What. A. Week.
When it rains it pours.
Insert all those other clichés.
On Sunday, which was the Sunday that just passed, I noticed Mickey was acting funny. But she’s a silly girl and I didn’t pay much attention to it. On Monday morning, Mickey was sporting a raw lump on her rear end. The sight alone made me gasp. My mind went to dark places. In the 4 years Mickey has been my doggy, I have never had a serious medical issue with her.
The lump had me thinking the worst and I spent the day scouring the internet for answers to my burning curiosity. Word of advice? Don’t do that.
When I got home, I had arranged to take Mickey to the vet. And because she was unsupervised, she had a grand old time bothering her wound and it was now incredibly “angry”.
The vet, who was as sweet as pie, sent me home with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, cream and a big ugly cone for Mickey. The week has been full of ups and downs. I have been running home every night, exhausting freezer food, ordering take out and caring for a doggy that needed her bedding cleaned every day.
Every day.
Yesterday was the first kind of normal day as Mickey is starting to be her normal playful self and will have a minor surgery this upcoming Sunday and hopefully this will be the end to her pesky little problem.
What I was really trying to say was: Sorry I was MIA.
My saving grace, my zen was coming home to cook dinner. After raiding the freezer, I had some ground turkey that I could play with. And I immediately thought of last months issue of Food and Wine. The Chicken Yakitori Meatballs were screaming to be made…with a few modifications according to what was in my cabinet.
Chicken Yakitori Meatballs (makes 24 meatballs)
1/4 cup sake White Wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp mirin
1 pound coarsely ground chicken Turkey
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 medium shallot onion, minced
finely grated lemon zest or yuzu
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Method:
In a saucepan, combine the white wine, soy sauce, sugar and 1/4 cup of the mirin and boil until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 3 minutes. Let cool.
Preheat the oven to 425°. In a bowl, combine the turkey, salt, onion and the remaining 2 tablespoons of mirin. Lightly coat a rimmed baking sheet with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Form the turkey mixture into 24 meatballs. Brush the meatballs with the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil and arrange them on the baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.
This is where my version changes. The F&W recipe instructs the cook to use a grill. I live in NYC, I own NO GRILL other than a george foreman.
So, I improvised.
My original plan was to brush the meatballs while they were in the oven with the sauce but that wasn’t panning out so well so I moved on to plan B.
I heated a large cast iron skillet and sprayed it with cooking oil. Then placed my cooked meatballs in the pan and covered them in 1/2 of the soy sauce mixture.
I kept the flame on medium low so as not to dry out the meatballs but give them a chance to absorb the delicious sauce. I turned the meatballs constantly. After 3 minutes, I added the remaining sauce and allowed the meatballs to soak up the goodness.
The end result was better than I expected. The meatballs retained moisture and were chock full of flavor. They were different to what I would normally make but really helped me get out of my funk that has left me feeling so off lately. I served this with some very un-exciting frozen broccoli and romesco. And might have imbibed half a bottle of wine.
Hope to be back in the full swing of things soon!
Happy Eating and Re-Heating!
Food Snob 2.0 
Awww, my Mickey!!!! I hope she is feeling better, I hate to think of any doggie in my pain much less one of my faves. Hugs and kisses from the Linx and me 🙂
Our puppies are like our kids. I’m so glad she is on the mend and I hate to see her wearing the cone of shame. I knew something must have been up..missed you.
Hugs to you and Mickey!!!!