I Can Boil Water: A Cooking Manual

Every spring my good friend Sass (@grazingingrass – follow her!) puts on a fabulous picnic to celebrate Hanami.  Hanami is the traditional viewing of the Japanese Cherry Trees, and my friends celebrate here in DC during the Cherry Blossom Festival with a picnic of Japanese foods (both authentic and inspired) or whatever people bring to share.  This picnic is an annual highlight and a great chance to break out of the mold and try cooking new things.  I definitely think these meatballs are the most successful item I’ve cooked for Hanami to date – ironic of course that I couldn’t eat them.

I did make major adjustments to the original recipe, which I found in the March 2012 issue of Food & Wine magazine.  I’m going to post below what I did as I know it was a success.  The biggest adjustment I did have to make to the original recipe was to the meat.  When I went grocery shopping there was no ground chicken, so I had to substitute with ground turkey breast.  I also baked and pan seared the balls as opposed to grilling them per the original recipe.  I had to work with the tools I have, and so that’s reflected in the delicious recipe below.

Turkey Meatball Yakitori (Tsukune) – 1 Knife (Adapted from “Chicken Meatball Yakitori” in Food & Wine March 2012)

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup sake
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ mirin plus 2 tablespoons of mirin
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 lemon
• 1 medium shallot
• 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil

Prep:

1. Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium bowl (the bowl you’ll eventually mix the meatballs in) zest the whole lemon.  Save the remaining lemon for serving.
3. Remove the skin from the shallot and chop into a fine mince.  Add to the bowl with the zest.
4. Cover a baking sheet with tin foil.  This will ease clean up later – you’re welcome.

Cook:

1. In a small saucepan combine the sugar, sake, soy sauce, and ¼ cup of the mirin.
2. Bring the sauce to a boil over high heat and cook for 3-5 minutes until the sauce reduces to about ¾ cup.  Make sure to stir well so the sugar doesn’t burn to the bottom and dissolves into the sauce.
3. Set the sauce aside to allow to cool.
4. In the bowl with the zest and shallot, add the turkey, salt, and 2 tablespoons of mirin.
5. Mix the meat with the other ingredients until well combined.  I find that using your hands works best, however you can also use a spoon.
6. Form the meatballs, making them about 1 inch in diameter, and place on the baking sheet.
7. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
8. After the 15 minutes carefully baste (or drizzle with a spoon) the meatballs with a little bit of the sauce.
9. Bake the meatballs for another 5 minutes.
10. Heat a skillet over medium and add 1 tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil.
11. Once the oil is hot toss the meatballs into the skillet to brown them for about 3 minutes.  There is no exact timing here, just brown until they look good to you.
12. Once browned pour about ¼ cup of the sauce to the pan making sure to coat the meatballs, and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
13. Serve the meatballs with the leftover sauce as well as wedges cut from the lemon and enjoy!