Evolution of the Creation/
A Quinoa Meatball Landscape
Meatballs. Swedish meatballs. New Nordic Cuisine. Landscape design. Bed head. Tousled. Meatballs. Vegetarian. Quinoa. Fundamental naturalism. Foraging. Windy. Wavy. Ruffled. Native. Tasty. Satisfying. Elemental. Pickled. Fresh. Healthful. Tumbled. Unordered. Artfully disheveled. Meatballs…
Natasha, the 5 Star Foodie & Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! host the 5 Star Makeover Cooking Group, an outstanding monthly event for sharing ideas and creating gourmet makeovers of selected classic dishes or flavor combinations. It continues to be a great source of inspiration and my absolute pleasure to be a part of their fabulous Cooking Group.
Our Five Star Cooking Group challenge for January: MEATBALLS.
“We are excited to resume our monthly cooking event, and the theme for January is Meatballs. We thought it would be a fun challenge to try to transform this classic comfort dish into a 5 star gourmet creation.”
Elements of the Landscape/
A Grazing Platter for 2
Recipes/
Quinoa Meatballs, Pickled Cranberries
Quinoa Meatballs
The meatballs can be vegetarian or made with quinoa plus lean ground beef.
- 1 c. cooked quinoa
- 1/2 lb. lean ground beef (optional)
- 1/4 c. minced red onion
- 1/3 c. fresh bread crumbs, moistened with non-fat milk
- 2 egg whites, beaten
- 1/4 c. fresh chopped parsley
- 1/4 c. finely chopped walnut
- a pinch of nutmeg and allspice
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil to sauté
Blend all the ingredients together by hand, taking care not to overwork. Form balls of different sizes to make a more interesting landscape. Sauté in olive oil until browned and cooked through.
Pickled Cranberries
- 1 1/2 c. red wine vinegar
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 1 T. Kosher salt
- fresh ground pepper
- 8 oz. frozen cranberries
Boil vinegar with 1/4 c. water, sugar, and salt, stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool slightly, pour into a glass jar. Add cranberries and fresh ground pepper. When mixture comes to room temperature, cover and refrigerate overnight or longer.
Heart Healthy/Meatless
♡ My heart-healthy version of the Landscape which is high in fiber and has zero choleserol includes non-fat feta and vegetarian meatballs.
Make sure to visit 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro Cooks!
for the Round-Up on Friday 1/27/12
where a group of super-creative cooks make
a bold gastronomic statement with the humble meatball.
I’ve been yearning for meatballs and staying away. But they keep calling to me – so you came just in time.
What lovely landscape…I would happily graze my way to the bottom of the plate!
Wonderful recipe, nice setting and gorgeous pictures!
OK I have only one word coming to mind: stunning! And never would have thought of using quinoa!
This is so beaufiul. I love the micro-nastursiums…I’ve never thought to make meatballs from quinoa, must try this.
Who says you can’t play with your food! What a fabulous looking plate! Those meatballs are divine.
You are in a league all your own, how do you come up with all this? Are you sick of me saying you’re amazing?
Now that’s creative! 🙂 I really want to try quinoa, and this sounds fabulous. Now, I don’t like cranberries much, but I’ve never had them pickled – how curious, I wonder what that would do to my dislike. Very cool plate!
Great post! I’d like to link to it on Zenspotting, would that be ok?
http://www.zencancook.com/zenspotting/
Thanks so much Justin. I adore Zenspotting! Very Cool!
LL
First, this dish looks BEAUTIFUL! Second, I love the concept here, and all the balanced flavors. I’m definitely going to make this soon! 🙂
This looks delicious! Putting quinoa in meatballs was absolutely brilliant!
I’m in!!!
I’m in too!! Wow!
This is so incredibly stunning. I’m in awe. I have goose bumps! You gave me goose bumps!
I love the casually tossed look of this and I know I would love the taste – from the meatballs to the beets to the hummus and cranberries.
I don’t just want to eat this, I want to put a huge photo of it in my kitchen! What an inspiring creation, it’s a work of art! Every detail is worthy of being in a 5 star establishment – congratulations on an amazing dish!
Your thought process at the beginning of this is too funny, and I can totally relate to that kind of association. Such an incredibly beautiful dish … I would be super excited if I got this in a fabulous bistro …. Wow, just wow.
Gorgeous. I love the little quinoa rings in the meat balls and your foodscape was amazing. Healthy and delicious too, what could be better. Great job on the challenge!
Lori Lynn, what an incredible creation. The flavors, the components, the presentation – all just stunning! I love this!
This plate invites you to try different flavor combinations with each bite. Love the playful presentation, LL!
YUM! I even wonder how they’d taste sans the meat… hmmmmmm 😀 And love the landscape idea. Something about it is very whimsical!
Very creative!
The quinoa meatballs look so deliciously delicate. I just want to dip one into that hummus. What a beautifully presented plate. Excellent contribution to the cooking group.
LL,
You truly are a fantastic cook. Your love for the craft and the joy you feel in kitchen shines through each masterwork.
Meatball as culinary art.
As a person who’s known to have a proclivity for creating edible gardens, I give you two enthusiastic thumbs up.
Your food is invigorating and inspiring.
Be well
I certainly wouldn’t mind taking a hike in that landscape!
What an artistic culinary masterpiece! I would love to graze and meander through this edible landscape, savoring different flavor combinations in every bite!
What a beautiful and inspirational melody you have going on here! The combination of texture, flavors and colors are a true delight! Fantastic contribution!
The idea of a “landscape” is genius. You took time to plant a garden of food, arranging everything just right. There is nothing I don’t love about this dish.
I love that you add quinoa on your meat balls. I added cooked brown rice on mine too. I have to say great minds think alike 😀 Your presentatino and foodscape is stunning. This is not only taste with the eyes but also taste with the heart!
This is absolutely gorgeous. I’d try my best to graze slowly and savor it!
Wow, this is really creative and really beautiful! I am so excited that I clicked on this recipe…we are recent converts to quinoa and absolutely devour everything we can with it. This will be made soon!