Virtuous Asian Meatball Soup

I like it when I'm a virtuous person. Growing up a Protestant Wisconsinite I was under the impression that virtuousness was the ideal state of being. Naked in hot tubs? That was for California girls. Getting up early to help at the church rummage sale? That was for us. Occasionally our plight of hard work and God-fearing hours would lead not to basements full of dusty leisure suits and jaundiced lighting, but to something with a more sensual reward, like, say, u-pick strawberries. Although now that I think about it I did buy my first copy of The Great Gatsby at a church rummage sale. I bought it because it had Robert Redford and Mia Farrow on the cover, and as a 12 year old I was deeply in love with Robert Redford. If he had been on the cover of Atlas Shrugged I would have snatched it up and tried to enjoy it.
I have since moved south, and then west. With those moves I have weakened my resolve against the hedonistic lifestyle, and have even been naked in a hot tub, although I won't say I enjoyed it.
I indulge in all sorts of pleasures, particularly those of food and drink, and every now and then my Midwestern superego will tsk tsk in my ear. If I've had a weekend of duck fat fried potatoes, horseradish cream sauce, puff pastry stuffed with the first of the morels, and possibly some country ham, that superego will lay out ideas for low cost and low calorie dinners. This austerity usually lasts a night or two, at most, but it seems enough to make me feel thin-ish. I'm also relieved that these meals usually clear out the 'frig of the leftover hamburger or ground pork or roast whatever from the weekend. I'm also thrilled with the economy of it all. In short, they make me feel virtuous.

My Virtuous Asian Meatball Soup

Meatballs:
5 oz raw ground beef leftover from your caramelized onion and cheddar burgers
2 T toasted sesame seeds, black or white
1 large clove garlic
An equal amount of ginger
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 T minced green onion or shallot

Blend ingredients and form into small meatballs the size of a fat grape. Brown over medium heat, drain and set aside.

Soup:
4 cup stock, whatever homemade stock you have on hand
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar, black or sherry
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cup vegetables--thinly sliced mushrooms, shredded greens, julienned carrot--whatever you have on hand
1 egg
scallions and/or cilantro

Bring stock to simmer. Add sugar, soy sauce and vinegar and stir to dissolve. Add vegetables and meatballs and simmer for about a minute or so.
Stir egg vigorously. Add to simmering soup in a steady stream.
Season to taste and serve with chili sauce and thinly sliced scallions and/or cilantro.
I also like to add frozen dumplings or leftover rice or noodles to the soup.

What To Do With a Lamb Neck

It's getting on towards end-of-animal time. Strictly speaking, I'm exaggerating. I still have plenty of lamb, beef and pork. I did re-organize my freezer the other day, though, and did a little inventory. Still have large cuts of pork--good for the upcoming bbq season (which, in Oregon, is roughly 1 month starting in mid-July), but too many hams. I guess we'll be having some ham-themed dinner parties upcoming. Stay tuned. The chops are all but gone. The ground pork is dangerously low. I cooked the last steak (sirloin) on Sunday for what turned out to be an excellent, er, restorative dinner. A very butch dinner of steak, baked potato and an icy martini, gin, thank you very much.

I think I did a little mis-management of my meat this season--I've got too many large, "celebration" cuts, and dwindling supplies of quick and easy dinner-for-two cuts.

Amongst the large cuts like hams, leg of lamb and pork bellies are a couple tongues, a pair of trotters, and, until, this past weekend, a lamb neck. I've been calling these the alternative cuts. Not offal, not organs, but not things you normally see in a grocery store, and maybe not things you grew up eating or cooking. The unfamiliarity, however, does not interfere with their deliciousness. And if I'm ever unsure of how to cook an alternative cut, I turn to my motto: "when in doubt, braise".

We had people over for Easter/Passover/post bike ride eating last weekend. I wanted to do a menu that was mainly Passover (as a Chaim Potok reading non-Jew I leapt at the opportunity to cook Jewish celebration food after marrying a sort-of Jew). It would also be a good conceit to feed my lactose-intolerant dinner guest. Naturally, I turned to Chinese cuisine.

I used the lamb neck to make twice cooked lamb. Based on a recipe from Fuschia Dunlop's excellent Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, I marinated the neck overnight in regular and dark soy sauces and sugar. The following day I braised the neck with ginger, garlic, leeks and stock.
The day after that, the day of the dinner party, I drained, de-boned and de-gnarled the meat, then wok-fried the chunks in a goodly amount of peanut oil (I'm a little sorry I didn't use lard. Next time.), a spoonful of my friend Jill's endlessly useful homemade plum sauce, and a splash of stock. The stock, I'm afraid, was made from a nice ham bone. It was what I had on hand, and it was lovely stock, and, well, it was sort of Easter, too.

The lamb was gorgeous--succulent chunks of mahogany garnished with a large handful of chopped cilantro.