I bought some Hot Italian Sausage and my first use was in a
pot of chili. It came out good. So, I had the second half of the rough ground
chili beef and some additional sausages.
I added some spices, an egg and some bread crumbs. This recipe was my inspiration
Now, I admit that I did not follow this recipe exactly. Well, okay if you must know, I did not really
follow it at all, but I did use it for inspiration. I added garlic powder, onion powder, cumin,
cilantro...yes, I was going for a slightly Mexican flavor... and then I added a
bit of paprika and some nutmeg, because that was in Alton's recipe. I fried them off and then put them in a glass
dish in my toaster oven to stay warm and finishing cooking.
So, then I started on my sauce, the Franken-sauce. I drained off as much of the fat from the pan
as I could, after frying the meatballs and deglazed with a cup of water. I transferred that to a sauce pan and added a
beef bouillon cube. After that started
to dissolve I decided I needed a little more water, and I also added a
tablespoon of brown gravy mix. Yes,
there are a number of odd things in my pantry, why do you ask? Then, I added some milk, and then a bit more
milk, and then a bit more. Finally, I
simmered that until my rice was done, trying to reduce it and hoping it would
thicken a bit. The sauce never really
did thicken very well. I tasted it and I
was not sure if I thought it was a real success, so I added a bit more onion
powder to it.
So, finally it was ready to serve, rice, with meatballs and
a somewhat thin sauce. It was in
conjunction with the meatballs that the sauce really came to life. The meatballs were okay by themselves. The sauce was okay, alone, but together they
were great. I won't say that it was
better than the sum of its parts, but at least the two added up to more than
either alone.
So, there is the story of a successful dinner experiment.
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