Meatballs, Meatballs, Meatballs! (Hungry & Healthy)

Hey there! Crazy title for a blog, but before this week is over, my life will involve 3 different types of meatballs. I'll start in reverse ...

This Saturday's new episode of Cooking for Real - Hungry and Healthy features my go-to catering recipe for chicken meatballs. I never really had a standard menu when I catered, I did just what the word means ... I catered to the client. So many times I'd get the request for things without beef or pork and one of those requests was for meatballs. You know the kind you get at saaaaay an after work happy hour buffet? Drowned in barbeque sauce with toothpicks for utensils? Well, that's how I served them when requested, in a homemade BBQ sauce with a flame beneath to keep 'em warm and bubbly. Fast forward to the present and I still make them, just without all the drowning. I team my Zesty Chicken Meatballs with a pesto I love, my Collard Green Pesto with Linguine. I absolutely love pesto. First off, pesto is fresh, simple and tasty. Plus, there are so many variations that you don't get locked into just one style. Variety is what I like in food. I actually made some pesto Wednesday for a tomato tart recipe I hope to share with you soon. Take a look ...
Ever have a tomato tart with pesto? This week was my first time having the two together, but when I got some really pretty and fragrant basil this week and my tomatoes were perfect for roasting, I woke up with a brainstorm. Don't you love a foodie brainstorm when you get it? Even better when it turns out tasty and pretty, huh? I really do hope you like the recipe, I plan to pitch if for the next season of Cooking for Real.

Anyway, Saturday's pesto isn't the one I teamed with the tomatoes for the tart, but it's great where I put it, with some wheat pasta. It's really such a strong pesto with crazy personality from the collards that it works wonders with the sturdy chew and earthy flavor of wheat pasta. Finishing the meal off is a quick dessert drink I call a Blackberry Gin Fizz Float. I'm a sucker for dessert and it's even better when it's portable and spiked. Of course, this is just as good without the gin, but give it a go if you like spirits.

Now for the other two meatballs ...
No, these people aren't meatballs :-), but they made some! That's Carla from Season 5 of Top Chef and 2009 Tony Award winner for leading actor in a musical, Kiril Kulish. If you know the story of the Billy Elliot production on Broadway, you know he isn't alone with his award. It was given to 3 performers for the same role. How does that happen? Well, because they are minors starring on Broadway, they can't work a full week, so three performers shared the starring role and they each performed about 3 times a week. Take a look at the video of the boys accepting the award, pretty cool. So, anyway that picture above is of Kiril and Carla cooking away at the True Child charity event I told you about Monday. I saw Carla at a party earlier this year in Miami, but she was surrounded by so many people, I couldn't stop to say hi. I'm usually good at being a silly fan lol, I love to gush and tell people how much I like them, but that night I failed. It's really neat to then work with her and get to tell her in a more professional manner and not at a bar, lol. I loved her happy personality on the show and she was such a show in person at the event. Cool chick. The other two Tony Award winners that share the title with Kiril were there cooking as well and I managed to catch them all while snapping pics of the cook off.

That's Top Chef Season 5's Fabio plating his meatballs with Tony award winner Trent Kowalik looking on with an event sponsor/teammate. Both teams had mystery ingredients and two of them were chips and Cheetos, so both teams decided to hide those ingredients in the ground beef and make some meatballs. Fabio served his with some creamed collards and Carla's team served them solo with more dishes on the side. Here's Fabio explaining his teams' dishes.

Look close and you can see the 3rd Tony Award winning Billy Elliot, David Alvarez in the background. I was mad I didn't think to take my own picture with them when I got home, but when I looked at my other shots, I was happy to realize I managed to catch them all solo. I must say all three of these guys were so kind, humble and I just feel they are all poised for greatness. Whatever they choose to do in life, I think they already know it's possible, you just have to work towards it. Their parents must be really proud. I was on the panel of judges with Top Chef Season 3 winner, Hung Huynh, a live auction winner and another chef, whose name I forgot ... I know very wack of me, but I'm only human :-(. Good thing is we raised money for the charity and the cool thing is we all left full of food. Both versions of the snack-pack meatballs were good, but Carla's were sooooo tasty that they eclipsed every other dish and drink both teams submitted, combined. Word. Makes me feel like I need to put some chips in my meatball recipe teeheehee ... until then, I hope you enjoy my version of meatball goodness, with a healthy kick - no fried cheese snacks or greasy chips involved. That's Cooking for Real, this Saturday May 8th, 2010 @ noon on Food Network!

Enjoy the weekend, and remember if you miss the debut Saturday, you can always catch it Monday at 4pm and other episodes throughout the week at the same time! Plenty of time to hang out with me while I cook for real so we can eat for real :-).