First issue was minced chicken - I couldn't find any so used minced turkey. Not much difference between a cluck and a gobble. Apart from that I pretty much followed the ingredients exactly although I had reservations about the sheer quantity it was making. 400g each of minced lamb and minced turkey seemed way too much to serve 4 and when I started to form it into balls it was clear there was enough to feed the 5,000 with loaves and fishes to spare. I made 30 giant sized meatballs and still had mixture left over.
My cooking method diverged from the recipie at this point. There were way too many meatballs to fit in a frying pan to sear so I just popped them on a rectangle stone and bunged them in the oven. I've pretty much abandoned traditional metal baking trays in favour of Pampered Chef Stonewear. Its not cheap but it lasts forever and has amazing heat distribution and retention properties. Sales pitch over - I'm not on commission I promise!
The secret of these meatballs - apart from the cajun spice which is what I asume makes them Jambalayan - is grated potatoes. Never come across this before in meatballs but its certainly something that I'd try again. I reckon you could also do it with other root veg in an attemp (probably in vain!) to trick kids into eating their greens. As you can see I served with pasta but I cut back drastically on the quantity of peppers that were supposed to be mixed through it. I find them rather indigestable so only used 1/2 a red and 1/2 a green rather than the required traffic light combination of 1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow.
Not sure I'd make the exact recipe again although it was eaten with gusto by Mr and Boy and even Girl had a couple of the meatballs with plain pasta and sauce. The quantity it made was obscene, a lot of wasted meatballs and I made 4 burgers with the raw leftovers. Will definately chuck some grated tatties in the next batch of meatballs I make and I might even indulge in a little Jambalayan sing song... Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh, Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou!
Oh that looks really tasty... does the Jambalaya bit come from a spicy sauce or are there spices in the meatballs themselves?
ReplyDeleteThere's 1 Tbsp cajan spice in the meatballs and 2 tsp tossed into the pasta.
ReplyDeletethat's the oddest Jambalaya style food I've ever heard of. That book sounds pretty pants!!!
ReplyDeleteI think its the pepper skins that make them unpleasant to eat. If I can be #rsed i roast my peppers and skin them. Unless I can find them pre-roasted dirt cheap in a jar, that is :-)