Recipe: Fresh Spaghetti and Meatballs

As promised, here is my first actual entry that consisted of me making food in preparation for this crap I'm doing right now. I wanted to do something a little more exciting that spaghetti and meatballs, but others in the family don't have as exciting taste buds as mine.. Nonetheless, until I return to TO, I'll have to deal with it. Much like the turkey dinner I pounded over the weekend, meatballs make for a great day after meal in the form of a meatball sandwich. The thing I like best about this meal is all the fresh ingredients and how the meatballs are cooked in with the sauce... they became so moist and tender. If they were ribs, they'd be falling off the rack.. Of course there can be lots of changes made.. If you like a really sweet sauce, add more sugar. If you like an extra kick, through in some chili garlic sauce or frank's.. Other than that, please enjoy! The picks were taken using my iPhone (Original 3G so camera sucks..)

I got a little over excited and dived into the meal before taking the first picture.... my bad

Ingredients

Pasta Sauce

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 (16 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 
  
• Meatballs

• 1 pound ground round
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/6 cup chopped fresh oregano

• 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked spaghetti

Directions:

Step numero uno.. Sauce.. Start off by chopping up the onions and mincing the garlic as shown below... Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, and cook the onion until it's lightly brown. Mix in the 3 garlic cloves and cook for another minute. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar and 1/4 cup oregano.. Bring the sauce to a boil, seasoning with salt and pepper, then reduce heat to low and simmer. 

Step numero deu.. Meatballs.. Mix together the ground beef, bread crumbs, 1/6 cup oregano, 2 cloves garlic, parsley, eggs and parmesan cheese.. Season again with salt and pepper as required. Roll the mixture into small balls and put into the sauce.. Cook the meatballs in the sauce for around 40 minutes or until they are done.. Since I don't have a thermometer for meat, I found the best way to check is to take a meatball out of the sauce and cut in half.  

Step numero tre.. cook the pasta. This is (I hope) the easiest step for everyone. Bring a pot of water to a boil and throw in the package of spaghetti.. If theres only a couple of people eating.. obviously a package might be a little much, so dictate how much you need appropriately. Cook about 9 minutes or until al dente, and drain. Serve under meatballs and sauce.

Jagalchi Food Market

Just watched the Canucks run show over the Flyers.. so in celebration I will continue the onslaught of blog entries. This will be my last Korea related food entry and centered around the Jagalchi food market in Busan, South Korea. So what was so special about this moment? Well if you like raw fish.. it was something else.. including the raw octopus. Although it wasn't my first time eating raw octopus, it was still interesting... usually it is eaten with a dipping sauce consisting of sesame oil, salt and pepper.. When dipping, the octopus reacts to the salt in the dip and starts to have a mind of its own.. squirming around on your chopstick making it difficult to eat for any non-asian. To continue, there was also a variety of other raw fish and things that were just crazy.. some i put in my mouth and spit right out.. It was like eating tire rubber.. Much like other Korean dinners, we also had a bunch of other side dishes... although these were more seafood oriented.. I specifically remember small crab legs in red pepper paste.. I honestly don't think there was any meat in them whatsoever.. Or maybe I just sucked at getting it out, which very well may have been the problem.. We also got to walk around the fish market where they had all these open air stalls with fresh fish.. really interesting and much unlike anything we'd have at home in the super market.. Anyways I have prepared my first recipe oriented dish tonight, Spaghetti and a Meataballa.. its really tame but delicious! So check it out later:) Here are the pics from Jagalchi though!

Trying to get a hold of the octopus... fail

Our sushi boat

Bins upon bins of fresh seafood

Going down...

Jagalchi market get 3 iron rings out of 5.. It was definately interesting and different.. but after taking down some Tokyo sushi a few weeks before, just doesnt quite make the top grade..

Korean Barbecue and Pork Belly

Korean BBQ has to be one of the most exported korean dish available.. I on the other hand, had the chance of experiencing it without the "export" part. Most often the dishes are prepared at the table and consist of an assortment of meats and side dishes. That is why I have gone ahead and combined the bbq and pork belly posts together.. They are both cooked sitting down at the table.. In Korea.. these had to be by far my favorite meals, other than Korean fried chicken or "Yum Yum" chicken.. But thats a whole other story. For anyone that has had Korean BBQ or Pork Belly you know it is delicious.. you wrap it up with a lettuce leaf and throw in a little garlic, some bean paste, kimchi and of course meat and shove that sucker right in. These dishes are accompanied by a variety of side dishes that you pick at throughout the meal.. pickled this, pickled that, some tofu.. just a bunch of different things..

Here is the Pork Belly on a cast iron cooking grill.. 

Pork Belly with garlic, green onion with hot pepper paste and bean pasta wrapped in a lettuce leaf


And here is some more at a different restaurant in Seoul.. They also had sausage too!

I give these places 4.5 iron rings out of 5..

Recipe: Korean Rice Balls

When I created this blog, I had yet to actually prepare any meals and pictures, so I will be back tracking a little bit what I have. This summer after graduation I decided to take a little time off and travel Korea and Japan. Needless to say, the food is amazing. In Seoul, I had the opportunity to attend a cooking class put on for Korean students that would be attending western universities and wanted to learn a few basics. I was only there for the one class (they put on six), but heres what I took out of it. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab the recipes for these meals, so my first post will be pictures only. I know, I'm as disappointed in myself as much as your are. First up are rice balls filled with red pepper paste (gochujang) and tuna... Extremely simple. You wouldn't want to eat this as a full meal.. but a great snack they make.

Rice Balls

Ingredients:

Sticky Rice

Korean Rice Seasoning

Canned Tuna

Gochujang - Red Pepper paste

Make the rice as specified on the package. A safe bet is usually 2 parts water, 1 part rice. 

Form the rice with your hand into a flat patty about 1/2 an inch thick and the size of your palm. Take a small scoop (maybe 1/8th of a can) of drained tuna and an even smaller scoop (pea sized) of the red pepper paste and place them in the middle of the rice patty. 

Wrap the edges of the rice around the filling and form into a ball shape. Make sure the rice fully covers the filling.. If your having trouble or didn't use enough rice, feel free to just add a bit more to complete the ball.. Finish this off by rolling the ball in the rice seasoning.. 

And enjoy:)

Finished Rice Balls

Unfortunately thats really the only thing I can remember, but here are some of the other things that we made.. Bulgogi, another rice dish and Japanese curry

Bulgogi

Bulgogi and rice mixture

Japanese Curry

Bonjourno

Hey everyone.. you may ask yourself, why should I read this guys blog or why is he even starting a blog or what the hell is with the name?..Its plain and simple. I like eating good food and have too much time on my hands.So what will this blog be about? I'm going to start off mainly by reviewing different restaurants around town as well as posting recipes and meals I create at my leisure. It will be a journey through my culinary adventures. Most likely this will expand to and include some rants about the current state of the world and an outsiders look at economics. A little about myself first. I'm a new graduate electrical engineer from the west coast, now living and working in the big smoke (Toronto). What types of food will I be diving into? Well pretty much anything and everything. For the most part, any recipes presented will be tasty but easy to make. I don't claim to be an expert cook, but ain't bad at throwing stuff into the pan for a quick healthy meal. In terms of restaurants I will be checking out, don't expect any 5 stars... some of the best food in the city can be found just around the corner in small family run restaurants. Anyways enjoy!