"Now thatsa spicy meat-a-ball!"

Hey it’s B.  Last weekend for JM’s b-day celebration, I decided to make up my own spicy meatball recipe.  I’ve included my creation below.  For those who tend to shy away from spicy foods, you may find the recipe below to be a little hot (but that’s just how I roll!).  If you like foods a little more mild, I’d suggest using a regular marinara sauce instead of the spicy marinara sauce and skipping the habanera pepper.  I’d also suggest taste testing as you cook this meal.  If it’s too tame, add more of the spices, and if during your tasting you feel the meal may be too spicy for your guests, continue adding additional amounts of sour cream, lemon juice, or sugar (all three will help to chill out the heat of the dish).  I also recommend including a cool dip for the meatballs.  I went simple and put out a bowl of sour cream, but you can try all kinds of creamy dips. 

Meatballs:
2 lbs. of beef
3 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tbs. salt
1 tbs. cumin
1 tbs. nutmeg
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 finely chopped habanera pepper
1 finely chopped jalapeño pepper
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 egg

Sauce:
2 jars of spicy marinara sauce
½ c. sour cream
2 tbs. lemon juice
¼ c. sugar
2 bay leaves

Toss all the meatball ingredients into a big bowl and use your hands to get in there and blend everything together.  Once the meat is evenly mixed, begin rolling bite –sized meatballs and set aside.  Get your olive oil out again and put 2 tbs. of olive oil in a big sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat.  Then begin placing 4-5 meatballs into the pan at a time, rolling the meatballs every 45-60 seconds so the outside is cooked evenly.  Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside.  Now that all the meatballs have been browned get out a crock-pot and, beginning with a layer of marinara sauce, alternate between putting a layer of meatballs and sauce into the crock-pot.  Set the crock-pot to low and let cook for about 6 hours.  After the meatballs have cooked for 6 hours, add the sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, and bay leaves and stir until the sour cream dissolves into the sauce.  Then cover and let cook for another 2 hours (just a side note, cooking time is flexible, that’s the best thing about crock-pots!).  Feel free to serve the meatballs directly out of the crock-pot or serve on individual plates with a scoop of sour cream for dipping.

Hope you enjoy!

 B.

New Food to Love: Beef Short Ribs

Since B and I both love to experiment in the kitchen and create our own recipes, we came up with an idea to keep our recipes fresh.  Each time we go to the grocery store, we’ll purchase an ingredient or food that we’ve never cooked with before.  This is our first attempt at the new ingredient challenge, and we both were excited with the results.  The new ingredient?  Beef short ribs.  Though a popular cut of beef, neither of us has ever cooked it before.  I took the lead on this one (B was burned out from the pancake fiasco).  Read on for my recipe for beef short ribs.

JM’s Beef Short Ribs

Serves 2 generous portions

2 lbs beef short ribs

Olive oil

2 whole cloves garlic

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 onion

¾ c. carrots

2 c. beef broth

1 c. Cabernet Sauvignon (or other dry red wine)

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. basil

Salt and pepper

Chop onion and carrots to bite size pieces.  Coat the bottom of a Dutch oven pot (or other heavy bottomed pot) generously with olive oil, heat on stove over medium heat.  Season beef on all sides with salt and pepper.  When oil is hot, add the beef and brown on all sides.  Remove beef, set aside.  Add whole garlic, onion, and carrots, sauté for a few minutes until onions become translucent.  Add the beef back to the pot along with the chopped garlic.  Add beef broth, wine, herbs, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  Serve over mashed potatoes or rice. 

*Cook’s note:  The liquid should cover the short ribs; liquid ingredients may vary depending on the size of your pot.  If you have a large pot, add more liquid, keeping the 2 broth to 1 wine ratio.  When finished, there will be a lot of liquid left over, I like to ladle some of the broth over the beef and potatoes, you could also make a quick gravy by adding a flour/water mixture after you remove the beef and vegetables.  Add the flour/water mixture slowly, stirring often, over low heat until desired thickness is reached.