Meatless Meatballs

Vegetarian dishes can be just as good as their meaty counterparts. Meatless meatballs is one good example of a dish that has similar texture to regular meatballs, but instead of meat, it's mostly made of mushrooms. Cooking down and subsequent browning of the mushrooms give these vegetarian meatballs a meaty flavor and texture. 

Meatless Meatballs

From Chef John

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound fresh white mushrooms, finely chopped

1 pinch salt

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1 ounce very finely shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, packed

2 eggs, divided

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 pinch dried oregano

3 cups pasta sauce

1 tablespoon very finely shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or to taste

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, or to taste

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms to the hot oil, sprinkle with salt, and cook and stir until liquid from mushrooms has evaporated. Stir butter into mushrooms, reduce heat to medium, and cook and stir mushrooms until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

2. Stir onion into mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until onion is translucent, 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir garlic into mushroom mixture until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl.

3. Mix oats into mushroom mixture until thoroughly combined.

Gently stir 1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese into mixture.

Add bread crumbs, 1/4 cup parsley, and 1 egg; season with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Mix together with a fork until crumbly. Stir in remaining 1 egg. Mixture should hold together when pressed.

4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours. For best flavor and texture, refrigerate overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
6. Form mixture into small meatballs using a 2-tablespoon scoop. Roll meatballs lightly between your hands until smooth, if desired; arrange meatballs on prepared baking sheet.

7. Bake in the preheated oven until meatballs are lightly golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

8. Bring pasta sauce to a boil in a large saucepan; reduce heat to low. Gently stir meatballs into sauce until coated. Simmer meatballs in sauce until cooked through, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with 1 tablespoon Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and 1 tablespoon parsley.

Notes

-Baking the meatless meatballs is the healthier route, but, alternatively, if you want to cook them faster, you can fry them in oil until brown and then finish them in a pasta sauce.
-If you add a good amount of salt in the beginning when you are drawing out the liquid from the mushrooms, it's best to slightly decrease the amount of salt that you add later on or else the meatballs will be too salty.

Pad Thai

 

It may sound intimidating to make because it incorporates some ingredients a typical household may not have, but Pad Thai is actually a simple and quick meal. Once all the prep work is done, everything comes together in a stir fry and lunch or dinner is ready in less than an hour total. There are many variations of Pad Thai recipes, some with varying ingredients or different proportions of ingredients, so chances are that you may need to tweak a recipe to your liking. I've found that there's a lot of variability in tamarind paste strength so the amount used in the recipe can change. Personally, I've been using a concentrated tamarind paste (shown right) that I bought from Whole Foods so the amount I put is cut down. When I used watery tamarind concentrate from an Asian supermarket, I needed to increase the amount to 1/4 cup. With regards to the sugar, palm sugar adds a bit more complexity to the dish than white sugar; it adds molasses notes and makes the sauce more overtly sweet.

Pad Thai
Adapted from Chef Jet Tila's recipe

Ingredients
About 8 oz rice stick noodles
Vegetable oil for stir frying
4 cloves garlic, minced
Choice of protein, about 4 oz
2 eggs
2 scallions, cut into 2 inch strips
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped
1 cup bean sprouts, for garnishing
Lime wedges, for garnishing
Sauce:
1/4 cup palm sugar/5 tablespoons of white sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon tamarind
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon sriracha (optional)

Directions

For the sauce:

In a  small bowl, combine all ingredients together making sure the sugar is somewhat dissolved. Set aside.

For the noodles:

1. In a large bowl, soak the rice noodles in boiling water until just before the noodles reach al dente. Drain the water and set aside.
2. Place a wok or large pan over high heat and coat the pan with vegetable oil. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant.
3. Add protein and cook until no longer pink. It's okay if the protein isn't fully done. It will finish cooking as you continue making the stir fry.
4. Push the protein to the side of the pan and allow the oil to settle in the center of the pan.
5. Crack the eggs into the pan and mix them only enough to break the yolks and lightly scramble until half cooked. Add the scallion whites and cook until slightly browned (they cook pretty quickly)
6. Add the drained noodles to the pan and then add the sauce. Fold the ingredients together so that everything is incorporated until the noodles absorb all the liquid.
7. Add the rest of the scallions, allowing them to steam for 30 seconds.
8. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the peanuts.
9. Transfer to serving plate and garnish with bean sprouts and remaining peanuts. If you don't have bean sprouts or you don't like them, feel free to omit. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Enjoy!