I couldn’t remember if I told you that my husband bought a cow? A half a cow actually. These are the kind of things he does. He is an over-purchaser (remind me to tell you about the cheese for the mac n’ cheese on Christmas.)The idea was great- an organically fed, grass roaming calf that comes from a great farm and produces high quality, healthy meat. And it is incredibly flavorful- like you can seriously tell the difference! But there is just so much!!! We are lucky enough to have an extra fridge and freezer in the basement. The entire freezer is full downstairs and part of our upstairs freezer too. Initially the meat was being hoarded- like “don’t eat that cut of steak! We are saving it for something good!” But now there is so much I barely know how we will get through it all in a timely manner!
At this point Pete would be happy to have it every single night, but since I don’t eat red meat all that often, sometimes I forget it is there. You know, until I want to fill the freezer with soup or Christmas cookies, and then I curse and roll my eyes and throw some of the frozen meat in the fridge so that I can cook it up.
I recently spied some of the lean ground beef on the top of the pile and decided it was going to become dinner. In an impulsive moment, I didn’t go for Italian style meatballs, but instead give them an Asian twist. And because I am trying to feed the family as healthfully as possible right now, I baked these instead of pan frying them.
Filled with onion, garlic, soy, sesame and cilantro, they had so much dimension and flavor which was only enhanced by a light and spicy dipping sauce. I served them over steamed jasmine rice and added some microgreens and sesame seeds for color. These were a huge hit with everyone, and I feel like they could also be a good appetizer- but I definitely loved them as a healthy way to eat ground beef. If you were looking to avoid red meat, I think that these would be wonderful with lean ground pork or turkey.
To make these Asian Meatballs, this is what you do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a sheet pan with a sheet of parchment or a silpat.
In a large bowl, combine all of the meatball ingredients together. With clean hands, really squish everything together until it is really well incorporated together.
Form the meat into balls (I made about 1 ½- 2” balls). Then bake the meatballs at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until just cooked through.
Serve them hot on their own or with steamed rice and dipping sauce.
For the dipping sauce:
Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce and let flavors meld until ready to serve.
Recipe: Asian Meatballs
makes 2 dozen meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs lean ground beef
- ½ a medium red onion, minced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- juice in 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon siracha
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 egg, beaten
- ¼ cup milk
- Ginger, Lime and Soy Dipping Sauce
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 teaspoon siracha
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- For the Meatballs:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl, combine all of the meatball ingredients together. With clean hands, really squish everything together until it is really well incorporated together.
- Form the meat into balls (I made about 1 ½- 2” balls). Then bake the meatballs at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until just cooked through.
- Serve them hot on their own or with steamed rice and dipping sauce.
- For the dipping sauce:
- Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce and let flavors meld until ready to serve.
Cooking time:
whoa whoa whoa. these are amazing
Oh man, my brother would be in heaven if I bough half a cow!! HAHA!
These meatballs looks amazing. I love that you went Asian and not Italian. I am all about the Asian flavors right now!
These look killer, love the Asian flavors!
I don’t eat red meat at all, really, but my daughter who lives with me does, and I think I will make this for her as a surprise. She will be really surprised, coming from me! 🙂 We love Asian flavors, and I actually just made an Asian-flavored cucumber salad tonight, and steamed rice in our rice cooker, so this will be great with those. Thanks for the idea!
These sound so tasty!
Looks so yummy Heather!
Loooove these flavors. I want to buy a cow! Darn tiny freezer…
Oh my gosh Heather – we JUST did the same thing!! Except we bought a quarter beef and got it at Christmas! But our freezer is FULL – as in-will barely close-full!! hahah Ohhhh, Pete.
Obviously, with all this beef we have now I needed some inspiration – and you just sealed the deal on the first recipe with some of our ground! This looks scrumptious!
This sounds amazing! Since I’m veggie that might sound strange but I’ve been craving stir fry and I don’t know how to make a veggie version that is flavorful since recipes seem to rely on fish sauces, etc. If you have any veggie stir fry recipes or ideas I’d be very appreciative.
Haha, that’s funny (re: cow story). I wish we had a chest freezer so I can over-buy like your husband! I love having everything stashed away for whenever I need it! These are the perfect little appetizers or entree! Love it
Wow…these looks simply wonderful! I feel ya on the excess of meat. My husband went hunting three years ago and brought us home an entire deer! We lived in an apartment with a little freezer in the fridge that was STUFFED with venison. Those silly men and their red meat!
These meatballs sound fantastic! I would love to buy half a cow!
I like that the meatballs are baked so that they can all be cooked in one shot, instead of standing over a spitting, sputtering pan; and I just plain ol’ love the Asian flavors!
These look shockingly delicious! Can’t wait to try them.
What a great, tasty meatball makeover!
These sound wonderful! I can’t resist a good meatball.
I love this twist on the classic meatball! My family will LOVE these!
These meatballs!! Sooo making these babies 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous, Heather!
What a great way to use up that “half a cow!”
These meatballs look great & I love how you plated them too!
Whoa mama! These meatballs look incredible. And um… I want to buy a cow now.
Have you considered giving some away to people in need?? Too much meat in the fridge, horrible first world problem.
Lisa- i would never let the meat rot. It is in the freezer. If we can’t get through it by the Summer, then I would be happy to donate it.
These meatballs look delicious! It is great that you have a half a beef in your freezer, but it is indeed a shift in thinking about how to use it wisely and work it into your family meal planning. We raise beef, so I have spent my entire life (I even got a gift of a freezer and beef to use during college to eat healthy and save money) with access to beef at home in the freezer. It really is such a great value.
While I’m sure your culinary background serves you well when you are working with different cuts, I don’t blame you for getting overwhelmed with the full freezer! I guess to me, beef has been more of a diet staple than a splurge, whether or not the family is on a heightened healthy eating focus. I know that actually most of the cuts I have from my half are lean – in the range of skinless chicken thigh so I don’t do much protein swapping. I mostly just focus on the overall balance and nutrients in the meal and serve more veg, less gravy :-).
A tool that might be helpful as you stare at the frozen packages of beef and wonder how they will fit your nutrition goals is the Interactive Butcher Counter — http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/butchercounter.aspx#start
You can use it in many ways, but I tend to bring some cuts in to defrost and look up, by the cut name on the package for some recipe inspiration. I know which of the cuts are leaner than others, but if you’re curious, the tool has the nutritionals – fat, calories, protein, iron, etc. for a cooked serving of each cut. I posted on the blog about it the other day if you are interested in more info: http://ranchwifelife.com/2014/01/31/new-year-new-calves-and-new-recipes/…Sorry for all of the unsolicited beef advice, but I can relate to the freezer and want to help you feel more blessed than stressed!
I found this post from the beef chili post, that looks delicious too! And I love how you described the excitement for our Hawks (and the shear stress of that game against the 9ers) to your readers who aren’t from here!
That ginger lime soy dipping sauce sounds amazing!
Heather,
Made these tonight for myself and my roommates and they were amazing! We all agreed that it reminds us of nothing else – which I love! The sauce really makes it too – love the addition of lime. Thanks for sharing!!
Jen
Thank you so much Jennifer!!!