Minted Meatballs with a Spicy Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

Mmmm, meatballs.  I love them.  I think every country/region has it's own variation.
In fact, if I was to host an international food festival I would have all the participants only make meatballs.  Meatballs representing their country's herbs, spices, and meat (or lack of).
You can really learn a lot from someone by tasting their meatball.  Oh yeah, I have to keep this PG ;) hehe

So the meatballs I made today would definitely represent the spices and herbs my mom would use in all of her recipes.  We eat yogurt with everything, and it's only natural for me to use yogurt as the dipping sauce for these meatballs.


For the meatballs:
1 pound of organic ground beef (85/15 or leaner)
1/2 an onion, grated
1 egg
1 Tbsp fresh, minced parsley
1 Tbsp dried mint
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
S/P to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together and form into meatballs by rolling the meat in your hand.
-oh boy, it's hard to describe making meatballs without making you blush-
After you've formed your meatballs and placed them on a tray, refrigerate for about half an hour.

I yielded about 30 meatballs for a pound of beef, but you can get up to 60 or 70 if you make them smaller.

While your meat is chillin...
Make the yogurt sauce:

About 2 cups of yogurt
1/2 English cucumber, diced small
1/4 onion, diced small
2 tbsp. dried mint
1 tbsp. dried dill
couple pinches of cayenne for heat
couple drops of extra virgin olive oil
squeeze of a lime
salt to taste

Mix it all together and refrigerate until ready to use.

To cook off the meatballs, heat a non-stick skillet with just a teaspoon of oil (literally, b/c you don't need all the oil as the meat has it's own fat it releases during the cooking process).  

Once the skillet is hot enough place as much of the meatballs you can in the pan without over crowding. You may have to cook off in batches.  Give all sides a good sear and cook until done.

Place it on a plate and serve with the yogurt sauce.  

Enjoy it in a wrap with mixed greens, on a bed of basmati rice, or simply on its own.

Meatballs are a great way to kick off the summer with healthy eating.  Their healthy if you cook them without frying.  Using yogurt as a dipping sauce instead of ranch or sour cream really cuts out the extra calories.  And, visually you feel like you're eating more when in fact 3-5 meatballs (as pictured) is less meat than a hamburger. Just think, most of us can eat an 8 oz burger in one sitting...that's a lot of meat.

Light Dinner for 2: Spanish inspired Gambas with Shirazi Rice Salad

Spanish inspired Gambas with Shirazi Rice Salad.

Since being a stay at home mom, I've come to appreciate my time with Rumi.  It gives me the opportunity to not only give him my unconditional love, but I get to teach him about the world around him.  Every milestone, every giggle, and every meltdown I'm there with him along the way.  Teaching him and showing him his world is priceless!!
Being a stay at home mom also means we solely rely on my husbands income.  So we budget like any family does relying on one income. And, since a big part of our budget goes towards groceries, I have to do my very best in utilizing what I have in the pantry, fridge and freezer without having to make an unnecessary trip to the grocer.
I was inspired to make this dish based on left over rice (that I would normally toss in the trash), vegetables I had in the fridge, and shrimp I purchase in bulk and keep in the freezer.

Shirazi salad is a popular Persian salad from the city of Shiraz (my mom's home city).  It is a a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions tossed with mint and lemon vinaigrette.  It's the perfect summer salad!!

This recipe is my version as I've added basmati rice and Spanish inspired shrimp for a light dinner for 2.

For Shrimp:
10 medium sized shrimp, shelled, deveined, butterflied
a teaspoon of the following spices:
garlic powder, Spanish smoked paprika, chile pepper, salt/pepper
Zest of half lemon
Juice of half a lemon

Marinate for 10 minutes.  You'll notice the shrimp turning pink as the lemon juice partially cooks the shrimp.  At this point, in a small sauce pan heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil and saute your shrimp until it's done.  You'll know shrimp is done once it turns pink.  Remove from heat and set aside.
Make your warm dressing:
In the same sauce pan with the pan juices from the shrimp heat the pan on medium high heat until the sauce reduces to about 3 tablespoons.  Set aside.

For the salad:
1/2 cup left over rice
6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved
half a cucumber, medium diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
zest of half a lemon
1 tbsp. dried dill or 3 tbsp. fresh

Lemon vinaigrette:
Juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
garlic powder
s/p

To assemble:
Toss the salad with the vinaigrette.  Pour a heaping pile of the salad onto a plate, place 5 shrimp on top and pour 1/2 of the warm dressing on the shrimp and along the border of the salad.

This salad is light, yet filling. Perfect after workout dinner!

Strawberry Pie

I call this the "one-handed" pie.  Like most of my cooking/baking, I'm usually holding Rumi with my left arm and cooking with my right.  I was lucky enough to prepare this pie while he was sleeping most of the time, but the rustic crust is thanks to Rumi.
Which brings me to say that the saying "easy as pie" holds true!!! Especially this pie recipe that I found in my Saveur magazine issue #139!  It's not only easy, but really fast to make...just allow an hour to cool your dough before rolling it out.

3 cups flour

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed/chilled

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

3 lb. strawberries, halved

1/2 cup, plus tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 tbsp. orange juice

1 tbsp. orange zest

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

2 tbsp. heavy cream

1. Pulse flour, salt and butter in food processor until pea-size pieces form.  Add 1/2 cup of ice-cold water; pulse until dough forms.  Form into a ball; halve and form into two disks. Wrap; chill for an hour.

2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, toss together the remaining salt, berries, 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch, juice, zest, and vanilla.  Set aside.  Unwrap dough, roll both into 11" wide and 1/8" thick circles.  Transfer one circle to a 9" deep-dish pie pan; mound filling inside.  Cut 3/4" strips from remaining circle; transfer to top of pie, creating a lattice pattern.  Trim and crimp the edges. Brush dough with heavy cream and sprinkle with remaining sugar.  Bake until golden and bubbling, about 1 hour.

(If crust begins to brown before pie is finished baking, cover with foil until pie is done). Let cool.

I really enjoyed making this pie because it was not only VERY easy, (coming from someone who once thought pies were hard to make) it is actually delicious.  Not overly sweet, just simple. And with that said, add more sugar if you like your pies to be very sweet.

Parisa's Purrrsian Margaritas

Photo of my beautiful cousin: Parisa :)

If "Margarita" was Persian, then her name would be "Parisa."
Ok. Maybe not.
But my beautiful cousin Parisa is as tangy, salty, and refreshing as a margarita should be.

We always look forward to her visits from L.A.  *She entertains us with her stories.  She makes us laugh with her jokes. And she always has the latest trend advice.  She's a fashion designer--currently the Senior Designer at G by Guess.  So she gets the V.I.P treatment where ever she goes: concerts, indy movie screenings, or any festival just so she can scope out the latest trends.*

When we do get together, we always find a reason to cook something together.
This time we did it a little differently--adding margaritas to the mix.
I made organic burgers, Mahsa made creamy, baked mac n cheese with organic vegetables, and Parisa made the margaritas.

Parisa's Purrrsian Margarita

1 1/2 oz. silver tequila

1 oz. orange liqueur 

juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp. pomegranate molasses

splash of simple syrup

splash of rose water

2 sprigs of mint, plus 1 for garnishing

lime wedge to garnish

salt to garnish (optional)

Build the margarita (all listed ingredients, minus garnish) in a glass filled with ice.

Pour into a shaker.

Shake vigorously.

Rub lime wedge around the rim

 Salt the rim

 Pour the cocktail into the salted glass with fresh ice and garnish with the lime wedge and mint

Cheers.

The rosewater, pomegranate molasses, and mint really make this margarita delicate, yet vibrant--just like Parisa!