...maybe a cup?)
- Whatever toppings you want (I used roasted zucchini & mushrooms)
- ~2 cups (or more) grated mozzarella or other cheeses. I ended up using 3 slices of Havarti on the bottom and about 1 cup grated sharp cheddar on the top. Would have used more, but...I'm rationing cheese :( .
- Italian seasoning, garlic powder, grated parmesan if you have it.

Preheat the oven to 450. So with deep dish pizza, you usually put cheese on first, then toppings, then sauce...and maybe more cheese. Not having the sauce directly on top of the crust keeps it from getting too soggy. So layer on half your cheese, then your toppings, then sauce, then the rest of your cheese. Sprinkle with seasonings and grated parmesan. Oh, the sauce and cheese can go right to the edge. If cheese gets on the edge or on the pan it will get crispy and delicious.

Bake the pizza for about 25 minutes. When I took mine out, it looked like the bottom needed to get a bit browner. So I put the pan on a stove burner over medium heat. Pretty soon, it started to smoke. Don't be like me! This step probably isn't necessary - but if you try it, watch carefully. You need to rest the pizza for about 10 minutes anyway, and if you leave it in the pan it will continue to brown some.

You made some pizza! High five!!

Pantry Staples Recipe Roundup

Greetings from approximately Day 10 of Social Distancing! What a weird time. It seems like there are a lot of people looking for new recipes that focus on pantry staples, so I thought I'd make a list of past recipes from my blog that fit this format. I originally started this blog as a way of documenting things I was making from our weekly CSA vegetable share - but I haven't been doing the CSA for a few years.  Most of these recipes are vegetarian, some are vegan, and pretty much all encourage improvisation to use what you have on hand.

I've never really been a meal-planner, but with grocery stores not being able to stock some things, I've felt compelled to at least make a list of what I have on hand in the fridge, freezer and pantry, and make sure I'm finding ways to use what's on hand. I feel super-thankful that I had the instinct to get a stock-up shopping trip in right before our governor announced school closures, so I was able to find most of what I needed before the big rush happened. I also re-activated our Hungry Harvest subscription to get bi-weekly produce deliveries, so that's keeping us in fresh produce and eggs (unfortunately it looks like HH is not taking new subscribers right now; they are probably overwhelmed). Hoping to avoid a grocery store trip for as long as possible to let supplies get replenished and other folks get what they need.

Anyway, here's some recipes!

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread
If you want to get into bread-baking but don't know where to start, THIS IS IT. This bread couldn't be easier (I am not a baker). I've made it 3 times this week. It's a crusty, rustic loaf that's great with soups or just eaten on its own with butter/jam/whatever. It's not really a sandwich bread. You do need a Dutch oven (enameled cast iron pot with lid), and to remember to mix the dough the night before. But it's literally just mixing flour, yeast, salt and water, letting it sit overnight, and then plopping the dough into a preheated Dutch oven. Much reward for little effort.

Mujaddara
A Middle Eastern staple of lentils, rice, onions and spices. Simple but really good, and super cheap eats.

Spiced Lentil Sweet Potato Soup
Sweet potatoes keep for awhile, so it's a good veg to stock up on - but if you don't have one, just make lentil soup. If you don't have all the spices just use what you have. You can also use water instead of broth.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie
Another lentil-based recipe. Got instant mashed potatoes? Use those instead. If you have other vegetables that need to be used up, this is a good recipe to stick them in. Have ground meat and want the meat version of shepherd's pie? I've got one of those too!

Stovetop Mac & Cheese
This uses evaporated milk! You definitely need the eggs as it's what helps thicken it in the absence of a flour white sauce.

Spicy Coconut Peanut Stuff
A base recipe for a sauce with canned coconut milk, peanut butter, sriracha or other hot sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and brown sugar (or honey, maple syrup). Stir-fry whatever veg and/or protein you want and add this!

Vegan Black Bean & Rice Bowls with Pineapple
Canned pineapple works. Top with avocado if you are so blessed.

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Tofu
My favorite tofu cooking technique that gives you a nice texture. Tofu is cheap and an unopened package keeps for a long time in the fridge. You can also freeze uncooked tofu, and when you thaw it it gets an even "meatier" texture. Add whatever vegetables or other protein you want - or just make noodles! You can use linguine or spaghetti.

ilyCHILI
A vegetarian chili (for happy band practices) with beans, sweet potato and some other stuff. Chili should always be somewhat improvised, so you do you.

Sauteed Spiced Chickpeas with Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Broccoli & Spicy Hummus Drizzle
No veggies? Just make the chickpeas and rice. Roasted broccoli works with frozen broccoli florets, too.

Spaghetti Squash Pie
We're sort of getting out of winter squash season now, but if you can find it, spaghetti squash keeps for weeks. This combines a base of angel hair pasta & spaghetti squash (the latter basically becomes undetectable) and layers in spaghetti sauce (can add meat if you want) and cheese. It's really delish.

Potato-Veggie Breakfast Hash
Potatoes and eggs are really the only must-haves; if you have any other veggies (especially bits of things that are nearing the end of freshness), throw them in here.


And here's a couple of desserts, because you should treat yourself:

Dark Chocolate Habanero Creme Brulee
You need heavy cream, eggs and dark chocolate. If you want to do the spicy chocolate thing, the "habanero sugar" may be findable online; you could also use a spicy dark chocolate bar, and/or just mix a little cayenne powder into the sugar for the top. You also really need a kitchen torch to get that good cracklin' crust. Broiling in the oven may get you mostly there, but I've never tried it.

Ghiradelli Incendio Brownies
This is basically take a box of brownie mix and sub some kind of alcohol for the water. We actually haven't been able to find the Patron Incendio (spicy chocolate tequila liqueur) for awhile. But you can use pretty much any liqueur (Kahlua, amaretto, cointreau) or bourbon, whiskey, straight tequila...

Spiced Lentil Sweet Potato Soup

I made soup for band practice...totally improvised, as my soups tend to be...but this one was so good I have to document it! My aim was a lentil soup with sweet potatoes and warm (Moroccanish?) spices. It's vegan, GF and all that stuff. I did not measure anything so the spices etc are my best guess! This makes a huge pot - my Dutch oven was almost overflowing!

1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch piece ginger, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 small can tomato paste
1 can petite diced tomatoes
2 boxes vegetable stock
1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
2 sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed small
2 bay leaves
minced cilantro
lemon juice
1 bag baby spinach

Heat olive oil in a large pot and saute onion, carrot & celery until softened. Season with salt. Add garlic & ginger, cook briefly, then add spices & stir.

Add tomato paste and cook about a minute. Add canned tomatoes, stock, lentils, sweet potatoes & bay leaves. Simmer covered for about 30 minutes, until lentils & sweet potatoes are tender. Taste for salt - you will probably need a good amount if using low-sodium stock. Remove bay leaves.

Puree some of the soup with an immersion blender (optional, but gives it a nice texture). Add cilantro, a squeeze of lemon juice, and spinach. Stir until spinach is wilted.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

I whipped this up to take to vegan friends of ours who just had a baby. With the weather getting colder I figured it would be a good comfort meal for now or they can freeze it for later. I'm kinda sad I don't get to eat it! But I tasted the components and they are good. I basically just used my regular shepherd's pie recipe with lentils instead of ground beef, and swapped out some other things.

Other things you could add: sauteed mushrooms, other vegetables cut into small pieces, some cooked quinoa for added bulk/protein/texture (you could cook it along with the lentils also). This made one 8x8 pan; for a 9x13 pan I would cook maybe 1 1/2 cups of lentils and more potatoes. Amounts are very forgiving - that's the great thing about shepherd's pie!

- 1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 Tbl tomato paste
- 3 tsp flour
- 1 cup (approx) veggie broth
- 1 Tbl soy sauce
- frozen peas
- 5 medium potatoes (I like yukon gold), or fewer larger ones
- non-dairy milk of choice
- garlic powder
- 1 green onion, chopped

Boil the lentils in a few cups of water with bay leaves for about 20 minutes, until soft. Add some salt about halfway through (the lentils should be well-seasoned). Drain and remove bay leaves.

Meanwhile, saute onion & carrot in olive oil until carrot is just tender. Add garlic, spices, salt & pepper and cook for about a minute. Add tomato paste, stirring for a few seconds, then mix in flour. Add veggie broth slowly until you get a gravy-like consistency. Add lentils to mixture, and more broth if necessary. Add frozen peas (maybe half a small bag) and simmer for a few minutes. Add soy sauce and taste for seasoning (I added a fair amount of salt).

Wash & quarter the potatoes (I leave the skins on, but peel if you want). Boil in salted water until just tender. Drain and mash with "milk," a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper & garlic powder. Mix in green onion.

Put the lentil mixture in an 8x8 square pan. Spoon mashed potatoes on top and spread to the edges. Draw a fork through potatoes to create wavy lines, and sprinkle top with paprika.

At this point you can refrigerate the pie for a day or two before baking, or freeze it (thaw in fridge before baking). Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes, or until hot & bubbling. Run under the broiler for a couple minutes to slightly brown the top. Let sit about 10 minutes before scooping & serving.

The prebaked pie...looks like ground beef, eh?

Spicy Coconut Peanut Stuff

I recently discovered Budget Bytes - she's been around for awhile, but I started looking through more of her recipes and thought "hmm, this lady cooks a lot like me!" Lots of room for improv, largely vegetarian and an eye on budget. Going to look at her site more when I need inspiration.

This recipe caught my eye, and I already had most of the ingredients around. It's a Spicy Coconut Vegetable Stir Fry, and she encourages you to use whatever vegetables you want and add protein if you want. The sauce is delicious! I've been upping my stir fry game recently, but I often wish there was more sauce. That's solved with a can of coconut milk! 

For veggies I used broccoli, tri-colored bell peppers and onion, and I added [of course] tofu. Use whatever you want! This would also be good with a can of chickpeas - though you can nix the protein if you have a good assortment of vegetables.

Her recipe has fresh garlic and ginger added to the sauce, but I stir-fried mine in to the vegetables at the end of cooking. 

For the sauce:

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine:

- 1 can coconut milk (I always use full fat)

- 1/4 cup peanut butter

- 2 Tbl sriracha, or to taste

- 1-2 Tbl soy sauce

- 2 Tbl lime juice (1 lime)

- 1/2 Tbl brown sugar

I also added a little fish sauce, and some Penzey's Bangkok Blend.

Microwave for 1 minute, and then it should be easy to whisk everything together. Taste and add more of whatever to suit your taste.

Stir fry your protein and vegetables however you like, then add the sauce and heat through for a couple minutes.

If you like, garnish with cilantro and/or chopped peanuts, and serve over rice.

Tofu Bánh mì

Oh NO it's ANOTHER tofu recipe! I'm on a roll (as is this sandwich, snert!).

I made these for band practice and they were a big hit. This made 6 sandwiches, but you can halve the recipe. I'll probably also try this over rice as a bowl, instead of as a sandwich. Baguette is traditional - the store was out of it so I used "bollito" sandwich rolls - not bad. Apologies for lack of quantities, but I don't measure stuff like this - and it's very forgiving/easy to adjust. You can marinate the tofu/pickle the veggies for as little as 30 minutes, but longer is good, even overnight. If you can find daikon radish, that's traditional to add to the pickled veggies. I think most banh mi places use fresh/raw jalapenos; I pickled them as well to soften the bite (but kept them separate in case anyone wanted to opt out). Everything can be at room temp, which is nice for a summer meal. Also - super cheap! 

Tofu:

- 2 boxes firm or extra firm tofu, drained

- 1/2 cup soy sauce

- couple tablespoons fish sauce (omit for vegan)

- some lime juice (probably 1 fresh lime; I used bottled)

- glug of maple syrup or honey

- squirt of sriracha

- 2 garlic cloves, sliced or minced

- small piece of fresh ginger, sliced or minced

Pickled vegetables:

- a couple carrots, julienned (I used most of a bag of pre-shredded carrots)

- 1/2 large cucumber, halved, seeded & sliced thin, or julienned

- 1 large jalapeno, very thinly sliced

- 1/2 cup rice vinegar (or white/cider vinegar)

- 1 Tbl sugar

- 1 Tbl salt

To assemble:

- Baguette or sandwich rolls

- fresh cilantro

- Mayo (use vegan if you wanna) & sriracha mixed to taste

Slice the tofu 1/2-inch thick and lay the slices on a paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Put more paper towels on top, and press with something heavy for a little while. Meanwhile, mix up the marinade ingredients. I added water to make about 1 cup marinade for 2 blocks of tofu. Marinate in a container for at least 30 min; longer/overnight is good.

Microwave ~1/2 cup water until warm enough to dissolve salt & sugar, then do that! Add vinegar and then pour over vegetables (I kept jalapenos separate). Refrigerate at least 30 mins, longer is better. The veggies will shed some water; stir a couple of times.

Take the tofu out of the marinade (try to brush off garlic/ginger bits). Cook in a very hot skillet (cast iron is great) in a little oil until browned & crispy, about 3 minutes per side. You'll need to do this in batches if doing 2 blocks of tofu. Or you can bake or broil the tofu.

Very lightly toast your bread, and spread with sriracha mayo. Build sandwiches with tofu, pickled veggies (let liquid drain a bit as you scoop out), jalapeno, and a few sprigs of cilantro. Best to eat soon as these can get a little soggy from the pickled veggies.