How to Make Easy Meatballs à la Jamie Oliver

Got sausage? Make meatballs easily!
I love meatballs in sauce but who has time to mix and roll the meat? I learned this method of how to make easy meatballs on an old Jamie Oliver show that I can't seem to find a clip of for you, so this is my quick take, with an updated video. If you've been reading along here, you know I'm in Dubai now, but I didn't have the heart to delete my old introduction. It's part of my journey.

 

Last summer when I was in Houston and feeling pretty smug about farmers’ markets and pastured meat and eggs, I made meatballs and spaghetti for my aged grandmother. Because she loves it. Here I am in Cairo and I have been the worst of the worst type of modern shopper. I came back from a visit to the States, to Providence, with almost 42 pounds of pork in my suitcases. Not only were they not sourced locally, clearly, I am also pretty sure that they were not from pastured pigs, seeing as how I bought them at a Super Walmart.

Philosophically speaking, there is no justifying such excess. Emotionally speaking, I am feeling deprived in Cairo. Of close friends, a school connection, normal day-to-day activities, driving my own car, imported (read: good) wine at the grocery store and pork. Among other things. Self pity: It’s how I justify hauling pork products across international borders.

And cooking them is how I make myself feel better when I am headed towards down. There is nothing quite like a bowl of pasta and meatballs in a rich tomato sauce to cheer a person up. Don’t you agree? Unless it is a simmering pot of rich tomato sauce bubbling on the stove and filling the whole house with spicy Italian aromas. This recipe fills the need on both counts.

(On the other hand, all of my vegetables, beef and chicken are locally sourced. And I do believe most of the fish is too. My Carrefour doesn’t really sell many imported things in the fresh departments so choices and prices are seasonal. Just two examples: I haven’t seen a single non-frozen corn on the cob since I moved here. And I am sorely missing rhubarb, which must not be grown here, even in the spring. I am guessing because we never have a freeze in winter. )

This method of meatballing (though not the sauce) comes straight from Jamie Oliver and, if you have access to fresh sausage in casing, is the fastest, easiest method of making meatballs that I have ever witnessed. You know how you see something on TV or in a magazine (or Pinterest!) and you say, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?!!” Exactly my reaction when I watched Jamie make these meatballs for the first time, back in 2008.

Ingredients
1 1/4 lbs or about 565g fresh sausage – I like spicy Italian sausage.
Olive oil
1 small onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 can (14 oz or 400g) finely chopped or crushed tomatoes
1 small can (6 oz or 165g) tomato paste – the really thick stuff, not sauce
1 heaped tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon sugar
1 bay leaf
12 oz or 340g pasta of your choice
Parmesan for serving (optional)

Method
Pinch off little pieces of sausage from the casing and pop them in a non-stick skillet. (I tried to find a clip from the Jamie show with him doing it but to no avail. So you are stuck with me.) I pinched off small pieces and finished with 42 bite-sized meatballs. Yes. I counted them before they went in the sauce. (Forty in the pan plus the two I had already eaten.)

Fry them until browned nicely on all sides, shaking the pan occasionally to turn them.




Wasn't that quick? Meatballs in minutes. When your meatballs are cooked, you can drain them on some paper towels or do it my way: Tilt the skillet and push the meatballs up the slope so the grease can collect in one side of the skillet. This saves paper towels, possible clean up of one more dish and one step in the sauce process.



(At this point, your meatballs are finished and would be great as appetizers with a toothpick and dipping sauce. Or made into Swedish meatballs or added to an Italian Wedding Soup or whatever your heart desires. Or you carry on and make the tomato sauce I love.)

Still with me? Okay! Chop your onions and garlic. Sauté them in a drizzle of olive oil, until they are soft and translucent.

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Add in the can of crushed tomatoes and one can of water.



Add in the can of tomato paste and one can of water. Stir really well until the tomato paste is completely dissolved into the sauce.



Now, add the sugar, oregano and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer.



Add in the cooked meatballs and then simmer the sauce with a lid on, for at least 30 minutes but for as long as an hour or two, if you have the time. My motto for tomato sauce is the longer the better. Give it a stir and check the level periodically, adding some water, if necessary, to keep it at a thickness and consistency you like.



Be careful here so your meatballs don't end up back in the grease.



When you are ready to serve, cook your pasta according to package instructions. With a side vegetable, this should serve four people. Just don’t let your sauce cook down too much or the pasta could be dry.



Top the pasta with sauce and count your meatballs out fairly among the plates. We also add a generous fresh grating of Parmesan. (Not pictured.)



With whole wheat penne! Enjoy!

Sticky Roasted Quail with Sausage

Today I went off shopping in search of heat.  The heater in our house stopped working again, when the new repairmen came by.  “It needs parts,” they said. “We need to speak to the landlady,” they said.  What they neglected to say was, “We also disconnected the actual working parts.  You will be cold until we can come back.  Perhaps next week.”  Well, we discovered that soon enough so, today, with authorization from the landlady, I went to look for small space heaters that would warm us until the repairmen come back.  Next week. God willing.   But since Cairo is experiencing an unusually cold winter, there were no space heaters to be found.  Or firewood, which was plan B.  I did, however, find quail!  Which kept me warm this afternoon and part of the evening because I roasted the little babies in the oven. 

Adapted from Jamie’s Great Britain.

Ingredients

4 whole quail

4 fresh sausages

4 slices of smoked bacon

6 cloves of garlic

Four stalks of fresh rosemary

Sea salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

1 – 2 tablespoons honey

Several splashes white balsamic vinegar or cider vinegar

Method

Clean your quail by cutting off all visible fat and removing any residual feathers.  Cut them up into pieces just as you would do a chicken.  Two breasts, two legs, two thighs and two wings.  I left the backbone attached to whichever pieces seemed most handy because I was not about to throw any of these small birds away.

This is for scale.  The legs compared to my teaspoon. 

Cut your sausage into 16 pieces. Cut your bacon slices into four pieces each.  Yeah, that is 16 pieces too.   Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Crush the garlic with the side of a knife. 

Pull the leaves off of the rosemary and mince.

Pop your sausage, quail and bacon into a large bowl.  Add in the garlic and rosemary and season well with salt and pepper.  Mix thoroughly.

Drizzle generously with olive oil and mix again.  Leave to marinate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.

 Skewer the quail (skin side up for all the pieces) and sausage and garlic and bacon.  One satay stick holds half a quail (one breast, one thigh, one leg and one wing) and two pieces of sausage and two pieces of bacon.  I spread the garlic around as justly as I could.

Roast in your hot oven (skin side up at first) for 20-30 minutes, turning once half way through.  

Near the end of cooking, take the tray out and turn the skin side back up.  Drizzle with a little runny honey and the vinegar.  (I did take one photo of me drizzling on the honey, but unfortunately it was really blurry.  Sorry.)  Return to the oven for a few more minutes.  Remove from the oven when sticky and caramelized.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Chicken and sausage gumbo made easy, with authentic Cajun taste. Make a pot for your next party and serve it in cups! 

Dark roux and gumbo is the smell of my grandmother’s house in New Iberia after a long drive from Houston in the winter and the warmth of family greetings and big hugs.  My grandmother is gone now, but gumbo simmering on the stove brings me back to her big round kitchen table where she always sat, chopping and dicing and preparing vegetables or stuffing a roast for the next meal.

My maternal grandmother, Wanda Fleming Gautreaux, sitting in her usual chair in her yellow kitchen.
Being in that yellow kitchen with her made me happy!

And some of my fondest college memories are of visits from my College Station/Houston/Beaumont friends who would come to Austin for the weekend.  Sometimes we went out to enjoy the nightlife of Sixth Street but more often than not, we would stay in, have a number of drinks and make chicken and sausage gumbo.  Truly, I am never happier than when I am in the kitchen, surrounded by friends and family, perhaps sipping some red wine, and stirring a roux.

In most gumbo recipes, you are supposed to cut the chicken in pieces and brown it first.  Unfortunately, I usually find myself starting with the bird still frozen, (Who can remember to take anything out of the freezer in the morning!) so I have developed this method.   Yesterday, I didn’t have a frozen bird, but I stuck to my usual program anyway.

Ingredients

3 1/2 pound or 1 1/2 kilo chicken (If you can find a hen, use her instead. More flavor.) 

Additional chicken breasts (optional)

1 lb or about 500g smoked sausage, sliced in rounds, about ½ inch thick

2 medium onions

1 green bell pepper (capsicum)

4 celery sticks, de-stringed

1 1/2 cups or 190g plain flour

1 cup or 240ml oil (I prefer canola.)

Sea salt

Black pepper

Cayenne

Chicken bouillon or stock cubes

For serving: Light sprinkling of gumbo filé. 

Method

Put whole (frozen or not) chicken to boil in pot with about a gallon of water, about 2 teaspoons of salt and good couple of grinds of fresh black pepper. (If it is frozen and you can’t get the bag of giblets out, don’t worry.  Keep checking back and get it out when the chicken thaws enough.)

Chop onions, bell pepper and celery and put aside in one bowl for later.

My bell pepper looks a little frozen because it was.  I chopped it over the weekend when I thought I was going to make gumbo but, then, couldn't find celery.  As long you are not using it for salad, bell pepper keeps great in the freezer.  So do onions and celery, for that matter. 

In separate pot, preferably a black iron skillet or some other heavy gauge vessel, mix flour and oil.  This is called the roux.  Cook over medium to medium high heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until roux begins to turn brown. 

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 Depending on temperature and the thickness of your pot, you may have to stir constantly because roux has a tendency to burn.  A medium heat is safer; it just takes longer.  Continue cooking until the roux turns a very dark, chocolate brown.  Should the roux burn (Everyone does it at least once, so don’t feel too bad.) toss it out and start again, otherwise the entire gumbo will have that burnt taste.

27 minutes - it looks delicious but do NOT try to taste it.  It's hotter than the hinges of hell
and will burn your mouth off.  Also it doesn't actually taste good. 

The roux will be VERY hot so be careful when handling it and try to stir without splashing on yourself or nearby “helpers.” 

In fact, it's best if you make the helpers go sit on their beds. 

Add the chopped vegetables and stir. This cools your roux down without too much spitting.

By this time your chicken (or hen) should be falling off its bones.  (If not, turn the roux off, giving it a couple of more stirs, and let the chicken boil for a little longer.)  A good sized hen may take up to two hours to fall off her bones. 

Take the chicken out of the pot, leaving behind the stock, and allow it to cool until you can handle it.  Discard bones and skin, leaving meat in fairly large chunks.

Add stock from the chicken pot gradually to the roux.  Never add roux to stock, always stock to roux.  It may bubble up considerably, depending on how hot your roux is, so when I say gradually, I do mean ladle by ladle.  Stir between ladles.

When the roux has thinned considerably, then you can add the whole mixture back into the stockpot.

Add the sliced sausage.  And the additional chicken breasts if desired.

I cut these into fairly large chunks so they don't disintegrate into shredded chicken. 

Let simmer until the sausage and breasts, if using, are cooked and you are ready to eat.  Depending upon how fatty your sausage is, you might need to use a serving spoon to skim the oil off of the top of the gumbo before serving.

Add the deboned chicken meat and make sure it is warmed through.  Add chicken cubes, as necessary, instead of salt, for more flavor.  Add freshly ground black pepper and cayenne to taste.

Serve in bowls over a large spoonful of cooked white rice with a couple of drops of hot sauce and a sprinkle of gumbo filé (ground sassafras leaves), if you have it.   We also often serve with fresh baguette slices to dip. 

Enjoy!