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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Gourmet Oregano Meatballs

The only reason I would refer to these as 'gourmet' is simply because they've got a whole bunch of crap in them.  My mom has always made delicious meatballs with (what I've come to accept as) standard ingredients: ground beef, egg, and bread crumbs.

So, this is basically a spin-off of that same standard meatball recipe, with just a couple changes: the addition of some herbs and veggies, but the removal of bread crumbs.

I don't like to use bread crumbs in meat mixes.  I think it dilutes the flavour.  However, in most cases you do need to substitute something for it, otherwise your ratio of wet to dry ingredients will be a little off, and the mix won't hold together adequately.

Our dominant flavour here tonight, is going to be oregano.

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I freakin love this shit.  (View my exultation of oregano here!)

Then, we're going to add some finely-minced garlic and onion, and a special mix of dried, freshly-ground spices.

Firstly, we're going to mince the crap out of some green onion, some garlic, and a boatload of oregano:

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I wanted to show you here, a pic of my previously-lauded kitchen dustpan in shining action:

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Among other things, that thing excels at containing garlic detritus!

So, the oregano is going into a large mixing bowl, and set aside for a minute.

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As for the garlic and onion, that is going to get pre-cooked and softened a bit by sauteing for a few minutes on medium-low, in a touch of oil (I used becel canola/sunflower).

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After the garlic first starts to brown a little (not too much, or you'll have roasted garlic, which imparts a nuttiness) you can take that whole mix off, and add it to the oregano in your large mixing bowl.

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Now we're going to add the spice mixture, which in today's case, is some salish salt (a particularly delicious smoked salt) and some freshly ground cumin, fennel, and green peppercorns.

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After all those spices are added to the mixing bowl, you can just crumble in the beef.

At this point, it's best to just get your hands dirty... I know it's gross, but it really is the best way to squish it all together evenly.

After this is all mixed well, poke a hole in the middle of it, and add an egg.

Again using your hands, gloop it all around some more, making sure to get that egg evenly distributed.

At this point, the mixture should be sticky, but cohesive enough to form some balls.  I like to take the whole thing and just keep successively dividing by two, in order to somewhat hope that I'll end up with evenly-sized balls.

Place them with a good 3 or 4 cm distance between each, in a large non-stick pan or skillet.  If you've got a grilling pan, that would work too... I have a cast-iron one, but I don't really love it...

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The little bit (maybe a tablespoon or two only) of vegetable oil we used to saute the garlic and onion earlier, is more than enough oil to fry these up nicely, so don't add anything to the pan.  Even though this was 'extra lean' ground beef, you'll see there is still quite a bit of grease during cooking.

Although these are 'balls' I find it is actually quite helpful to think of them more as 'cubes' for cooking purposes.  This makes it easier to cook, and unloads me of the burden of trying to maintain a round shape.  :D  
Incidentally, the trick to nice, perfectly-round, meatballs involves adding more structure (bread crumbs, for example) and/or roasting in the oven rather than frying on the range.
Anyway, because we're thinking of these as cubes, we will look at it as cooking two opposing sides of them.  Any more and you're seriously over-cooking them.  This also means you only need to flip them once also.  

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If you do it right, there will even be a little bit of pink still in the middle.  Of course, this can vary according to your tastes, but I like medium-well beef.

After you've done about 4 minutes per side on about medium-high (no higher than 'gas mark 6' though I'd say), take em out, and set them aside (if they're absolutely sopping, then of course feel free to rest them on a paper towel).

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Now, because these are gourmet meatballs, they're going to have a ton of flavour built-in.  So, you can just serve them up as-is... maybe with a sprig of fresh herb on the side... :)  

However, if you've got company coming over, or you're looking to impress, I would really find it hard to resist making a quick reduction sauce out of the leftover gribblies in the pan.  It's just too delicious to pass up.

So, to do that, you would put that dirty, greasy pan back on some medium heat, and stir in one of the following: water, milk, cream, or red wine.  Of course a lot of other things could work well... I bet I could even chuck some orange juice in there or something and come up with something delightful (that sounds a little cocky, doesn't it? heh heh heh).  If you're looking for my recommendation, I'd choose skim milk (or cream if you're looking for a very rich sauce).  Then, using a whisk (one safe for your non-stick pan - like a silicon one) "scrape" the sides and get all those gribblies that you can.  Cook the crap out of that, bringing it up to medium-high heat and letting it simmer rather briskly.  At this point, you can choose to add some corn starch or flour to thicken it up a little bit, and I would also add a pinch of fresh pepper and possibly salt but that would be "to taste".  As always, when adding thickening agents, mix it up with a tiny bit of cold liquid first, before adding to your sauce, to avoid lumps.  Just like that (after a good 5 minute simmer anyway) you've got a delicious gravy which you could serve on the side, but I would suggest pouring directly over the meatballs.


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  1. What spice(s) would you suggest if the meat is ground chicken?

  2. Ooooh... with chicken you could do pretty much ANYTHING! One of the reasons chefs love cooking with chicken is that it takes on the flavours of pretty much whatever you cook it in!
    Honestly, it would be easier to list those flavours which would NOT go with it, in my opinion!
    Some of the classics here, in "Western" cooking, include thyme or rosemary (separately). Both of which truly rock on their own as "dominant" flavours as the oregano did here. Mince them finely just as I did the oregano, the rosemary, however, I'd likely soften in the oil on LOW for about 10 minutes, because it can be a bit crunchy raw.
    If you're looking for some less traditional suggestions, however, (still stick with the garlic and onion as in this recipe), try playing around with some of the following:
    1) ginger, turmeric, and garam masala.
    2) lemongrass, and orange zest.
    3) dill and lemon zest (also fairly traditional)
    4) mustard seed, tarragon, pink peppercorns
    5) yogurt with a nice curry blend...

    I could make lists like this all day!

    These groupings do not necessarily have to go together... for example, you could put just turmeric on it, or ginger and lemongrass together, or yogurt and mustard seed, etc.

    HAVE FUN WITH IT THOUGH!!! And if in doubt, use your nose (for real)!