You might be surprised by this, but here goes anyway.  I’m not a fan of Indian food.  There.  I said it.  I’ve tried!  I just couldn’t get past the smell of Indian curry.  Or my unfortunate exposure to bugs in any given Indian restaurant.  To be fair, I tried three different Indian restaurants.  In three different states!  I feel justified in my dislike.

But then the Instant Pot happened.  That and my spice collection has gotten pretty sophisticated in the past half a decade or so.  Hubs and I were pondering what to do with a chuck roast one night.  Stew?  Boring.  Pot roast?  Blah.  I grabbed my instant pot cook book.  Thai curry?  Perhaps.  And then I saw it.  Vindaloo.  I ran my hand over the page.  Should I try it?  What if bugs suddenly appear?  That’s ridiculous I told myself.

The recipe said it was spicy.  I happen to like spicy and so does Hubs.  He protested the long list of ingredients.  Pshaw!  I have everything on that list!  He got to work cutting the bone out and I gathered all the spices.  Off we went!  I have to say, it was pretty spicy.  I couldn’t stop eating it.  It’s not very glamorous to look at, but we haven’t stopped talking about it since we made it.

I’ve since gone down a winding path of vindaloo recipes that seems neverending.  The book said this was the British version of vindaloo and that makes sense to me now.  What’s going to happen?!  Will butter chicken be next?!  What’s the story with masala?!  Why does ghee exhist?!  Can tandoori happen without the tandoori oven?!  Why are curry leaves green, but the powder is yellow?!  Why?!  Tune in next week for As My Curry Burns.

This recipe came straight from the book Instant Pot Obsession by Janet A. Zimmerman.  I would hug her and love her and call her my squishy if I ever met her in person.

It’s now 2019.  I wish I had posted more over the holidays, but I was swamped.  Hubs and I were complete recluses over New Year’s because we both needed serious down time.  I had visions of posting all my dinners over the holidays and I was lucky enough to snap some pics of some platters and that was about it.  I’m fine with it.  It was more important to me to spend time with my friends and family.  Priorities and all.  I know you’ll all forgive me.

So now what?  Well, I’m currently in leftovers oblivion.  I think Hubs and I have powered through most of it.  We greatly over estimated the ham situation, though.  Yes, I cured my own hams for the holidays.  Then Hubs smoked them.  Then I dropped them in the sous vide.  Then I baked one and kept one in reserve.

The point is….we have some ham.  We’ve already done grilled ham and cheese sammys.  Of course, there will be hambone navy bean soup.  But I’m a bit tired of my usual leftover ham repertoire of scalloped potato casserole.  Or ham pot pie.  What a yawn.  I do like some hawaiian pizza, but I’m not ready to make pizza sauce.  And I don’t want to go to the store for cheese.

Tonight, then, is ham and pineapple skewers.  With mushrooms.  And barbecue sauce.  On some rice.  Yes.  I have all of those things.  No grocery store.  However, when I bought the mushrooms, I forgot why I was buying them because Hubs and I were having a tiff and I was flustered.  So I accidentally got sliced instead of whole, but I know ya’ll won’t mind them in the pics.  Ha!

There are a myriad of ways to make a meatball.  Right?  But, the Italian meatball is the quintessential ball of meat.  It can be eaten with pasta or on a fat loaf of Italian bread drowning in cheese and sauce.  Or it can be sliced atop a pizza.  Or on top of some mashed potatoes.  And on and on, really.  You can’t do that with those absurd Swedish meatballs.  Have you have ever eaten a Swedish meatball sandwich?  No.  Because that would be gross.  Also, Ikea is lying about those things being delicious.

The traditional way to cook an Italian meatball is to fry it in olive oil in a frying pan before dropping them into the sauce.  I did this for decades.  Now I don’t.  Why?  Because it’s annoying.  And the way the men in my house can plow through a batch of meatballs, I’d be standing at the stove for days frying meatballs in precious olive oil just to make a large enough batch to have leftovers for just one day.  One day!  Stop this insanity.  Save your olive oil money.  Bake them.  I promise you won’t regret it.

But, but, but….I can hear some people stammering.  There’s the texture argument….the meatball needs an outer crust to survive being stewed in marinara to make it soft, but still hold it’s shape.  No, it doesn’t.  Next!  Oh, how do I know?  Because I’ve done it a million times.  Plus I have a trick.  Well, do tell!  The trick is water.  Seriously, it’s that simple.  Literally, the trick to a soft meatball that will hold together is a little tepid water in the mix.  That’s it.

Moving on.  The basic formula, regardless of what you season your meatballs with, is one egg, a half cup of breadcrumbs, and a tablespoon of warm water per pound of ground beef.  Salt it, pepper it, add all your weird ingredients to your heart’s content….this is the basics.  Just remember that simple food is delicious.

Now, I use seasoned breadcrumbs I made myself, so less has to go into my meatballs because most of it is already in the breadcrumbs….salt, pepper, cheese, dried basil, dried parsley, etc.  So, when I make meatballs, it’s pretty straightforward….breadcrumbs, eggs, water….that’s it.  If you’re using store bought breadcrumbs…I’m sorry!….but you’ll probably have to add additional seasoning in the way of salt and pepper, basil, onion powder, garlic, etc.

On a sidenote about cheese in the breadcrumbs….I use parmesan.  I do not use wood cellulose AKA Kraft “parmesan cheese” from a shaker.  It does make a difference.  However…if you like the taste of parmesan, but you’re on a Kraft budget, be wary of the amount of salt you add to any breadcrumbs you make yourself.  I learned this the hard way.

About the ground beef….if you’re buying it from the grocery store, get the fattier stuff.  Fat equals flavor.  Less fat equals a dry meatball.  Do not buy anything in a tube.  Some people will combine ground pork and ground veal into the meatball.  This is probably more authentic then the straight beef meatball, it’s true.  But I don’t eat veal on principle and ground pork gets springy texturally when cooked, which is the opposite of what I’m after, so I stick with straight beef.  Unless it’s an Italian wedding soup meatball, which as another post entirely.  This part is entirely up to you.