Tired from working in the garden all day, I glanced at the clock and realized it was already 7pm! The regular pangs of hunger began to creep in, er… had already set-in actually, and I was eager to eat dinner before it got to be too late. Open the fridge… hmmm… not much there. Was it early last week when I last did the shopping? Oh! There’s a pack of ground beef and half a cabbage. How old is that? Well, I can just cut off that sad bit. And potatoes! Huzzah! What’s in this bag? OK- half a jalapeño not yet rotted and a couple of little red radishes that will definitely end up on the compost in a few days if we don’t eat them now. Ooh and some ginger! Perfetto!
Making the meatballs- part one
Set the oven to preheat at 450 convection, then take out a large bowl from the cupboard and pour in about ¼ cup of Tamari. Then squeeze the juice of ½ a lime and grate 1 clove of garlic and about an inch worth of fresh ginger. Mix it all around, drizzle in about 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil and then add the 1 pound of ground beef and mix it all together with a few pinches of dried mint and a chopped scallion. (1 pound for 2-3 servings)
poato wedges
Meanwhile, cut the Yukon Golds into half lengthwise, then equally-sized wedges (about 4 per half potato), coat them in olive oil, salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and lay them evenly onto a sheet pan. Once the oven chimes “ready”, in they go. For 2-3 servings, use 4-5 potatoes about the sizeof your palm, or 2 large russets, whatever you have on hand.
making the meatballs- part two
I just grab a small handful, roll it into a ball, and place it into a cast iron skillet that will hold them all. Then, into the hot oven to bake and brown, which only takes about 10-15 minutes.
Onto the slaw
My half cabbage (wilty sad bits cut off), is sliced thinly, washed, and placed in a large bowl. Then sprinkled with salt, 1 clove of garlic and 1 inch piece of fresh ginger grated directly over the top with a microplane. The other half of the lime is zested and juiced directly over the cabbage and another couple of scallions are washed, sliced thinly, and added into the bowl. A few gentle sprinkles of rice vinegar & toasted sesame oil over the lot and now I massage it all together to evenly incorporate all the flavors. Oh yeah, I forgot about the radishes and jalapeño! Just slice thinly, casually toss them in and give the slaw another mix to distribute the new additions. Taste it and add more salt or vinegar or lemon juice as needed. If you have any fresh herbs, particularly cilantro or mint, those would be delicious additions.
It’s been 30 minutes since i opened my fridge
The meatballs are done, they come out of the oven and just hang out. The potatoes are nearly there, so I take them out for just a sec, turn up the oven to 500, sprinkle some Pimentòn over the top, give them a mix, then pop them back into the oven for another couple of minutes to just crisp up.
eat!
I plate up our meal in pasta bowls with potatoes, slaw, and meatballs. All-in-all, about 30 minutes from cook-to-eat and it proved to be quite a delicious and not too filling a later evening meal.
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