SO READY TO MEAT MY BALLS

The meatballs keep a rolling rolling rolling!

Behold these sexy balls o’ mine! Why are you acting so shocked? My balls are so flavorful, so meaty, so ready to rumble. Clearly you aren’t ready to meet these round and rocking spheres of epic delight. I understand. I get it. You just try to appear that you are up for anything, but in truth you turn tail when presented with something bold that gets right to the meat of a situation. Not to worry for there are plenty of prospects who will be more than happy to embrace my raw essence. The barbarian inside shall be released in us ready and willing who shall indulge in an orgy of carnage and carnal delights. You’ll just have to sit outside my cave and listen to the pleasurable Neanderthal grunts of eating and banging. You’ll just have to read the erotic play-by-play cave paintings. I’d love to offer you our leftovers, but you know how grudges go. Can’t let it go until you admit you were wrong and willing to play by my rules.

Total time: approximately 35 minutes
Projected cost: $7
Drinking Buddy: Red wine

Ingredients (serves 2)
1. 1 pound of ground beef (or turkey)
2. ½ teaspoon of salt
3. 1 teaspoon of pepper
4. 1 teaspoon of paprika
5. ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper
6. 1 can of tomato sauce
7. ½ pound of dried spaghetti
8. 2 garlic cloves minced
9. 1 large celery stalk cut into tiny nibbles
10. 1 onion chopped finely
11. 2 tablespoons of olive oil (not pictured)

Step 1
Boil spaghetti al dente while you make the meat balls: mix in ½ the onions, ½ the celery celery, garlic, ground beef, salt, and pepper together in a bowl and create balls.

Step 2
Warm up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a deep pan on medium heat. Throw in the meatballs and cook the bottom side until they brown (approx 3 min). Flip the meatballs and douse the remaining olive over the balls and brown the other side (approx 2 min). Sauté the remaining onions and celery and cook them down (approx 2 min). Bring the tomato sauce to a boil on and then lower the heat and simmer until the meatballs cook through (approx 15 min).

Step 3
Place a healthy serving of al dente spaghetti on each place, then set a few meat balls on plate and then smother it all with sauce. Serve with and top it off with Parmesan if you are feeling cheesy.

Meat-Free Friday: Kung Pao Shrimp

This shrimp may have changed the way I feel about Chinese food. Seriously. I’ve talked before about how I’m not a huge fan of Chinese, but this is actually a dish that I can get excited about. I can tell I’ll be making it often.

I’ve always liked the flavors of kung pao when we get it out, but I hate the celery in it. I feel like more often than not it takes over the entire dish. This recipe has no celery. And it doesn’t seem like it’s missing anything at all. The sauce is very “authentic” tasting – sweet but not too sweet, a little bit spicy without being a “spicy” dish, glaze-like but not sticky or heavy. And the whole recipe contains very little oil. It was also filling, and I wasn’t hungry again later. Its pretty much everything that Chinese food should be.

I served the shrimp on top of brown rice and blanched snow peas, which was perfect. My only complaint is that there wasn’t’ enough sauce. That was my fault. I would have made more, but I didn’t’ realize that I was so low on soy sauce, so I made just enough sauce to use up the rest of it. Next time I’ll double or triple it so that there’s plenty of sauce to soak into the rice.

Kung Pao Shrimp

• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 6 tsp water
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
• pinch Hungarian paprika
• 1 tsp agave
• 1 egg white
• 3 tsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbs water
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tsp white wine
• pinch salt
• 1 Tbs grapeseed oil
• 2 garlic scapes, chopped
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 chili pepper, minced
• 3 Tbs peanuts, chopped
• brown rice and blanched snow peas, for serving

Combine first 7 ingredients (through agave) in a small bowl. Mix well. Pour into a small pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and let reduce by about 1/4. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine egg white, cornstarch, and 1 Tbs water. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and wine, then add to the cornstarch mixture. Toss to coat.

Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok over high heat. Add scapes, green onion, and chilis. Cook 1 minute. Add shrimp (shake gently to remove excess batter) and peanuts. Cook about 4 minutes, or until shrimp is cooked through. Stir in sauce.