My journey of cooking, gardening, preserving and more
Northern Illinois had its first frost advisory last night and, even though we’re on a hill and don’t usually get affected too badly the first frost or two, there was definitely a light sprinkle of frost on our lawn this morning. I cleaned out our …
This summer is like every summer; I’ve got my usual plethora of tomatoes and I love to make chunky canned salsa with some of them. We’ve been blessed with a continued spell of warm weather here in Northern Illinois, but this trend is bound to …
The first week of August here in Northern Illinois felt more like late September: cool and cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
So, needless to say, I made meatballs twice in two weeks. These came out so great the first time that I made them again, though this time with one adjustment: I used plain ground pork and ground sirloin this time. The first round I made them with plain ground pork and Italian sausage, which was all I had on hand at the time (use what you have!). The first round had more of a spicy kick which, if you like spicy meatballs (don’t get me started), is the recommended version. Take your pick.
Add pork and beef to bowl and, using your hands, squish it all together about 10 times, to incorporate the two. Throw everything else in and mix well, but don’t over-mix. You want all the ingredients to be well-distributed but don’t overwork your mixture. Place bowl in refrigerator for at least 1 hour to let flavors meld.
Remove from fridge and preheat oven to 350°
Spray a large baking sheet (lined with foil or parchment, if you want to make clean up easy) with a bit of olive oil. (I have a Misto sprayer that I love, love, love) Form meatball mixture into balls – I like mine big, so this made 14 meatballs for me. If you want smaller ones, decrease the cooking time. Roll the meatballs a bit in the olive oil you sprayed on the pan and then arrange evenly to cook.
Bake meatballs for 20 minutes then, using a pair of tongs, turn them over and cook another 10. Turn over again after 5-10 minutes, and then turn once more after 5-10 minutes. Your total cooking time should be 30-40 minutes. (less if you made smaller meatballs, plus you’ll have to turn them sooner)
That’s it! I know a lot of recipes call for pan-browning them but I find baking them to be less messy, less greasy and more evenly cooked.
Today, it’s finally sunny and warm…well, still not August warm but at least it’s in the high 70’s. Eat well my friends!
I love a big dish of spicy, messy chicken wings sometimes! I’m a crispy-wing kind of girl though; I like the skin to have a bit of crunch to it, so cooking them on the grill is an easy way to achieve this. If you …
As a lover of these, I credit my friend Carri for finally motivating me to make them myself and now I’m hooked. In case you haven’t noticed from my previous Tuscan Soup and Sauteed Kale with Olive Oil, Garlic and Lemon posts, I have a …
There must be a thousand steamed dumpling recipes out there. Seriously. These little steamed pockets of deliciousness can be filled with almost anything and, with a little patience while filling them, they’re pretty easy to make at home.
I admit I don’t make my wrappers from scratch; I buy wonton wrappers at my local grocer and make my life a little easier. What I do tend to do is go overboard with making them.
Every. Single. Time.
I’m going to tell you my easy steamed dumpling recipe but, if you really, truly want it to be easy: Cut this recipe in half, at least the first time.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Filling:
In a large bowl, mix all of the filling ingredients together until thoroughly blended. Set aside to allow the flavors to meld and in the meantime, make the dipping sauce.
Clean a large section of your countertop off, find your zen place, and prepare to stuff dumplings.
I like to lay out about 20 wrappers at a time, as it makes the process faster if you’re working as your own assembly line.
Once you’ve got a bunch of wrappers down, using your clean hands or a small spoon, scoop just about a teaspoon of stuffing out and place in the middle of the wrapper. You may want to practice completing one or two dumplings by pinching them shut, just to gauge how much stuffing you need to fill the wrapper but not overflow it. If there’s too much filling, the dumplings won’t seal well, in which turn they won’t cook well. Then, start assembling.
Lay out wrapper, wrapper, wrapper (x20), spoon on filling, filling, filling, then pinch shut, pinch shut, pinch shut.
Stuffing dumplings takes long enough without trying to assemble each one separately.
Now, I’ve previously tried moistening the edges and such to help seal the dumplings but now I just press around them with my fingers and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Too much moisture will make them stick together, stick to the parchment paper and generally make a mess. Mine seal just fine as they cook, but you do whatever works best after you’ve steamed a few.
Once all your dumplings are stuffed and sealed, you’re ready to steam them. You only need to steam them for 20 minutes and you want to make sure that you don’t crowd them all in your steamer. Dumplings need room to let the steam circulate, plus you don’t want them to all be stuck together as they steam.
I now have a double-decker electric steamer that I use but I’ve also used a pan with a steamer insert and both work fine. If you have one of those nifty bamboo steamers, now’s a good time to put it to work.
Combine contents in a small dish and mix well.
Yes, on paper (well, computer screen) this sounds very simple and really, it is. It’s filling the dumplings that be time-consuming but it really does go faster with practice.
Often, I surprise myself with how many of these I can eat.
A few years ago, I got the brilliant idea to plant horseradish. I got the roots at a local store and then, because I ran out of time to plant them, ended up sticking them in our refrigerator for a week. So when I finally …