Chopped

Shrimp and Grits

Posted on by Amy
Ingredients for this week’s “Chopped” Challenge: Shrimp and Cheddar Cheese
My mind automatically went to Shrimp and Grits as the dish to make. I don’t really know why. I’ve only eaten one bite of shrimp and grits ever. It was at a restaurant in Charleston. My husband ordered it. I would never order such a thing. Surprisingly it was delicious. My version? Read on and see.
So okay, to be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure if traditional Shrimp and Grits has cheese in it, or if I’m confusing “Cheese Grits” and “Shrimp and Grits.” Either way, I made Shrimp and Grits and it had cheese in it. Here’s the recipe:
Shrimp and Grits
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
14 oz Andouille sausage sliced about 1/2 inch thick (you can use a bit less or more, this is just what size package I found at our clearly un-Southern grocery store)
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
3/4 cup quick grits
1/2 tsp salt
1 12-oz can 2% evaporated milk
2 cups water
1-2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I didn’t measure but I think I used closer to 2 cups)
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup more water
2 tsp Paprika
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat a large non stick pan with a lid over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add sausage and brown on both sides. While sausage is cooking pat shrimp dry and season with S&P. When the sausage is browned, remove it from the pan and place on paper-towel-lined plate. Drain all but about 1 Tbsp of sausage drippings from pan. Add shrimp to pan in batches and brown on both sides. Only cook a minute or two on each side and just until the shrimp is opaque to avoid over cooking. Remove shrimp as it is cooked to another paper-towel-lined plate. If all the fat is taken out of the pan, add a bit more oil and let it get hot. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then add grits and stir to coat with oil and brown a bit. After a few minutes, add 1 cup of the condensed milk (reserve the remaining 1/2 cup in can) and two cups of water to grits, stir, scraping browned bits from sausage and shrimp from the bottom of the pan, bring to a boil and cover, cooking for about 5 minutes. While grits are cooking, add 1/2 cup water to the remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk and whisk in the cornstarch. When grits are done, add cheese in handfuls, stirring to melt and alternating with adding the water/evaporated milk/cornstarch mixture. When the cornstarch liquid and cheese are added to your liking (you’ll probably need to add a bit of water to keep it from getting too thick, see note below), add in the paprika, cayenne pepper, shrimp, and sausage. Add S&P to taste. Cover and cook for a few minutes to let the shrimp and the sausage get warm again. Serve.

So, I stirred the shrimp and sausage into the grits to get them warmed up again, and the result was an extremely ugly dish of food. I probably should have tented the sausage and shrimp with foil, or perhaps placed them in a 200 degree oven to keep them warm, so I could just put them on top of the grits instead of needing to stir them in to warm them up again. Appearances aside, the dish had good flavor but it was too thick for my taste. I would either lessen the amount of cornstarch in the slurry or add more water or milk to adjust the consistency after all the slurry and cheese were added. I did manage to get the grits cooked better this time, as they were not “gritty.” In all honesty, this was not my favorite of the “Chopped” dishes I’ve done so far. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone with the first dish that came to mind. I could have been a bit more creative. Maybe I could have done a chowder or some sort of play on a tuna melt or a Po’Boy. Whatev. The dish was good, but not delicious. I’ll do better next time!
We were supposed to have storms today. They missed us.
We were glad.
It was a good day.

Summer Lovin’

Posted on by Amy
I love the smell of my babies in the summer. Sunscreen mixed with chlorine, a little bit of dirt and little girl sweat. . . Heaven. We have been busy here living summer. That’s what people do here in the North Country. After such a long winter this year we are trying to wring every last drop of summer-ness out of the few days of beautiful weather we have had so far. This weekend has been packed with the farmer’s market, two trips to the pool, and making the most of life outside – grilling and eating and lots of playing.
Tonight we had a jam session on the front stoop.

Miss had been collecting rocks from our front landscaping and asking my husband and I which ones were our “faybwits” (favorites). We were sorting and admiring rocks so much my hubby decided to grab his guitar and make up a song about Miss and her favorite rock. Notice in the photo above, his favorite rock sitting on his knee. She requested the song over and over, even after he had moved on to more well-known tunes.
These days are magical. Funny sayings from Miss. First assisted steps from Lass using the lion walker (featured here). Getting soaked at the water table. Miss dancing the most adorable wiggle to her daddy’s guitar music. Exchanging glances and laughs with my husband as we watch our amazing girls. When I stop and soak it in it makes my nose tickle and my eyes tingle and my heart squeeze with happiness. I love summer and the opportunities it brings for moments like these with my girls and their Daddy.
Note – My computer is “in the shop” again, because I am having trouble accessing all the photos I restored after my hard drive was replaced. Hence, my lack of blogging. Hopefully I will be back in full swing again very soon.
And I’d like to note that the recent lack of posts about our “Chopped” adventures has been due to my husband’s work in creating a list of ingredients to draw from, as I will now be doing two surprise ingredients each week. The list is now completed enough to pick from it (though it is a work in progress), the ingredients have been drawn, and my next challenge is to use shrimp and cheddar cheese. Immediately what came to my mind was Shrimp and Grits, so I’m going with that. I’ll post the recipe and let you know how it goes later this week. What would you make??

Rock Soup or Flank Steak?

Posted on by Amy
While we waited for our dinner to braise this afternoon, the girls and I went outside, where Miss proceeded to make her own dinner of Rock Soup. It all started with puddles this morning, which we used to “paint” the driveway with sticks and grass, and then sponges and sponge brushes. This afternoon, however, the puddles were all dried up, so I got Miss a bucket of water and she proceeded to “paint” some more.





Who knew that a bucket of water and some sponges could provide such entertainment?? Lass just loved being in the grass.





After a while, the painting stopped and Miss said, “I stiwing (stirring!)” so I asked her what she was making. “Wock soup!” was her answer.

Everyone had to taste some and we “oohed” and “aahed” over how delicious it was.
Lass especially enjoyed it.
Shortly after filling up on Rock Soup, I had to come inside to finish fixing our real dinner. Tonight was the night I used our most recent “Chopped” ingredient, flank steak. I decided to use what I learned in my cooking class on braising to make the flank steak, since it is a pretty tough cut of meat. The dish? Braised Flank Steak Stew with Fennel and Leeks. It was delicious. Even Miss gobbled it up. Here’s the recipe:
Braised Flank Steak Stew with Fennel and Leeks
Ingredients:
1.5 lb (approx) flank steak, cut into 1 inch pieces
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp minced fresh lemon thyme (or regular thyme)
Salt and Pepper
Flour
1 cup chopped carrots (about two handfuls of baby carrots)
2 celery ribs chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup red wine
zest from one lemon
beef stock
1.5 lbs Dutch baby potatoes
1/2 stick butter
vegetable oil
2 fennel bulbs, sliced
1 large leek, halved, rinsed, and sliced
4 tsp sugar
Put the cut up steak, thyme, and garlic in a bowl and add a few tablespoons of olive oil (enough to wet all the steak) and some salt and pepper. Mix to get the meat well coated. Put in refrigerator overnight.
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat. While your pan is heating, start flouring your meat (make sure you shake off the excess flour). Add about a tablespoon of olive oil and let it get hot, then add your meat in batches.
Get the meat pieces nicely browned. Then remove to a plate, add more oil, and do the next batch. Repeat if necessary.
I had to cook the meat in three batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Lass woke up from her nap after the second batch and decided to help me out.
Once all the meat is browned, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and put in the carrots, celery, and onion. Cook until they start to soften and brown.
Then pour in the red wine. Let it cook for a minute or two to reduce a bit. Then put the meat back in the pan, making sure to also get any accumulated juices on the plate poured into the pan. Add the lemon zest and enough beef stock to cover the meat half to two-thirds of the way. Cover the pan and put it in the oven for about 2 hours.
About a half hour before your meat is done, start cooking the rest of the stew. Cut the larger baby potatoes in half. Put them in a sauce pan with enough cold water to cover them. Bring to a boil and boil until tender, 10-12 minutes. Drain off water and add butter and salt to taste. Smash up the potatoes as you stir in the butter.
Once your potatoes start to cook, put another skillet or saute pan over medium high heat. Slice your fennel and leek. Blot them dry with a paper towel. Put about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in once your pan is hot. When the oil is hot, put in the fennel and leek and stir to coat. Stir them occasionally. You want them to start to brown and caramelize. Add sugar during this process (fennel has very little natural sugar in it, so adding sugar helps it to caramelize nicely). Cook until softened and browned.
Pull the meat out of the oven. Taste the sauce and check the consistency. When I took mine out the consistency was perfect, but the sauce needed more salt. Add S&P as necessary and adjust thickness of sauce as needed (to thicken whisk some cornstarch and beef stock together and add, or add more stock to thin). Put some potatoes in a bowl and top with beef mixture and then fennel/leek mixture. Makes about 4 servings.
I would not have done anything differently with this dish other than maybe skipping the leek and adding a third fennel bulb. The fennel added a delicious sweetness and crunchy texture, but the leek didn’t really seem to bring anything to the dish. My husband was wishing for more fennel, though I thought the ratio of fennel to the rest of the dish was okay, so maybe I would add more fennel, maybe not. I guess since the elements are put together after they’re cooked and each person can choose how much fennel to add on top, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to cook another bulb and then each person can add as much as they want. Otherwise, I was extremely happy with the dish! Next week, two ingredients (in one dish)!

Lots of Love and Lobsters

Posted on by Amy
Miss has been overflowing with love these past few days. She’s always a pretty loving girl, but these past few days she has been extra affectionate. Example: A couple of days ago we spent 10-15 minutes sitting on her bed, during which time she said over and over again, “Momma, I wub you Momma!” and “I wub you so much Momma” and “Momma, I so pwoud of you!” and “Awww, I wub my Mommy!” She gave hugs and kisses and patted my back and snuggled up to me. I was soaking it up.
These days she’s giving extra love to me, to her baby doll “Big Baby,” and all her other special toys that she sleeps with (Elmo, Bear, and Teddy Bear). She does this funny little wiggle and scrunches her face up when she is saying how much she “wubs” something or someone. It is enough to make me turn to mush.

Of course Miss doles out the love to her sister too. “I wub my Lass” (she uses Lass’s real name though), “Weew (we’re) best fweinds.”

Sometimes she gives love to her sister a little too much. . .

She’s also giving extra love to our dogs. “I wub my Tessa,” she says. We recently found out our older dog has liver cancer and I have explained to Miss that she’s sick. Yesterday Miss took one of her play pots and put some toy food in it and kept trying to give it to the poor dog. I asked her what she had made for Tessa and she said “I made chicken soup for Tessa to feew betteh!”
I don’t know what has prompted this outpouring of extra love from my big girl, but I’ll take it. I am trying to burn into my brain the feel of her little squeezes and the sound of her voice saying, “I wub you Momma.” I never want to forget her little wiggle as she nestles up to me and coos “Ooo-hoo-hoo, you so pwetty Momma.” The love from my girls. It’s like a drug and I can’t get enough of it. It’s a salve for the moments when I am tired and crabby and snap at Miss more than I’d like to admit. Today has been a day with too many of those not-so-lovely moments, which is probably why I’ve chosen to write about these, my little loving girls. This is the stuff I need to think about when I’m feeling frayed, worn out, frazzled, from the stuff of being stay-at-home Mommy. I need to think about it because it lifts my spirits instantly, but also because I need to remind myself that if I wasn’t stay-at-home Mommy, I might not get these moments, or maybe not as many of them. And I wouldn’t miss them for anything.
And now on to my “Chopped” adventure and recipes for the week. This was my third week of our home version of Chopped. The ingredient this week was lobster. I have never cooked lobster before, and only rarely ever eaten it, so yesterday I splurged at the grocery store and bought five lobster tails. My idea was to use the lobster in two ways. I wanted to make it into a salad and use it as a kind of stuffing for an open-face halved avocado, and then make a stuffing to put into a split lobster tail. I used mostly the same flavors in the two stuffings. It went very well and the finished meal was delicious, if I do say so myself.
Here’s the recipe:
I used 5 lobster tails (though you could probably use 6, or even 7; see below). Three of them I boiled for 8 minutes, as instructed, and the other two I took out after about 6 minutes, since I was going to use them as the stuffed lobsters and didn’t want them to get overcooked when putting them into the oven with the stuffing. However, in retrospect, I would cook all of the lobster tails for the full 8 minutes. See my comments at the end of the recipe for how and why I would do this part differently.
Lobster Salad
3 boiled lobster tails, broken into small pieces (I’m sure you could also use lump crab meat)
1 stick melted butter
1 Tbsp minced capers (rinse capers before chopping them)
1/2 tsp dried dill
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Mix all ingredients together and put in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes, just to let it thicken up a little. Don’t chill too long or the butter will solidify and the salad with be very thick and dense (if it does get too cold, you can just mix it well to break it up again and it will be fine). Cut 3 avocados in half (I used 2, but there was enough salad to do 3, I think), remove the pit, and spoon the lobster salad on top. You could also serve this salad on a bed of spinach, or maybe in a wrap or sandwich or with crackers.
Stuffed Lobster Tail
3 Lobster tails, cooked and split down middle (I used 2, but there was enough stuffing for 3, maybe even 4)
3 pieces white bread
2 scallions, minced
1/2 Tbsp minced capers
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 stick melted butter
1/2 tsp dried dill
Combine all ingredients but lobster to make stuffing. When I made this, I took two lobster tails out of the boiling water a little early for this part of the meal. As mentioned above, in retrospect, I would do this differently and go ahead and cook all the lobster tails for the full 8 minutes. I took the two tails out early to try to prevent over cooking the lobster, since I planned to stuff the tails and then put them in the oven. However, one of the tails I took out early was not cooked enough to even be able to get it out of the shell (it was still mushy). So I put it in the microwave to finish cooking the meat and used it as one of the three lobster tails in the lobster salad. I used the other tail that I took out early (not sure why this one wasn’t as undercooked and came out of the shell easily) and one that I cooked the full 8 minutes to do the stuffed lobster tails, and they both ended up being a little bit overcooked after baking them with the stuffing inside. So, bake the stuffing separately at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Then stuff it in the split lobster tails, as shown below.

While you’re stuffing the tails, preheat the broiler. Put the stuffed lobster tails under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp up the top of the stuffing and warm the lobster a bit. Plate it with a stuffed avocado and serve. I probably should have prepared another vegetable to complete the meal a bit better, and I know the way I served it makes it look kind of like a goofy face. I couldn’t resist.

I’m really proud of how these recipes turned out. I got a little bit of inspiration for the stuffed avocados from a novel I was reading (the main characters ate crab-stuffed avocados that were steamed), but other than the beginnings of an idea, I came up with these recipes on my own, using an ingredient that I was not familiar with cooking at all. And other than changing the process of cooking a little, I would not change the recipe at all. This week was really fun, as my husband was very impressed. I think pretty soon we’ll be switching to two ingredients each week (to be used in the same meal). Happy eating!

Grits with a Twist

Posted on by Amy

Yes. Today’s ingredient for our home version of “Chopped” was grits. I hate grits. In trying to figure out what the heck to do with them, I remembered that there was actually one time when I had grits and liked them. It was in Charleston when my husband ordered Shrimp and Grits. For once they weren’t, well, gritty. So, I set out to do something similar, but different, so it would be my own creation, rather than just trying to copy another dish.

With this in mind, I thought about the jambalaya recipe I sometimes make, and decided to make a southwestern version of jambalaya, with grits. Weird? Yep. Stay with me.
I planned to brown some sliced chorizo sausage, then saute some onions in the drippings from the sausage, add some garlic, coat the grits with the fat, then add the liquid to cook the grits and some other stuff to make it flavorful, and voila! Super yummy and ingenious dinner, hopefully not too gritty. Didn’t quite work out that way, but close. Here’s what I did:
Southwestern Grits

Canola Oil (about 2 tsp)
8 oz chorizo sausage, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
salt
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup quick grits (I couldn’t find regular grits up here in Yankee land)
1/2 roasted poblano pepper, chopped
1 tsp minced chipotle pepper from a can of “chipotle peppers in adobo sauce” (I squeeze the excess sauce off the pepper before mincing it and make sure I don’t include any seeds to minimize the heat)
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1/2 cup sour cream
Things started out the way I had planned. I got my pan hot over medium high heat, added about a teaspoon of the canola oil, threw in the chorizo, browned it up, then removed the sausage to a paper-towel-lined plate. Added about another teaspoon of oil, threw in onions and bell peppers with about a half teaspoon of salt to get them softened and browned up a little bit (I hadn’t initially planned on using bell pepper, but decided to throw it in when I grabbed one while grocery shopping).
Everything was going according to plan up until this point. Then I became indecisive. I had planned to use a little bit of wine to deglaze the pan. But I also had planned to put the grits in with the onions and fat to get them coated with fat before adding in their cooking liquid. I couldn’t really do both of these things properly, so I made a quick decision to go ahead with the wine and deglaze the pan, then reduce it quite a bit and add in the grits at that point. In the confusion about this step, I forgot to add in my garlic before the wine, which isn’t a huge problem, but I usually like to add it before I put the liquid in. Anyway, I put the wine in, deglazed the pan, remembered to throw in my garlic, and reduced the wine about half. Then, like a dummy, I forgot that I wanted to put in the grits first, and I poured in the can of tomatoes and the chicken broth before stirring in the grits. Oh well. I stirred, brought it to a boil, lowered the heat to medium, and put the cover on the pot to cook the grits for about 5 minutes (as indicated on the package). I’ll add here that the package also said to use 3 cups of water (though I wanted to use chicken broth instead) with 3/4 cups grits, and I’m not sure why I just used 2. Maybe because I thought the little bit of wine left and the sauce from the tomatoes would make up for that last cup?? Whatever, I probably should have added a bit more broth.
Anyway, after the grits cooked for about 5 minutes and started to thicken, I took the pan off the heat, added the lime juice and cilantro and tasted it. The grits were still a bit gritty. I didn’t love the consistency of the dish, and it needed more salt. So, I added salt and threw in a half cup of sour cream to improve the consistency. What I ended up with was a good, though not great, dish for dinner. It was kind of spicy, but not too much. It had good flavor, if not wonderful texture. It still needed more salt, but I tend towards under-salting everything since Miss eats what we eat and we can always add more salt at the table.
What I would do differently:
I would probably skip the wine altogether and put the grits straight in with the onions and peppers and fat. I am so curious if that would have helped get rid of some of the grittiness.
I would also skip the bell pepper. It added a little bit of sweetness and some interesting texture, but it seemed out of place and just didn’t really work.
I would remember to put my garlic in before adding the grits. Oil, sausage, oil, onion, garlic, grits, then liquid.
I would use more chicken broth. I think too little liquid is the other contributing factor to the grits still being a little gritty. I think I’d use 2.5 cups. I’d also make it regular rather than low-sodium broth, to help with the need for more salt.
I’d wait longer before serving to let the grits absorb the liquid better. Though this wasn’t an ideal dish, my husband and I both had seconds, and I think they were less gritty after sitting a little longer.
Overall, the dish was a success I’d say. It was edible. It was even tasty. Like I said, my husband and I both had seconds, though Miss took one bite and said, “I want a beenah (banana) pweese.” It could have been better, but I’m pleased with my first attempt at cooking something that I don’t even like. I initially told my husband that I would not make the dish again, just because I don’t like grits. But I have a nearly full container of quick grits in my pantry, so I might as well try it at least one more time. I’m curious if it will be better if I do it with the changes I mentioned.
I don’t know my next ingredient yet. My husband mentioned maybe flank steak. But we’re traveling next week to the Farm and I told him I was not ready to take this show on the road yet, so he has some time to decide.

“Chopped” at Home

Posted on by Amy

My very favorite TV show is “Chopped” on The Food Network. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a show with 4 chefs as “contestants.” They have to cook three courses for the judges: appetizer, entree, and dessert, and they have to use each of the 4 ingredients provided in the “mystery basket” for each course. They mystery ingredients are usually pretty kooky and they don’t know what they’ll be until they open the basket, right before they have a limited time to cook their dish (20 minutes for an appetizer and 30 minutes each for the entree and dessert rounds). Fruit Loops in an entree. Miso paste in a dessert. Gummi bears, rice cakes, powdered strawberry milk, and on and on. It’s not uncommon for there to be ingredients I’ve never heard of in the baskets. After the chefs cook their dishes, they are tasted by the judges and the chef with the worst dish gets “chopped.” You get the picture. If you’ve never watched it, I highly recommend it for great entertainment without all the trash that is so often found in prime time TV shows (it’s on Tuesday nights at 10 EST).

Anyway, my husband and I love the show. It’s so fun to see what the chefs will come up with at the spur of the moment using the most insane ingredients. So, we decided to do our own little Chopped adventure at home. Except it isn’t a competition. I’m the only contestant. And no one gets chopped. I hope.
We are currently working on a list of ingredients. Mostly I’m leaving this task up to my husband, and he’s having some fun with it. Fortunately for me (and for him I guess since he has to eat what I cook), our Chopped Challenge is a lot easier. I have only one “mystery ingredient” each week. And it’s not really a “mystery” in that I get to know about it in advance and plan what I want to do with it. This is obvious since I do all the grocery shopping. The tricky part of it is that I am not allowed to look up someone else’s recipe that uses the ingredient. I have to come up with the recipe for whatever I make on my own. I do lots of cooking and have made some delicious dishes, but I have done very little recipe creation to this point in my culinary maturation. So I’m a little nervous, but also very excited.
Last week, my husband gave me my first assigned ingredient. We have already had some confusion in this process, as he told me “grits” but I heard “Ritz” (as in crackers), so I was planning a recipe using the latter and when I started talking to him about it he looked at me like I was nuts. We managed to figure out the disconnect, and decided that I could use Ritz this week and next week will be grits. Yikes. I don’t even like grits. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it I suppose. For today it was Ritz crackers.
I started out thinking I would use the Ritz with some ground venison to make meatballs, and then just went from there. I scrounged in the pantry and refrigerator and used what I had on hand for this entire recipe. I was pleased with the outcome, though there are some things I would do differently next time. I will give you the recipe as I prepared it, and then tell you what I didn’t like about it and what I would do differently at the bottom. So without further ado, here’s my new recipe for the dish I made today.
Not So Swedish Meatballs
1 lb ground venison or beef (probably could use pork or turkey too)
1/4 cup finely chopped shallot
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 egg
1/4 cup soy sauce
25-30 Ritz crackers, crushed (Miss had a blast crushing these for me in a Ziploc bag)
8 oz Egg noodles
Canola oil (or olive oil, or vegetable oil)
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves minced or pressed through garlic press
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup white wine
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
Prepare egg noodles as indicated on package.
Combine first 7 ingredients (through Ritz crackers) thoroughly. Roll into about 1.5-inch meatballs. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add about a teaspoon of the canola oil. Once the oil is hot, put 5-6 meatballs into the oil. Sear the meatballs, but don’t worry about getting them cooked all the way through (about a minute or two on each side). Remove to a plate, add another tsp of oil, and repeat with 5-6 more meatballs. Repeat these steps until all your meatballs are nicely seared. Add about another teaspoon to the pan and add the onion and half-teaspoon salt. Stir until the onion softens and starts to brown. Add garlic and stir until fragrant (30-60 seconds). Pour in the wine and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by about half, then add in the soy and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then add the meatballs back into the pan. You may need to add a bit more chicken broth, as you want the liquid to cover the meatballs at least halfway. Cover the pan to let the meatballs finish cooking, 7-8 minutes. Put some egg noodles on a plate and top with some meatballs and sauce. Serves about 4.
The outcome of this recipe was very good. It had a very rich and full flavor. Browning the meatballs and onions and then deglazing the pan to make the sauce and putting the meatballs back into the sauce to finish really gave a nice flavor to both the sauce and the meatballs. But, it was just a bit too salty and a little bit heavy for me. I was a little afraid of this, since the crackers have salt on them, and obviously soy sauce is super salty. And the trick with meatballs is that you can’t taste them before cooking them, so I just had to hope I didn’t have too much soy. Unfortunately I think it did have just a bit too much. My husband raved over it, but he tends to like things more salty than me. Also the sauce was too thin. I knew this when I served it, but it had taken me so long to make the dish, I just said, “screw it” and served it as it was instead of thickening the sauce. Otherwise, I think the dish was great.
What I would do differently:
Less soy sauce in the meatballs. I would reduce the amount of soy sauce to about 1/8 cup and increase the lemon juice to 2 Tbsp. That would really brighten the flavors and decrease the saltiness a bit, while keeping the richness of flavor. I might also add more thyme. Honestly the reason there was so little was that I just got sick of picking the leaves off and was trying to hurry.
I would add some sort of thickening agent (a rue, cornstarch slurry, or even just a little butter or cream added off the heat) to the sauce, and also probably add more of the low sodium chicken broth to make just a bit more sauce than what I ended up with.
Next week (deep breath) grits!! I actually already have a plan forming in my head, so here’s hoping it will come together!!