Meatballs, the best way to celebrate the new year. Somewhere.

Welcome to the triumphant return of Cast Iron Therapy. It's a new year, a new life and a fresh slate. What says new better than turning several pounds of meat into delectable meatballs? I suppose cleaning out your files or going into a wilderness retreat might be for some people, but that's not my style. But lets get to the nitty gritty, or in this case, the meaty bally. 

The recipe I've chosen to follow today is adapted from Henry Hill's The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run. Yes, that is a mouthful. Just like these meatballs! 

As for grinding technique, I've learned that from the fantastic fellows at The Paupered Chef.

Now let's get to it. First I've got the meat on hand. Notice the carefully measured bags that make things convenient after a recent Costco run.

Actually I didn't use that meat, I used this meat instead, which was still weighed, but no reason to waste extra bags since I'm using the meat promptly. 

The meat is then sliced up and mixed together in a bowl...

Which is then put into the freezer for thirty minutes before grinding. This is to prevent the fat from melting as you grind it.  

Oh Kitchen Aid Food Grinder, how I love thee. 

So yeah, I used the grinder.

 My arm isn't that pasty, really. It's the flash, I swear.

All in all, it's looking ok so far, so lets get onto the other ingredients.

Now to add the character to the meat. Salt, pepper, a couple of eggs for binding, garlic, onion, dried parsley and some home made bread crumbs. I find that the seasoned bread crumbs work fantastically as well. Not pictured is grated parmesan cheese, can't forget that. Even though I did. Stop judging me.

The requisite dicing an onion shot!

I'm refraining from an onion to anatomy joke. You're welcome.

Now add the eggs.

Give it a good mix with the hands. Yes, it will be cold. I have no help for you other than bearing with it, you strong rugged individual you.

The minced garlic...

Onion, cheese and bread crumbs....

And the salt, pepper and parsley all get thrown in for glory.

Mix it up, smile at your brother, ask him if he wants meatballs, then inform him too bad, that's what he's getting later. Form this into meatballs, any size you like, but adjusting cooking time as you need to depending on your needs. If you'll be cooking this in a sauce later, as I did, you don't need to be too careful, details shortly.

And voila done! I think I'm forgetting something. Oh right.

A good thick film of canola oil works well on cast iron pan, over a medium high heat. Cook each meatball to brown all over, a few minutes each turn, but don't worry if it's not fully cooked if you'll be putting it in a sauce later, as the sauce will help to cook it. I find tongs are a wonderful tool for this step.

And here they are, enjoy. May your new year be meaty and bally.

Moving up and moving on.

In spite of it's rather late nature (October was a long long time ago), this is not a goodbye post, it's an explanation post. Much has happened in the last several months in ways of relations, professional experiences and misfortune.

I find myself moved back home to take refuge from the harsh economic climate. I hope to be posting again soon now that I've found myself settled again.

Til then, Brian.

Now's a good a time as any for some excuses.

Hi everyone. I feel deep deep guilt for not posting much recently.

But worry not everyone, I have EXCUSES!

I got the flu last week. It was miserable and I was lucky to have a beautiful wonderful gal take care of me.

I also have been packing like a madman and moving down to Hawthorne as well. I should be just about done with the packing and shipping out of my apartment. Not having electricity is a real doozy when it comes to packing!

Anyway, Hawthorne, in spite of its geographical distance from my work, I think should have positive effects upon my cooking. The kitchen is marginally bigger, and with a new mindset I can organize it in a bit more form friendly fashion.

And I'm close to these great ethnic markets where I can get food much cheaper than I ever did in Santa Monica. So! We shall see how this progresses. I look forward to updating much more regularly, and with perhaps more of a... regional flair?

A favor and Shredded Potato Quiche

A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do. And sometimes what needs doing is helping out a good, dear friend make some breakfast for 25 of her friends who you don't know. Ok, maybe that doesn't happen to some men, but it happened to me. She wanted to try quiche, so I looked for a quiche recipe.

This is the recipe we settled on. With hash browns taking place of the crust, I knew it was breakfast worthy. Not willing to settle on frozen though, I opted to make my own crusty shredded potatoes from scratch for this.


Ham, Swiss cheese, potatoes, butter, milk and spinach (optional). We're not using OJ but it sure looks pretty doesn't it?

This is the other stuff she'll have at her breakfast. I'm really glad we didn't go for cinnamon buns from scratch.

I brought over some of my cooking implements too. Look at her pretty table! Sure wish I had one that nice.

I peeled the potatoes and got ready to shred. Was quite a pile, just take my word for it. I'd preheat the oven now to 375.

And we diced up the ham and cheese real fine.
Ever seen 26 cracked eggs? Well there you go.
Beat em.

Milk em. Is that the right terminology?

Add the swiss cheese! I would have cut these strips in half given a second shot.
And ham!
Glorious cooked ham....
And might as well make it colorful.
Looks delicious already.
I sprayed down some pans with Pam and layered the potatoes on them, leaving them in the oven (already preheated to 375) and kept an eye on them, tossing on occasion. I'd probably grease the pans with butter next time.

Good and crispy huh? I bet topping it with butter would quicken the browning and add some good flavor here.
Scraping the goods off.
Almost forgot to season the quiche mixture. Pepper.
Salt.
In a stroke of inspiration I decided to make mini quiches since we had a cupcake tin lying around.

So you don't make my mistake, layer the potatoes in, let them toast a bit more in the oven, THEN add the quiche mixture. I just got a little excited to do this though.

Soon my pretties...

And voila! Don't they look divine?

It was fluffy and nomtastic.

But I wasn't done. Still had over half the mix left. Trust me when I saw there's a big fat layer of toasted potatoes down there (I did learn from my mistakes).

Holy mackerel. Actually some smoked salmon would probably go great on top of this. I'm sorry, I was so tired at the end of the night that I forgot to take the finished shot of it.

But I think this is proof of satisfaction.

This is Cast Iron Therapy, signing off.

Why does this take so long? - A double meaning post on procrastination and Chuck Roast Marinara

I think I need a different publishing program for one. Uploading five pictures at a time, and having to do it in a strange order really isn't helping at all.

What for today though? Lets see what the archival pictures have.

Ah this was a particularly comforting dish. By particularly comforting, I mean not for the faint of heart, and that it requires a lot of time.

I bring to you Chuck Roast Marinara.

This is about a 3 pound chuck roast. Good for many many meals, and hopefully you won't get tired after just one meal of it.

Salt and pepper both sides, we want to get a good crust.

Nothing says comfort like bacon. Just some standard grocery store bacon for me here. Sure I'd love some of that peppercorn bacon, but, maybe when I'm not up to my eyeballs in Santa Monica rent bills.

I like to cut my packages in half. Lets the bacon sit into more manageable pieces.

Lay it out in the pan. That's my wonderful cast iron pan there. One of four.

And here's the tomato sauce recipe you might remember from the pizza recipe earlier. Its very versatile!
Once you've gotten that out your bacon should be on its way to nicely browned.


Pretend that's a bit browner, then pull it out onto some paper towels.

In goes the beef! Its gorgeous! Look at that marbling. And slightly excessive fat.

And you'll want to get it nicely browned on all sides. Cooking internally isn't important, its going to sit in a slow cooker for a good long time. This is for flavor!
Throw the whole mess into the cooker. The roast, the bacon, the tomato sauce.
I let it go a few hours on high, then all night on low. This is the result. The meat has broken down into this lovely glossy mess, and blended in with the tomato sauce, making it almost obscenely rich. The bacon pieces are good and hidden in there, little nuggets of joy.
For my part I used it to top some Gemelli, cooked al dente. Perhaps some parmesan or some other hard salty cheese would be good if the sauce isn't savory enough, but you should be fine really!


Any requests for the next dish?