Swedish Meatballs

Swedish meatballs? Ja sure you betcha. I love 'em. It's another favorite comfort food for fall. This recipe was developed by my wife Kim and is a goodie. The gravy is full of good, hearty flavor and so are the meatballs. I love lots of gravy; you can't ever have too much gravy. Oh, and you can easily make this dish 'a shore' or at sea. Uff da. What a supper. Ja sure you betcha. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 can vegetable broth
• 1 T fish sauce
• 3 slices bread (heels work best)
• 1 C milk
• 3/4 lb hamburger
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 C yellow onion, chopped fine
• 5 T butter
• 3 T parsley, chopped
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t paprika
• 1/2 t grated lemon peel
• 1/4 t ground nutmeg
• 1/8 t ground allspice
• 1/3 C bread crumbs
• 1/2 C flour

Instructions:
Using a small pan over medium heat, saute onion in 1 T butter until soft. Set aside.

Mix bread slices & 1/2 C milk. Once bread has soaked up milk, drain to remove extra milk from bread and return extra milk to milk container for this recipe. Set milk soaked bread aside.

Heat a pot with chicken and vegetable broth and fish sauce over medium heat. Do not bring to a boil, but keep broth at just below a boil.

Mix hamburger & ground pork together, add eggs, parsley, spices, sauteed onions, and bread soaked in milk and mix well. Add bread crumbs and continue to mix. Make meat balls that are about 2" in size. Drop meatballs in hot broth and cook for 3-5 minutes. Heat a large frying pan with high sides over medium heat with 3 T butter. Remove meatballs from broth and pan fry meatballs until lightly browned on all sides. Set aside cooked meatballs.

In frying pan that just fried meatballs add 1 T of butter and flour to make a roux. Stir flour and butter (and pan drippings) together until smooth. Add hot broth to roux to make a gravy, stirring almost constantly. To get the desired gravy consistency (not too thick) add milk and mix well. Next add the meatballs to the gravy and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Cook 3 C of egg noodles. When ready, place cooked noodles down, then top with meatballs and gravy, and serve. Top with any left over chopped parsley. Enjoy.

Filipino Chicken Curry

I love curries and I came across this interesting variety. I suspect what makes it different from Indian or Thai curries is that fish sauce is used; otherwise it is similar to many other golden curries that I have made. Golden curries often have potatoes and other vegetables in them. This dish has celery and bell peppers maybe that too adds to it being a Filipino curry. It is a very tasty and comforting curry - great on cold, rainy days. As a lot of my recipes this is a 'one-pot-dish,' quick, easy to make, and full of flavor. It'll fill your house (or boat) with many wonderful scents and everybody will wonder what's cooking. This curry is a family favorite now.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 T vegetable oil
• 3-4 medium sized Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn potatoes, cut up into small pieces
• 3-4 chicken thighs
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 yellow onion, cut up
• 1 T fish sauce
• 3 T curry powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 C water
• 1 green, yellow or red bell pepper, cut up
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 can coconut milk
• Optional - fresh cut up basil leaves
• Optional - Sriracha red chili sauce

Instructions:
In a dutch oven or heavy pot using medium high heat, fry potatoes with 2 T of vegetable oil. Potatoes should be partially browned but not too soft. Remove potatoes from pot and set aside.

In the same pot that cooked the potatoes, heat 1 T of vegetable oil to hot, and quickly brown chicken thighs for about 3-5 minutes. Don't worry if bits of chicken stick to the bottom of the pot, this will be part of the flavor. Next add the chopped onions to the chicken, stir to mix and continue cooking until onions are soft and barely starting to brown. Add garlic to chicken and onions, mix well, and cook for another minute. Add the fish sauce and curry powder and cook for another 2 minutes. Next add the cup of water, celery, previously cooked potatoes, and bell pepper. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes until the vegetables are just starting to get soft. Taste and add salt & pepper if needed. Next add the can of coconut milk, stir until mixed well, lower heat and cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For additional flavor you can add cut up fresh basil leaves when you add the coconut milk. And, some might like it hotter, so you can serve it with some Sriracha red chili sauce.

Remove from heat and serve hot. Can be served by itself or over some steamed rice. Enjoy.

Canadian Caesar

In Canada a Caesar is not a salad but a wonderfully refreshing alcohol drink. Many lazy afternoons at anchor were made even more enjoyable with this great zesty and refreshing drink. It's made with Clamato juice and that is a requirement. No Clamato, no caesar. Canadian Clamato is a bit different that what you'll find in the US. It has anchovy extract in addition to clam juice which gives it a bit more of a "kick." However, US Clamato is fine too. The caesar is a favorite on the MV Independence.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 oz. of vodka
• 6-8 oz. of Clamato juice
• 1/2 tsp of A-1 sauce
• 1/4 tsp of lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp of Tabasco sauce (or to taste)
• Dash of cajun seasoning (to taste)
• Pickled asparagus or green beans as a garnish

Instructions:

Lots of ice Pour Clamato juice, A-1 sauce, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce into a tall glass. Mix well with a long spoon. Then add vodka and stir again. Add cajun seasoning to taste. Fill a glass with ice, add pickled garnish and pour caesar over ice. Enjoy. A caesar goes great with fresh steamed shrimp or cracked crab.