Sweet and Sour Meatballs

My Aunt Helen gave me this recipe when my husband and I got married.  I have made it quite a few times over the past 18 years.  18 years? Wow!  My Aunt is a wonderful cook.  I lived with them briefly before our wedding and my Uncle is the Pastor who officiated over our wedding ceremony.  My children enjoy this meal as well, but now that they are getting bigger, I may have to increase the servings to keep them satisfied!  Thank you Aunt Helen!

Aunt Helen’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs

serves 5-6

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

For the sauce:

• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 (13 oz) can pineapple chunks or tidbits, in juice
• 1 medium green or red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Serve with:

• 2 cups hot cooked rice
• steamed vegetables

Instructions:

Cook the rice according to package directions.

To prepare the meatballs: combine all the ingredients listed and stir to incorporate.  Form into meatballs (I use a small ice cream scoop so the meatballs are uniform in size).  In a non stick skillet heat over medium-high heat with a little oil in the pan.  Brown the meatballs, turning them from time to time to brown them and cook them through.  Remove the meatballs to a serving dish and keep warm while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, drain any fat from the skillet you used to make the meatballs.  Stir the cornstarch into a small bowl with a little water and stir to dissolve the cornstarch.  Set aside.  Put all other sauce ingredients into the skillet and heat through.  Add the slurry of cornstarch.  Continue to heat the sauce through, bringing it to a boil, stirring on occasion.  The sauce will turn a little opaque once you heat the cornstarch and will thicken.  Pour the sauce over the meatballs and serve over steamed rice.

Printable Recipe

 

Crepe Suzette

Part 4 of 4 of my daughter’s French Meal for her French Class is of course dessert.  In hindsight I should have made other crepes that do not call for alcohol.  We have children after all and my husband and I found the taste of it overpowering.  But I cannot be certain that it burned off properly.  As it turn out my daughter (14) is actually pretty good at making crepes.  Okay, we started off rough.  The first 15  or so crepes ended up in a discarded heap, but as time went on, they were actual crepes, that we could use.  I doubled the batter knowing that we would likely have difficulty making the crepes (but the recipe is the original amounts).  The batter must be refrigerated at least 2 hours before making the crepes, so plan ahead.

Crepes Fines Sucrees

(Light Crepe Batter as for crepe Suzette)

Adapted from Julia Child (Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 649)

Yield: 10-12 (6 inch) crepes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp rum/orange liqueur/or brandy
• 1 cup flour
• 5 Tbsp melted butter

Instructions:

Place the items in a blender (or do as I did in a bowl and use an immersion blender to combine) and blend.  Use a rubber spatula to push down any flour that is on the sides to form a smooth batter without lumps.  Refrigerate the batter at least 2 hours or longer before making the crepes.

To make the crepes, heat a non stick skillet (or crepe pan if you are lucky enough to have one) and melt some butter in the pan.  Pour about 1/8 cup of batter into the skillet, rotating the skillet to spread into a thin crepe.  Cook until it is golden brown and flip (very very carefully) to cook the other side.  They are tricky to make, but once you get the hang of it, it does become easier. (My daughter made these remember?)

Crepes Suzette

adapted from Julia Child (Mastering the Art of French Cooking page 650)

Serves 6 (3 crepes each)

• 18 prepared crepes

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 oranges, zest removed with a microplane
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup orange juice (without pulp)
• 3 Tbsp orange liqueur

For Chafing dish (I used a foil lasagna pan)

• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup orange liqueur
• 1/3 cup cognac

Instructions:

Combine the sugar, orange zest, softened butter and add the orange juice and orange liqueur.  Stir to combine.  Place them in a chafing dish and allow the butter to melt into an orange sauce (I didn’t have a chafing dish and placed a foil lasagna pan over a low flame on my gas burner.  Dip the prepared crepes into the orange sauce to coat on both sides and then fold them first in half and then in quarters and place to the side of your chafing dish (foil lasagna pan).  For presentation: Sprinkle the arranged crepes with sugar. Pour the alcohol over the crepes and light it on fire (make sure you don’t have anything above it- like a face, hair, microwave… I did this part on my table making sure everyone was standing well away).  While the flame is burning, ladle the sauce over the crepes with a long handled spoon.  For some reason it did not burn as much as we had anticipated and the crepes had a sharp alcoholic taste to them.  If I do make them again, I will stop short of the alcohol and just serve them like that, maybe broil the sugar to get a caramelized look to it.

Printable Recipe

NOTES: It was part of my daughter’s French project, we were glad to get it done.  As far as making it again, probably not, but it was a good experience for us.  My daughter now realized she can make herself some pancakes for breakfast – since she has now made crepes!