Stuffed Meatballs and Polenta

Dear Devon,

By nature, I am not a meatball eating person. Spaghetti in my house was always served sans meatballs: tomato sauce, pasta, and cheese. I never understood the allure of the meatball. To me, they were indigestible: Too dense and too chewy. Meatballs were something that sat in your stomach, like pancakes, weighing you down until you finally succumbed to the only thing you can do to alleviate your discomfort, sleep. So, I was a bit hesitant when I started out.

There are a number of challenges that need to be addressed when making the perfect meatball. How to avoid the dreaded cannonball in the stomach? Arteries, you need to respect them. How do I produce a meatball that is low in fat content, yet still succulent and rich in flavor? Frying them in a pan with oil seemed completely unappealing, for both the mess and again the arteries.

About a year ago, I perfected my recipe for pasta bolognese. The sauce was rich and supple, earthy with a bit of tang and a slight sweetness. The meat had an amazingly light texture, almost silken, yet still with a vibrant richness. I achieved this by mixing the meat before cooking with a paste made of breadcrumbs and milk, which I then incorporated into the ground meat. The bolognese recipe also calls for a finely diced mix of carrots, onions, and celery. This processed combo of veggies served as the base for the tomato sauce, giving it a hearty texture and bit of fragrance. From my experiments with the bolognese sauce, these two aspects impressed me most. I began wondering how else could I use these techniques.

In another whirl of inspiration, I decided to up the ante a bit, adding a bit more decadence. I had originally purchased a box of perlini mozzarella for a tomato and arugula salad. The sight of the uneaten mozzarella sitting in a tub of murky water was a bit unappetizing, so I decided to use them in my meatballs. Later, I filled the meatballs with soft

I cooked them on the stove in a cast iron skillet with lots of oil. But in the end, decided to use the oven instead. I like the oven method better because the clean up is easier. With the stovetop method, oil splattered everywhere. The meatballs had to be patted down because they were covered in grease, plus I had to stand there while they cooked. When using the oven, I placed a wire cooling rack, oven-proof, on a baking sheet lined with foil. Turned the oven up to 400 degrees, and placed each spherical meatball on the rack. The baking sheet collects the dripped fat and a wonderful dark, crunchy crust forms. Delicious. The same effect with a quarter of the mess!! That's my type of cooking!!

These meatballs are wonderful on their own, with a light cucumber yogurt sauce or mint jelly. For a new twist, I whipped up a quick tomato sauce. Throwing a few meatballs into the sauce for the last five minutes of cooking. I whipped up some quick no-fail polenta, poured on my sauce, and topped it with the lamb and goat cheese meatballs.


Lamb Meatballs with Goat Cheese
3/4 lb ground lamb
1/3 c breadcrumbs
2 tbsp cream
1 stalk of celery
1 carrot
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 c grated pecorino cheese
1 tsp dried thyme
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2-3 oz soft goat cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Comfortably nest a cooling rack on the making sheet. This works best if the sides of the baking sheet can fully enclose the cooling rack.

In a small bowl, soak the breadcrumbs in the cream. Be sure the breadcrumbs absorb all the cream to form a dense paste, about 10 minutes.

Drain the perlini mozzarella in a strainer. Set aside.

Using a food processor, combine celery, carrot, onion and garlic. Process until the mix is finely grated. Measure out 2/3 cup of the grated veggie mix into a large mixing bowl. Grate in pecorino cheese. Add in nutmeg, thyme, fennel seed, salt and pepper. Beat in the egg, thoroughly mixing the ingredients together. Add in the ground lamb and the breadcrumb paste. Thoroughly mix.

Using your hands, form the meat into spheres roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Flatten the ball into a disc and place a single ball of mozzarella in the center. Close the meat around the cheese. Place the finished meatball on the cooling rack. Continue forming about 20-24 meatballs.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until cooked through the center.


Rustic Tomato Sauce.
3 large ripe tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup of the diced veggie mix (from above)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup red wine
salt and red pepper flakes

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Gently cook the diced veggie mix and garlic in the hot oil. When the veggies begin to exude their wonderful fragrance (5-7 minutes), add the tomato paste. Gently fry the tomato paste in the oil and stir vigorously to thoroughly coat the cooking veggies. Add in all the diced tomatoes. Liberally salt. Add in a pinch of red pepper flakes and sugar. Cook over medium flame covered, allowing the tomatoes to release their juices (10-15 minutes). Stir in water and red wine. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. For additional flavor, drop in a few meatballs and cover, cooking gently for 5 minutes longer.

Polenta
Mark Bittman's no fail recipe

1 cup milk
2 cups water
1 cup coarse cornmeal
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated cheese, pecorino or parmesan
generous pinch of salt
1/4 cup chopped dill (optional)

In a large pot, bring 1 cup milk and 2 cups water to a boil. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of cornmeal. Add a large pinch of salt. Turn the heat down. Allow the mixture to simmer and stir occasionally. Cook on a simmer for about 20 minutes. When the polenta gets nice and thick, add the grated cheese. Mix in dill.

Citrus Cornmeal Crisps

Dear Devon,

A large bowl of lemons was left on my desk at work (props from a recent exhibition). This brings about the old joke: what do you do when the world gives you lemons? Ask any foodie and lemonade probably won't be the only answer. I wanted something besides lemon meringue pie and lemon scented roast chicken. In the Joy of Cooking, I found a master recipe for butter cookies and fourteen variations, including this recipe for Cornmeal Citrus Cookies.

I wanted to highlight the crisp, bold taste of fresh lemon. Basically, I wanted the cookies to have the character of a lemon pie. To achieve this, I increased the amount of zest ten fold, adding the entire zest of one lemon. Next, I worked the zest into the sugar, releasing the ultra fragrant lemon oils. It seems a shame to throw out the lemon peel, especially when it contains great flavor. I love the intensity and bright color of lemon zest and try to incorporate zest into my cooking and baking as much as possible.


The recipe called for vanilla extract, but I used a fresh vanilla bean. The tiny black seeds of the vanilla look nice against the pale yellow of the cookie. Nothing beats fresh vanilla beans. Super fragrant, the beans can be expensive and are quite fragile, but are definitely worth it. I store mine in ziploc bags in the dark corner of my pantry. I've also found a great website that sells high quality beans at affordable prices. Beans can be purchased individually or in packs of 10 up to 1,000. I find that a 10 pack lasts me about a year. I keep used beans in a jar with sugar for vanilla sugar at any time. It's another great staple to have in your pantry.


At first, I objected to the grittiness of the cornmeal, but have since been won over by the effect. I expected more of a shortbread-type cookie but instead got a crunchier, almost cracker-like cookie. The flavor of lemon pervades the entire cookie and pairs nicely with the coarseness of the cornmeal. I used a fluted round cookie cutter to give the cookies a rustic look.

The dough can get a bit difficult to work with once it has been rolled out too many times. I advise rolling out the dough twice, which will make about 60 - 65 cookies at 2 1/2-inches in diameter. I gathered the scraps and flattened them into a rough square, which I baked along with the cookies. I intended to use the scraps as a crust for a simple fruit dessert. My plan was to smear the baked cookie with jam and top it with fresh berries. However, the cookie was too sweet when topped with jam. Instead, I broke it into pieces making rough shards and stuck them into a large bowl of ice cream.


Cornmeal Lemon Crisps
adapted from The Joy of Cooking
makes 60 cookies

1 lemon, zested
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 egg, whole
1 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cup flour
1 vanilla bean
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) butter, softened

Let butter come to room temperature, maybe an hour's wait. Meanwhile, zest one lemon. Mix lemon zest with sugar. Crush the zest into the sugar to release the oils onto the sugar. Measure out corn meal and flour, set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat softened butter and lemon sugar together, until fluffy and pale yellow. Add in egg yolk and egg, beating thoroughly after each addition. Periodically scrape down the sides. Slice vanilla bean down the center. Using the back of a knife, scrape the bean to remove the tiny black seeds. Add vanilla seeds to the butter mix. Beat in cornmeal, flour, and salt. A wet dough should form. Gather into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to one day.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or wax paper.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Halve dough. Refrigerating the second half. With a floured rolling pin, roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. If the dough begins to tear, return to the fridge. Using a cookie cutter, cut dough. A flat spatula can be helpful to transport cut cookies onto a baking sheet. Bake about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half way through baking. Cookies should be golden brown but still soft. They crisp up when cooled. Remove to a cooking rack. Allow the baking sheet to cool before filling with cookies. Repeat with the reserved second half of dough.