Vegetable “Meatballs” for Taste and Savings by Ruth Paget
When I was younger, one of my job duties at several employers was to arrange cocktail party catering that was delicious, elegant, and not too expensive.
At that time, I would have loved to have had Michele Anna Jordan’s More than Meatballs: From Arancini to Zucchini Fritters and 65 Recipes in Between to use as an ordering reference. She provides traditional Italian fare as well as items like Chicken Kiev meatballs that she serves on a bed of spring lettuce instead of paper doilies to pass with convenient tooth picks poked in them for easy serving.
She also has a recipe for turkey and sage meatballs that you can serve with a tomato coulis dipping sauce. Both the Chicken Kiev and turkey meatballs would pair well with pinot gris, rosé, and sauvignon blanc wine. Those three wines are usually not too expensive an perfect for large gatherings.
Michele Anna Jordan has meatball recipes from around the world such as Vietnamese shrimp balls, Ethiopian kitfo, and spicy Thai meatballs with coconut and peanut sauce that make cocktail party planning an educational experience for the organizer.
However the recipes that really interest me from my vantage point in Salinas (California), an agricultural capital with more than 200+ agricultural products cultivated in surrounding Monterey County, are the vegetable ball fritters.
These recipes include:
-carrot fritters
-zucchini fritters with basil and mint
-spaghetti squash fritters
-mashed potato fritters
-parsnip fritters with horseradish cream
-eggplant polpettine
-chickpea balls (like falafel)
Hard cider like Henry Hot Spurs would go well with fried vegetable fritters like these.
If you have a food processor with a grater attachment, these vegetable fritters are east to make. Generally, you add grated vegetables to breadcrumbs with egg as a binder and form the mixture into balls for frying.
The meatballs and fritters that Michele Anna Jordan describes in More than Meatballs can be made ahead and warmed up for parties or weekday lunches.
The variety of recipes from around the world in More than Meatballs by Michele Anna Jordan make it a nice addition to kitchen reference shelves.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
