Need Some Inspiration? Try Meatloaf and Meatballs!

               

 

Food on Friday: May was another petite collection. Thank you to everyone who participated.

The pic at the top was brought over by Jean of Delightful Repast – Swedish Meatballs

 

 

Christoph of James & Everett contributed his Bacon Topped Meatloaf – everything tastes better with bacon they say…

 

Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious brought us her modestly named World's Best Turkey Meatballs

 

 

And she also brought over Mexican Turkey Meatloaf

 

 

For some really easy and great looking Slow Cooker BBQ Meatballs just hop on over to see Tina from Squirrel Head Manor's recipe.

 

For other inspiration head over to this Pinboard for Meatloaf and this one for Meatballs – you'll find entries from earlier Food on Fridays on these boards as well – there are 66 meatloafs and 110 meatballs.

Food on Friday: May 2021

 

It's the second Friday of the month so here is Food on Friday. 

 

As you can see, there are 2 new themes – Meatloaf and Meatballs.  I hope you'll find some great stuff in your archives to share.  Vegetarian versions are most welcome.

 

Feel free to add a number of things under each category and come back later in the month to add more if you would like to.   

 

To add your dishes, just put the name of the dish together with your blog name/name into the first Mr Linky box you will find below.  Then paste the url for your post about it into the second box. Mr Linky now makes you tick a compliance box which I always forget first time!

 

I'll be pinning your creations to the relevant Pinboards – Meatloaf and Meatballs.

 

Have fun! And stay safe!

Baked Ham Balls

 

Thanks to Kris of Big Rigs n' Li'l Cookies I gave her Baked Ham Balls a go. Her recipe was straight forward and easy to follow – not that I did that entirely.  I was happy with the results although next time I'll make each meatball about half the size.

 

Ingredients:

 

150g ham slices, diced

500g beef mince (add pork mince if you have it)

Breadcrumbs (no graham crackers)

2 eggs

1 cup cream

Salt & pepper (my addition)

 

For the sauce –

1 can tomato soup

1 ¼ cup brown sugar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/3 cup rice vinegar

 

Method:

 

Heat your oven to 250C (or 350F)

 

Combine the first set of ingredients, adding only some of the cream at first to make sure your mixture isn't too sloppy to form into balls.  I made each ball approximately 1/3 cup in size – I recommend making them smaller.

 

Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the meatballs.  There is a lot more sauce than I'd normally use but it was good.  Baste the top of each meatball with sauce every 20 minutes or so.

 

I served this with pasta the first night, and the leftovers with rice on the second.

Chicken Ball - A Surprise Revisited

I didn't know what to call this dish.  I just wanted to try out something with chicken mince and this is what I did.  I called it Chicken Ball Surprise because there was a melted cheese surprise in the middle of the ball.  It certainly impressed the better half who wondered how I had managed to do it!

First I mixed up some:

Chicken mince

Breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper

Crème fraiche (just a touch)

Grated mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon of piri piri sauce (could be any hot sauce)

A tablespoon or so of chopped cornichons (teensy pickled cucumbers)

A teaspoon of mustard powder

A tiny sprinkling of dried thyme

1 egg (you may not need this)

I then molded this into balls (and put a cube of cheese into the middle).  You just grab your mixture and make it a flattish round.  Pop the cube of cheese into the middle of it and then squish the edges in over it and then roll it into a ball with your hands.  I find it easier to do with slightly wet hands.  I then rolled each ball in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs).

I then put the balls, covered, into the fridge.  I think this helps them meld together and makes it less likely that they will fall apart when you cook them.

When you are ready to cook, fry them in a butter/oil mixture until golden and then finish them for 15 minutes in a moderate oven to make sure they are cooked through.

I just served them with a store bought piripiri sauce

Need Some Inspiration? Try Meatballs!

Norwegian Meatballs

Food on Friday: January  was a meatball lover's delight.  For a whole lot of meatballs hop on over to Food on Friday: Meatballs

Gerlinde from Cooking Weekends brought over these great looking Norwegian Meatballs

Cheesy Meatballs & Shells Casserole by The Midnight Baker – thanks, Judith!

Frikadeller with Ground Turkey  way to go Sid from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

Chicken Polpette on Orzo

I got the original idea for the Chicken Polpette on Orzo off Food TV.  It was the first time I have done any sort of meatball by cooking it in stock rather than frying/roasting them.  Not only was the result healthier, it had a lovely delicate flavour.  The Orzo, which is rice like pasta, also worked out very nicely.  A keeper.

The meatball mix was a fairly simple one:

Chicken mince

An egg

Breadcrumbs

Chopped fresh tarragon

Handful of shredded parmesan cheese

A pinch of lemon zest

Salt and pepper

Form these into small to medium sized balls – I use a small measuring cup to get a more or less equal amount of mix in each ball.

Heat up some chicken stock and pop the meatballs in and then cover with a paper cartouche ( just a round piece of baking paper or luncheon paper).  The meatballs won't take too long to cook if you haven't made them too big – you just simmer them gently in the stock.

When the meatballs are cooked take them out of the stock and keep them warm.  You will be using the stock for the orzo, so don't throw it out.

So heat some butter in a pan, fry off about ½ a finely chopped onion and ½ a clove of garlic (finely chopped or crushed).  Add the orzo and coat it in the butter and fry it off for a couple of minutes.  Then just add in the chicken stock gradually until the orzo is cooked. (This is almost a risotto like approach)

When cooked add back the meatballs and take the pan off the heat.  Relying on residual heat only then add some fresh chopped herbs (I did tarragon and chives), a handful of parmesan and a knob of butter.  Taste the orzo and add salt to your liking.