Well it's official. I'm back. Back again. Emily is back. Tell a friend. No, seriously tell a friend. Tell lots of friends.
My last post was literally a year and six months ago. Wow. In that time a few things have happened and sadly none of them involve winning the lottery or meeting Dick Van Dyke, which were the only things I thought could truly put this blog on the bench. But let's see. Since I last wrote a post I have turned 30 (yee-haw!), hiked 100 miles in Scotland, and bought several pairs of cropped pants in multiple colors and prints. Phew. Talk about crossing things off my bucket list!
In more important, blog related news, I reached my 10 year Celiac birthday in June of 2012. What a time to be a Celiac! If you would have told me 10 years ago that there would be restaurants with gluten free menus, a whole aisle dedicated to gluten free foods at the grocery store, and countless articles in magazines from Vogue to Allure on the benefits of going gluten free, I would have slapped you in the face and called you crazy. But we live in a different world now. My pool of gluten free allies has grown ten-fold. Now, not only do I have a standing gluten free dinner with some of my non-gluten free friends, but people are popping out of the woodwork right and left with either full blown Celiac Disease or a want to eliminate gluten from their diets to alleviate various health problems. My best friend (who lives in Germany - Gutentag Rebe!) was just diagnosed with Celiac a few months ago. Hell, my mom even eats a gluten free diet now! These days you can't even throw an overpriced, cardboard tasting, crumbly piece of gluten free bread without hitting someone who is gluten free. What a world, what a world!
So I took this all as a sign that I need to get back out there, back out there spreading my certified gluten free oats if you will. So you'll notice I jazzed up my blog design a little bit. Isn't the multi-colored flatware much more inviting? I'm also going to try to stream-line my recipes. I'm shooting for less anecdotes about my cat (love you April!) and more food, food, food. With that said, on with the show!
Today's recipe is..........Veggie Lover's Spaghetti and Meatballs!
Now upon first reading that title you might think I'm absolutely nuts. I mean she puts carrots in her meatballs? Sacrilege! And while on some days I certainly am pretty nuts (just ask my roommate/sister) this recipe is as sane as it gets! On Fridays there is a farmer's market in Copley Square and I thank my lucky stars every day that I work right nearby. This past Friday I got a whole smorgasbord of veggies. Now, I'll admit, normally I would not use all of these together. However, recently there's been a serious dearth of vegetables in my life. Last week, I was just so happy to have some produce in my house for once that I went a little bit overboard with this recipe. I got one giant spaghetti squash, a large head of kale, fingerling potatoes, broccoli crowns, and a nice head of cauliflower. I had planned on using some leftover pasta and tomato sauce I had frozen last week to make a really exciting Friday night leftovers dinner. Meh, no. But now that I had a plethora of veggies at my finger tips, I decided to go whole hog. This recipe is going to be a bit willy nilly and I'm going to somewhat briefly explain the steps . So hang in there. I would describe my style of cooking as - "what else can I throw into this to make this taste better?!?" - and that's basically what I did here. Of course if you're a true veggie lover, you can leave out the meatballs and it will be just a really great faux pasta with lots of veggies kind of a thang.
Things you'll need
Veggies
Spaghetti Squash
Kale
Broccoli
Oil
Salt and Pepper
Garlic - a few cloves minced
Meatballs
Ground beef, turkey, veal, or pork 1 lb
Onion - 1/2 of one chopped
Garlic - a couple cloves, minced
Carrot - peeled and cut into tiny pieces
Worcestershire Sauce - a few (Harlem?) shakes
Mayo - 1 T
Dijon Mustard - 1T
Smashed up tortilla or potato chips [put a few chips in a bag and smash 'em up]
Salt and Pepper
Sauce
Butter -1T
GF flour - 1T
Milk - 1.5 c
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
Chicken Stock - a 1/2 cup [optional]
First - prep and roast your spaghetti squash. There are couple of ways of doing this. You can either use a microwave or an oven and you can cut the squash or not. It's a free for all basically! If you have the time I suggest just halving it, sprinkling it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and putting it on a cookie sheet cut side up. Roast for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven and remove. Let cool for a few minutes and then rake a fork across flesh to create your "spaghetti". Set aside.
Next, make your meatballs. Throw ingredients listed above in bowl and combine with hands. Roll meat into mini meatballs. I found the best way to make gluten free meatballs is to always follow three rules. One: Make them mini. Two: Bake them in mini muffin pans. You can even use regular muffin tins and just put a few meatballs per cup. Three: Use crushed up GF chips as a binder. While traditional meatballs use breadcrumbs, I've found that a good GF switch is to use either crushed potato or tortilla chips. It binds the meatballs but also ensures they remain succulent. Trust me. These techniques will change your meatball lovin' life. Stick into oven while spaghetti squash is cooking and cook for about 10 minutes until no longer pink yet still moist. Remove from oven.
Then make your veggies. I roasted the broccoli by cutting my head of broccoli into smaller chunks. I placed them in a bowl and added a bit of oil, salt, and pepper and tossed to coat. Next, spread broccoli on cookie sheet and bake in oven with spaghetti squash and meatballs. Make sure you stir the pieces around every few minutes because broccoli tends to stick to the cookie sheet and get a little burned. Keep an eye on it - probably only 5-7 minutes or so.
Cut kale leaves from backbones. I like to do this because the backbones tend to be a little bit tough to chew. Chop leaves and rinse with cold water. Put a little bit of oil in a pan and add your kale leaves. Saute for a few minutes till they reduce in size. Like spinach, you'll start with a lot of kale but once you lose some of the water from the leaves the amount will shrink. After a few minutes add some chopped garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat and cook another minute or so, then remove from heat. I always add the garlic at the end because the hot pan tends to scorch it if you add it at the beginning.
Last but not least - the sauce. You can use any sauce you want with this. A homemade tomato would probably be stellar. I opted for a garlic cream sauce. I did this by doing the following. Melt better in pan. Add 1 T of GF flour to make a roux. Mix for 30 seconds, then add milk and chopped garlic, whisking as you pour in the milk. Continue to whisk and bring to a simmer but do not let it boil over. At this point, sauce should start to thicken. If sauce can coat the back of a spoon, you're good to go. If too thick add some chicken or veggie stock to thin it out. If you want it more cheesy, throw in some cheese at the end. Fontina melts well and adds a nice richness. Gorgonzola or blue cheese would add a tangy zip!
Finally....assemble! Add hot sauce to spaghetti squash that you set aside. Place into large bowl. Top with your roasted broccoli, kale, and veggie lover's meatballs.
Reviews from my sister - "Wow, this tastes just like pasta!". Mission complete!
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