Week 28: 'MURICA - Big Spicy (meat)Balls [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: With the melting pot that is American culture, summarizing the food in a succinct manner is impossible due to the wide variety of regional influences. For instance, Lowcountry cuisine, from South Carolina, features strong influences from West Africans brought to the country as slaves. Some examples of famous recipes include hopping John (a black eyed pea and rice dish) and the Lowcountry Boil. Then you have Tex-Mex, our bastardized version of what our neighbors to the south are cooking up. This re-purposing gave as uniquely American dishes such as chili con carne and fajitas. Of course, then there's 'MURICA, where every negative stereotype you can think of about the country is true. 'MURICA used to be the fattest country in the world, until Mexicans went and took that job from us too. So I lay it on you, brave cooks, to win this title back, in remembrance of such great Americans as Ronald Reagan, Dale Earnhardt, and Spiderman. You could try out the garbage plate, or perhaps bacon wrapped turkey legs. Maybe the Minnesota Hot Dish is more your speed. And if none of this sounds appetizing, just take something you already like, and deep fry it. Because to quote Ron Swanson, "The whole point of this country is if you want to eat garbage, balloon up to 600 pounds and die of a heart attack at 43, you can! You are free to do so. To me, that's beautiful." And if you'd rather not cook something that gives you a heart attack before you can post it, well I suppose that's okay too.

What's more 'Murican than giant balls? These are turkey/pork meatballs, seasoned with Italian breadcrumbs, oregano, pressed garlic, and hot red peppers. Extremely quick and easy to make, just throw all the ingredients in a bowl (1lb each of ground turkey and pork, whatever your preference for the rest) and mix together with an egg and salt & pepper. I like mixing it up with my hands, because America was built by hand, dammit. Form into balls and bake these babies on a cookie sheet lined with foil for about 20-30 minutes at 450F, or until desired doneness. Hooray!

I topped them with homemade tomato sauce, which was just a can of crushed tomatoes and whatever the hell else I felt like ('MURICA!)...which ended up being smashed garlic, oregano, thyme, basil, and a dash of paprika, all mixed and simmered on very low heat until the meatballs were done (about 15-20 minutes).