A long time ago, in a galaxy…er, shire not so far, far away, I played (which is to say, cooked) in the kitchens of a medieval recreational group known as the SCA. For my first and only solo run as feastocrat, I played the part of an Italian chef who had been kidnapped by German Landsknechts and forced to serve dinner to their king and queen. Tongue firmly planted in cheek, I was determined to find a way to give them what they wanted…and served up spaghetti and meatballs, medieval-style.

These meatballs, served aside pasta cooked in chicken stock and topped with shaved parmesan cheese, were as delicious as they were fun.

Spiced Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. chicken breast meat or boneless pork loin
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp. butter, softened
• 2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped fine
• 1/4 tsp. powdered ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup flour, as needed
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and shaved parmesan, for garnish

Fill a medium pot 3/4 full with cold water and bring to a simmer. Poach chicken breasts or pork until just cooked. Drain and set aside to cool. When meat is cool, shred with forks and then chop with a knife until very fine (do not use food processor).

Place shredded meat in a medium bowl and, using your hands, combine meat, cheese, butter, parsley, thyme, ginger, cloves, and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Add flour until mixture is stiff but still slightly sticky, and roll into small (3/4-1″) balls.* Roll balls in flour and set on lined sheet pan. Chill for 1 hour**.

Bring chicken stock to a boil and drop meatballs into the stock in batches. Reduce heat and simmer balls for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through. Move finished balls to a serving dish while the other batches are being cooked.

To serve, top meatballs with a small amount of hot stock, a sprinkling of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and a generous amount of parmesan cheese.

Serves 6-8.

*Tip: finished balls should be the size and texture of Swedish meatballs, not traditional Italian meatballs.

**Meatballs can be frozen at this point by placing the sheet pan into the freezer until the balls have frozen solid, and then bagging the frozen pieces so that they do not stick together. Resulting meatballs can be cooked from frozen.

This post was inspired by Serge the Concierge’s Get Cooking challenge, “Meatballs for Seth“.

Image by Dalyswe.

Happy belated holidays to one and all! After the semester ended, Mer and I got to work on our holiday baking. We split our projects between family traditions and our own take on other bloggers’ recipes. Our other projects included my Magical Mint Cookies, Mer’s Date Squares, and our version of the Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies from Never Bashful with Butter.

Today’s recap is our version of the ginger-cinnamon caramels, posted at The Kitchn at Apartment Therapy. Because I didn’t have the extract called for in the original recipe, I used an infusion technique that worked wonderfully. Unfortunately, I didn’t cook the sugar enough in the first pass, so while the finished product was delightful and caramel-ly when cold, the candies melted into goo at room temperature. The recipe here is adjusted to reflect that.

Ginger-Cinnamon Caramels

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cream
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter chunks
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 5″ ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• additional sugar for coating
• melted butter for coating the pan (approximately 3 tbsp), cooled

Line a 13×9″ pan with foil. Brush foil with melted butter and place pan in freezer until butter is set. Repeat. Return pan to freezer until ready to pour.

Peel ginger and cut into rough chunks. Place ginger, cinnamon, and cream into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and warm over low heat for 90 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to steep until cool. Strain and set aside, discarding cinnamon and ginger.

Combine sugar, syrup, and water in a very large, very heavy pot and stir until combined. Place over medium-high heat stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Turn heat to high and cook, without stirring, until the liquid is a dark red amber color. (Do not cook past this point, or caramel will turn bitter.)

Remove from heat and whisk in butter. With your face well away from the pot, slowly and carefully whisk in the cream. (The mixture will bubble and steam.) Continue whisking until well-combined. Return to high heat and whisk until mixture boils. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches the firm-ball stage (244-248 degrees on a candy thermometer).

Remove from heat and whisk in the salt. Pour into the prepared pan. Cool at room temperature until bottom of the pan is just warm to the touch; cover and move to the refrigerator to set overnight.

Unmold the candy onto a large cutting board or sheet pan. Grease the blades of a pair of cooking shears and use them to snip the caramel into bite-sized pieces. Toss cut pieces into a large zip-top bag containing a few tablespoons of sugar and shake to coat.

Makes about 10-12 dozen pieces, depending on size.