Hot and Sweet Cocktail Meatballs

It's spring!  My local farm just sent me an email to say that they have strawberries and asparagus. Every blog and food person around is going on about ramps and fiddlehead ferns, and the magic that is the fleeting presence of weird early spring veg. 


This isn't that.  This is cocktail meatballs.  You could make them any time of year.  You could probably buy them in the frozen section of your local megamart.  My recipe probably isn't all that different from your mom's.  


I have always done this with pre-packaged veggie "meatballs" but they're made out of meat* this time.  So don't despair, vegetarians, you too can have this sweet and spicy deliciousness that should probably be reserved for parties, but can still be dinner, because hell, you work hard, and you deserve a cocktail meatball now and again.  

Buying Club 2012 - The Goods - Week 24: What is up with cress?

Next to last week of these goods, so I stocked up and saved.  Ok, just stocked up. 

Herbs.  Cilantro and chives. 

Lettuces.  Arugula, Spinach, "Gourmet Lettuce Mix," and Cress.  I wasn't sure if I was familiar with cress, and it is a rollercoaster of nightmare flavors*.  I imagine this is what cilantro is like for the cilantro-haters.  Is it just me?  

Stocking the pantry with dried apples  and ketchup. 

ALL THE YOGURT.  Seriously, another blueberry for the freezer and the little plain ones to cook with.  Also, mystery cheese. 

Fauxteins.  Tofu and veggie sausage. Usually I don't go for the veggie-meats, at least, not the meat-shaped veg, but thought the sausage might be worth a shot.  I'm sure I'll keep you posted on that. 

*no offense intended to the producer or distributor.  I don't bash the farms for growing beets either.  It's not their fault, it's the cress. 

B.L.P. Bacon Lettuce and Pepper Sandwich

 

It's not a recipe so much as it's a sandwich.  I had that harissa mayo, and I wanted a vehicle to apply it to my face.  

Really, what it is is Same Dinner Different Day.

Harissa Mayo

Ok, so this post started with a lie. I didn't make harissa mayo, I made harissa vegenaise.  So maybe you want to swap the honey for some agave and make it vegan, or maybe you want to use real egg mayo, or maybe you're ok living in limbo like me, with the vegenaise and the honey. It's really up to you.

But the point is that you should make this sauce, and you should put it on everything you eat. Ok, in moderation, because it's mayo, but still. 

Mustard Glazed Mustard Greens

This is a quick one.  Barely a recipe, and more like what happened to my mustard greens.  

I have a confession to make... I cook all my greens the same way. I use greens in lots of dishes, anywhere they'll fit, but if I'm just making up a bunch of greens, it's garlic, a bit of vinegar, and if we're feeling luxurious, some bacon.  But that's the routine, always.

And it's mustard green time.  Yay for new veg.  I got some mustard greens (this one is Mizuna, from the unGoogleable Silver Mine Farm) and I had already made salad of another variety and thought it was time to get cooking.  But as much as I love garlic and vinegar on greens, it was time for a change. 

You know what mustard greens go well with?  It's so obvious.  Mustard.  These aren't as tough as collards or kale but they're not nearly as wimpy as spinach and they can take a little texture.  Plus, they already have that lightly peppery thing going for them.  Let's play that up.   Four ingredients, happy side dish. 

The Goods and how I'm not hip.

I'm not hip.  You've probably figured that out by now.  I don't like the new music the kids listen to.  Ok, I have no idea what the kids are listening to, but I don't like the new music Sous Chef Brian listens to. 


I only figured out Twitter last year.  I was online before just about everyone else, and now at 30-some, I can't turn on the Netflix on my own (there's a Playstation involved, it's complicated).  So I'm slow to catch on.  I've been highlighting other foods on the interwebs in the What Else is On series, because it seems that the interwebs are made of cat photos and food, and we should take advantage of that, and relying on me for your food might leave you hungry some weeks.  And then I was like, "Oh, there's a thing for this!" And that thing is Pinterest.  


So now Saturday's Mouse is on Pinterest.  You can look at my foods that way, and look at the other foods I like and think I might make.   


Sous Chef Brian thought the new little button (to your left) was a Phillies logo.  Maybe he's not that hip either. 


Also, we got The Goods this week.  Week 23 of the winter buying club.


Honey and jam, via Margerum's.  Pear jam.  I have something up my sleeve.  Or I'll just ignore it and eventually put it on toast. 

Lettuces.  Mixed from Landisdale, and bibb and claytonia (I have no idea) from Silver Mine Farm. 

Various proteins.  Tofu from Fresh Tofu, and smoked cheddar from Hillacres Pride, eggs from L&L Farms and bacon from Forrest Acres.

Dal Palak (Lentils and Spinach)

Lentils don't sound very exciting.  Sous Chef Brian has an anti-lentil thing that goes back to long before he had ever had lentils, so it's not really their fault.  But if we call it dal, lentils can get a bit more exciting. You know that I don't claim to have a clue about how to make Indian food. I should really have called this, "Spiced lentils and spinach," and then I wouldn't even be pretending. This is simplified.   Whole seeds are subbed for ground.  I only used things I had in the house.  

What else is on?

Happy Weekend!  I'm not cooking... actually I am, but nothing you haven't seen before.  So go and look at this stuff instead. 


I'm never asked myself what I can shove lasagna into, since the easy answer is "my face," but now that I've seen it shoved into mushrooms, I think that's worth considering.  

I don't know why meat and melted cheese on bread seems so revolutionary, but I like the looks of this one.

I'm excited about the thought process that causes someone to make a black bean burger instead of a meat burger, and then put bacon on it.  I would definitely do that. 

Buying Club 2012 - The Goods - Week 22

This was the week that it caught up to me, and I didn't order milk.  Whew.

I did, however, order all the salad.  All of it.  So if you're trying to make a salad this week, and you're like, "Damnit, where are all the greens?" Sorry, I'm hoarding them.  I don't know how this happened. 

Mizuna and Bekana, two types of mustard greens, both from Silver Mine Farm. 

Mixed lettuce from Landisdale Farm, bibb (bib?) lettuce from Silver Mine Farm and spinach from Rineer Family Farms. 

'Shrooms from Mother Earth and seriously?  Three scallions.  Three.  I know spring just happened, but 3 scallions. 

Also, the best cheese and yogurt in the world, from Hillacres Pride and Pequea Valley, and also some ricotta.  I've never ordered ricotta before, typically I make my own, but this was cheaper than doing it myself so I thought I'd check it out. 

There's only one more Winter Harvest order left this year, and our Greensgrow summer CSA doesn't start until the end of May, so maybe I'm glad I had the chance to fill my freezer with dairy.  Headhouse Farmer's Market opens May 1, so I think we're going to be fine without having to do the grocery store thing.  

Creamy Roasted Garlic Spinach Pasta

It's April, it's distinctly spring, and new veggies are on the horizon, but for most of the winter, there's been a lot of spinach in my life.  Year-round there's a lot of spinach in my life, but there has been less variety lately, so spinach is at the forefront.

This is one of those dishes where you can very easily swap in and out whatever appeals to you or whatever is left in your fridge and it'll still taste like you put way more time and effort into it than you did.