This was meant to be that something special for dinner two Fridays ago. But it was not to be as we had an invitation. So I made this last Tuesday and post it this week ^_^ I wonder if my new year resolution should be "I will not procrastinate posting in my blog". And look at when I am making my new year resolution? February!? Well, better late than never, as the saying goes. Anyway, on with this special. Usually, I make meatballs instead of patties, and it will be full pork meatballs. The first time I made meatball pasta was about two years back. Before that, I will always be frying up my minced meat before emptying a 575g of store-bought chunky tomato pasta sauce. Two years ago, I bought a recipe book that offers 100 ways to make pasta. Meatball spaghetti is one of them. Ingredients are pretty easy to procure, and so I decided to try it out on the kids. I don't make this very often, but whenever I make it, the kids are always pleased by this deviation from the daily stir-fries I place before them for dinner. After two years of not so frequent meatball spaghetti, I thought it is time to do things slightly differently. That's right, a change in the meat type and the shape of these meaty morsels.
I have to confess, first and foremost, that this recipe will be a "guess-timation" with regards to the weight of the meat. I usually buy my meat from the wet market and the quantities there are usually not in grams or kilograms but how many pieces of chicken breasts deboned and how many dollars of meat to grind. I'll be providing measurements such as "feels like 300g of such and such..." And I've never weighed out the other ingredients like onions, or measure the amount of mixed spice, pepper and light soy sauce used to season the meat. These vary all the time, depending on the amount of meat. This is really a "play by the eye" type of cooking. I suppose most cooking will be such.
To be honest, I have never made chunky tomato pasta sauce from scratch, even though it seems pretty easy when I refer to that pasta recipe book I bought. The problem lies with the tomatoes available in the local wet market. They did not look anything like those lusciously ripe red globes from Italy that look on the verge of bursting with sweet and tangy juice (yes, I associate pasta with Italy, ripe and beautiful tomatoes with Italy too). The tomatoes available here always come with more tang than sweet. More than often, they appear in shades of dark orange and deep yellow than bear any resemblance to that sunset red which tomatoes making their appearances in Asian Food Network would have. Then again, perhaps I have not looked hard enough. And of course what we have here are of a different species from those grown in Italy. I suppose I could get hold of some very promising tomatoes from gourmet shops or supermarkets. But the truth is, I am not willing to fork out that extra cash for a pot of tomato sauce ^_^ And so I have stayed faithful to bottles of chunky tomato with basil sauce from Prego or chunky Napoletana sauce from Leggo's.
I love mushrooms, so does the Tiny Man. The Hubby is neutral, anything is okay, he would say. The problem lies with my girl. She is totally disagreeable with mushrooms. She would avoid them like the plague, and sometimes refusing to touch any dish that comes with a little bit of mushrooms. I love mushrooms, and I love including tonnes of mushrooms into those store-bought pasta sauce. I am not about to relinquish the pleasure I find in munching on fat juicy bits of mushrooms well coated with tomato sauce. To please everyone in the family, and most importantly, the Mum (that's me), I add meaty mushrooms. And by meaty, I really mean MEATY. It will always be those huge king oyster mushrooms (eryngii) that resemble chicken drumstick (sometimes we call it drumstick mushroom) and fresh button mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms, and the occasional gargantuan portobellos. Apart from satisfying my palate, choosing these meaty fungi over those more frilly and fragile types has another function. It makes picking them out easier for my girl. Simple as that ^_^
The day I made this dish, I could not get hold of any meaty mushrooms from the supermarkets nearby. I was too lazy to walk 20 minutes to the other supermarket I know would definitely stockpile on these meaty mushrooms, and walk 20 minutes back home. Of course, I have no intention of driving out just to get these mushrooms. A compromise was necessary and so I did with a packet of those slightly frilly types of oyster mushrooms from a supermarket very close to home, wondering how it would taste with pasta and tomato sauce. It did not taste weird. It did not taste incompatible. But it didn't have the crunchiness and juiciness of meaty mushrooms.
It had always been simply frying up some minced meat before dumping a bottle of store-bought sauce two years ago. After the first attempt of introducing meatballs, I had never gone back to just plainly frying up the minced meat. But things got a little boring, at least for me, not too sure about the kids and the Hubby. I wanted to add some different texture to pork meatballs (and reduce the fat a little). Adding chicken breast meat seemed to be an obvious answer and so add the breast meat, I did. Here's the recipe, shaping the meat into balls or flat round patties is but a personal preference.
Pasta with mini chicken-pork patties
Ingredients (this amount is meant for my 2 kids and my Hubby plus me)
For the meat patties (feel free to roll these into balls)
feels like 300g minced pork (best to mince pork shoulder butt)
feels like 300g minced chicken breast (remove the skin please)
about 1 yellow onion, diced
about 1/2 tbsp mixed spice
about 1 tsp pepper
about 2 tbsp light soy sauce
about 1 egg, beaten
about 1 tsp corn starch
as much mushrooms (or none at all) as you like to eat
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 bottle, about 600g, of your favorite tomato pasta sauce
enough pasta to feed 2 large and 2 tiny being in the family (shapes of course is to your preference. I've written before that the Hubby loves spaghetti and the kids love fusilli. Satisfy your bosses!)
Method
1. Dice yellow onion into about 1cm cubes, fry these onions with small amount of oil until fragrant. Onions should be slightly browned and soft. Set aside and allow to cool adequately. These will be added to the minced meat.
2. Mince the pork and chicken breast meat together (or get your butcher to do it for you). Add the onions from step 1 (after adequately cooled). Season the meat and onion mixture with the rest of the seasonings. Cover with cling film and let the meat rest in the fridge for at least 3 hours. It is a good idea to prepare this the night before, provided time is available.
3. If using meaty mushrooms, process these into about 1.5cm cubes. The juicy and bouncy crunchiness is really a pleasure.
4. When ready to prepare this dish, shape the meat into desired size and design. Heat up some oil in a frying pan and brown your meat morsels. I usually do not fully cook the meat at this stage. Dish the meat out and set it aside.
5. Add the mushrooms (if using) to the remaining oil in the frying pan, add more oil if necessary. Fry the mushrooms for about 1 minute, if desired, more onions can also be added at this stage. Add the garlic and fry until garlicky fragrant is detected.
6. Empty your chosen brand of tomato pasta sauce, bring it to a slight boil.
7. Once pasta sauce starts to bubble gently, add the half-cooked meat morsels and bring to a full bubble. Basically the meat needs to be fully cooked.
8. Before turning off the heat, taste for adequate saltiness. Add more salt if desired. I will always add another generous dash of dried oregano and pepper.
9. Cook desired amount of pasta in adequate amount of salted water according to packaging instructions (^_^ can I really call this description useful instruction?). Drain the pasta and drench them with the sauce, adding as many meatballs or patties as you like, then serve. Tossing the pasta in the prepared sauce is another option, but I normally just ladle the sauce over the pasta. I love to let the meat flavored liquid find its own path at dressing my pasta.
Notes:
- after all the seasoning ingredients are added to the meat, massage the seasoning into the meat with your fingers in a claw-like manner. I find this method good in producing juicy meat that is both tight and juicy. My Mum also taught me another method. Scoop the whole lot of meat up and slap it back into its container. Repeat this a couple of times. One can detect a difference in the moisture level and tightness after a couple of slaps.
- I've specified "about 1 egg, beaten". This really depends on the amount of meat used. Sometimes more is required, sometimes less. This is visual cooking at work.
It had always been simply frying up some minced meat before dumping a bottle of store-bought sauce two years ago. After the first attempt of introducing meatballs, I had never gone back to just plainly frying up the minced meat. But things got a little boring, at least for me, not too sure about the kids and the Hubby. I wanted to add some different texture to pork meatballs (and reduce the fat a little). Adding chicken breast meat seemed to be an obvious answer and so add the breast meat, I did. Here's the recipe, shaping the meat into balls or flat round patties is but a personal preference.
Pasta with mini chicken-pork patties
Ingredients (this amount is meant for my 2 kids and my Hubby plus me)
For the meat patties (feel free to roll these into balls)
feels like 300g minced pork (best to mince pork shoulder butt)
feels like 300g minced chicken breast (remove the skin please)
about 1 yellow onion, diced
about 1/2 tbsp mixed spice
about 1 tsp pepper
about 2 tbsp light soy sauce
about 1 egg, beaten
about 1 tsp corn starch
as much mushrooms (or none at all) as you like to eat
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 bottle, about 600g, of your favorite tomato pasta sauce
enough pasta to feed 2 large and 2 tiny being in the family (shapes of course is to your preference. I've written before that the Hubby loves spaghetti and the kids love fusilli. Satisfy your bosses!)
Method
1. Dice yellow onion into about 1cm cubes, fry these onions with small amount of oil until fragrant. Onions should be slightly browned and soft. Set aside and allow to cool adequately. These will be added to the minced meat.
2. Mince the pork and chicken breast meat together (or get your butcher to do it for you). Add the onions from step 1 (after adequately cooled). Season the meat and onion mixture with the rest of the seasonings. Cover with cling film and let the meat rest in the fridge for at least 3 hours. It is a good idea to prepare this the night before, provided time is available.
3. If using meaty mushrooms, process these into about 1.5cm cubes. The juicy and bouncy crunchiness is really a pleasure.
5. Add the mushrooms (if using) to the remaining oil in the frying pan, add more oil if necessary. Fry the mushrooms for about 1 minute, if desired, more onions can also be added at this stage. Add the garlic and fry until garlicky fragrant is detected.
6. Empty your chosen brand of tomato pasta sauce, bring it to a slight boil.
7. Once pasta sauce starts to bubble gently, add the half-cooked meat morsels and bring to a full bubble. Basically the meat needs to be fully cooked.
8. Before turning off the heat, taste for adequate saltiness. Add more salt if desired. I will always add another generous dash of dried oregano and pepper.
9. Cook desired amount of pasta in adequate amount of salted water according to packaging instructions (^_^ can I really call this description useful instruction?). Drain the pasta and drench them with the sauce, adding as many meatballs or patties as you like, then serve. Tossing the pasta in the prepared sauce is another option, but I normally just ladle the sauce over the pasta. I love to let the meat flavored liquid find its own path at dressing my pasta.
Notes:
- after all the seasoning ingredients are added to the meat, massage the seasoning into the meat with your fingers in a claw-like manner. I find this method good in producing juicy meat that is both tight and juicy. My Mum also taught me another method. Scoop the whole lot of meat up and slap it back into its container. Repeat this a couple of times. One can detect a difference in the moisture level and tightness after a couple of slaps.
- I've specified "about 1 egg, beaten". This really depends on the amount of meat used. Sometimes more is required, sometimes less. This is visual cooking at work.
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