Gauri Verma improvised a dish for last Friday's international dinner. This was a delicious dish that used a unique pairing of potatoes and mangoes. It was a hit at the international dinner. Those that didn't make it should try it at home.
Ingredients:
5 potatoes
1 mango (unripe)
3-4 curry leaves (kari patta)
1 white onion
spices: mustard seeds, chili powder, tumeric, cumin powder
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Need a real meal to carry you over this week? Not going home for spring break? You don’t need a lot of time, or a plane ticket, to relish this home cooked classic. Mom’s spaghetti with meat sauce. My mom’s, that is. And it only takes twenty minutes. If you need more visual guidance, pay me a visit – I have a video of this one from my action script final for Grimes last spring that I love to share.
By Lise Lynam
By Lise Lynam
Pizzeria Via Stato
Reasonably priced, reasonably close to ID, and reasonably “Yes Please!”
When I first left the NY-NJ borders for Washington, D.C. many years ago, I realized pizza hadn’t just been an easy family dinner or quick lunch growing up. Pizza was a way of life. A way of life that I would forgo beyond the safe confines I had taken for granted. I’ve said before that I could probably accept Chicago’s famed deep-dish if we could all just agree to call it “bread pasta” instead. It’s bread, with pasta sauce. What’s not to like?
Frikadeller take me right home. These Danish meatballs are not smothered in tomato sauce like their Italian counterparts but are just as homey and offer something unique, which I attribute to the cloves. If you are intimidated by or squeamish about making meatballs, get in the role by putting yourself in a "Little House on the Prairie goes to Denmark" episode. It's perfectly charming. And I hope you enjoy.
With any luck and a bout of free time, you can try these meatballs at tomorrow's International Dinner Party.
1 1/2 lb ground round (or what beef you prefer)
1/2 lb ground pork
1 grated onion (or finely chopped)
3-4 slices white bread with crusts removed
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs (or just their whites at your preference)
milk or cream (to feel)
Take off your watch and any rings before you begin.
Set your bread in milk or cream to soften and set aside. It need not swim in milk; just enough to soak up.
Grate your onion. Admittedly, I only manage to grate a little more than half the onion because I do it by hand and I cry the whole time. Also, you can knick your fingers on the grater if you try to do the whole thing. So finely chop what you don't grate. Or use a food processor if you have one.
Mix your meats -- get in their with your hands, this is all the fun of making meatballs and the only way to do it right.
Add the onion and the bread to the meat mixture and mix well.
Add remaining ingredients.
Add milk or cream a little at a time, mixing as you go. This is a "feel" thing to develop with practice. You don't want the mixture to be too stiff, nor do you want it "soupy". Remember, it's okay to wing it as you learn -- every good cook does.
Refrigerate until the mixture stiffens again. It will make the handling and cooking easier.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and heat fry pan to medium heat. Turn your fan on if you have one.
Form meatballs in your palms. I like to flatten them a little to speed up their cooking through without having to burn the outside.
Fry the meatballs in a mixture of oil and butter. Butter will burn faster, but it adds flavor so you don't want to skip it entirely. And vegetable oil is better than olive oil for this. Fry until lightly browned on each side and cooked through. This takes practice. You may have to adjust the heat as you go.
My approach is to finish them off in the oven as I work through the batches. This helps to ensure they cook through but saves me from burning them. Some browning or crust, however, is inevitable and delicious.
To serve: I like to eat them with lingonberry jelly (available at the nearby Artisan Cellar in the Merchandise Mart) and homemade Danish pickles (Agurk Salate). But plain is also most satisfying, with a side of new potatoes.
Leftovers: They're great cold. My favorite is a sandwich with a little mayo and lingonberry jelly on toasted whole grain bread. Think about freezing some in a ziplock bag.
Frikadeller take me right home. These Danish meatballs are not smothered in tomato sauce like their Italian counterparts but are just as homey and offer something unique, which I attribute to the cloves. If you are intimidated by or squeamish about making meatballs, get in the role by putting yourself in a "Little House on the Prairie goes to Denmark" episode. It's perfectly charming. And I hope you enjoy.
With any luck and a bout of free time, you can try these meatballs at tomorrow's International Dinner Party.
1 1/2 lb ground round (or what beef you prefer)
1/2 lb ground pork
1 grated onion (or finely chopped)
3-4 slices white bread with crusts removed
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs (or just their whites at your preference)
milk or cream (to feel)
Take off your watch and any rings before you begin.
Set your bread in milk or cream to soften and set aside. It need not swim in milk; just enough to soak up.
Grate your onion. Admittedly, I only manage to grate a little more than half the onion because I do it by hand and I cry the whole time. Also, you can knick your fingers on the grater if you try to do the whole thing. So finely chop what you don't grate. Or use a food processor if you have one.
Mix your meats -- get in their with your hands, this is all the fun of making meatballs and the only way to do it right.
Add the onion and the bread to the meat mixture and mix well.
Add remaining ingredients.
Add milk or cream a little at a time, mixing as you go. This is a "feel" thing to develop with practice. You don't want the mixture to be too stiff, nor do you want it "soupy". Remember, it's okay to wing it as you learn -- every good cook does.
Refrigerate until the mixture stiffens again. It will make the handling and cooking easier.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and heat fry pan to medium heat. Turn your fan on if you have one.
Form meatballs in your palms. I like to flatten them a little to speed up their cooking through without having to burn the outside.
Fry the meatballs in a mixture of oil and butter. Butter will burn faster, but it adds flavor so you don't want to skip it entirely. And vegetable oil is better than olive oil for this. Fry until lightly browned on each side and cooked through. This takes practice. You may have to adjust the heat as you go.
My approach is to finish them off in the oven as I work through the batches. This helps to ensure they cook through but saves me from burning them. Some browning or crust, however, is inevitable and delicious.
To serve: I like to eat them with lingonberry jelly (available at the nearby Artisan Cellar in the Merchandise Mart) and homemade Danish pickles (Agurk Salate). But plain is also most satisfying, with a side of new potatoes.
Leftovers: They're great cold. My favorite is a sandwich with a little mayo and lingonberry jelly on toasted whole grain bread. Think about freezing some in a ziplock bag.
