Day 123: Fusilli with (Spinach) Meatballs
My niece, Emily, spent the day here today, and we plotted to invent something completely (but probably not really) new for dinner: meatball pizza. I started to thaw a chunk of lean ground beef (wish I had bison) and a block of frozen spinach (to hide inside) when my sister remembered that E had soccer practice and they had to leave right away.
So it’s meatballs for two. Mike left for Tofino this morning, so I had half anticipated a weekend of grilled cheese and eggs on toast. But this works - a stash of meatballs in the freezer is a good thing when you’re only cooking for one or two, especially if one of the two has small hands and is a ravenous carnivore.
Meatballs also make a good vehicle for healthy stuff; the aforementioned spinach, the heel slice of a loaf of whole wheat bread, whizzed to crumbs, an egg, the merest sprinkle of ground flax seed (I have to step carefully here, lest I scar W the way my Dad did me by making sawdust burgers out of half extra-lean ground beef and half oat bran), and some grated Parmesan cheese. I rolled the mixture into balls and froze most of them on a cookie sheet, saving a few to brown in my skillet. I had half a can of diced tomatoes in the fridge and so poured that overtop once the meat had a crunchy exterior, thinking I’d do my sauce in the proper Italian way, using just tomatoes, and finish cooking the meatballs at the same time. But it seemed to me it wouldn’t taste like much, so I panicked a little and stirred in a spoonful of pesto.
I chose fusilli only because it’s driving me crazy that I at any given time have about 8 kinds of dried pasta in various shapes on my shelf, each bag or box about 1/4 full.
Here’s a rough spinach meatball formula; adjust ratios as you see fit:
1 lb. lean ground beef or bison
1 pkg. chopped frozen spinach, thawed with all the moisture squeezed out as you add it
1-2 slices whole wheat bread, whizzed to crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 egg (or just the white)
1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
Salt & pepperMix it all by hand, making sure not to overwork it. Roll into balls and cook on a rimmed cookie sheet or in a hot skillet; brown on all sides, shaking the pan as they cook, to create a flavorful, crunchy exterior, then pour sauce overtop and simmer until they are cooked through. Frozen raw meatballs can be plopped into a hot pan and cooked in this way straight from frozen.
May 02 2008 09:54 pm | beef and pasta
dinner with Julie » Day 124: Bageleggs on 03 May 2008 at 10:02 pm #
[…] slept right through dinnertime, woke up at 7 and still refused to get out of bed. I doctored up the leftover fusilli from last night, baking it with cheese to bring him up to share in bed. He had a meltdown that it […]
Ellie @ Kitchen Wench on 03 May 2008 at 10:34 pm #
Oooo, now these look great! I bought some mince the other day with the intention of turning it into meatballs, but I was a bit put off by them being…well, just minced meat :/ With the addition of spinach, I think this recipe will be the one to try
maplesugar on 05 May 2008 at 10:54 am #
Those meatballs look delicious! My kids love the PC Blue Menu chicken meatballs… I think it’s time I tried making them at home. I have the same pasta issue you do. Every once and awhile I make pantry soup with the leftover bits, breaking up the bigger pieces so they’re about the same size as macaroni… it’s a good way to use up leftover veggies too