Second Prize

Second Prize sounds OK, but not great. Wrong! In this case it was wonderful!

I received an email from the Shopping Channel about the Wolfgang Puck Recipe contest, in which there would be three prizes: first, and two runner up prizes. The prize would be for the best recipe (original, I imagine) using Wolfgang Puck appliances.
OK, I am a good cook, and both my wife and I have appeared in the paper many times with cooking sensations. We did it mostly in Calgary, where we have been included in a Published Cook Book (not a church fund raiser) and once here in the Hamilton Spectator. So, I had recipes and I could find out quickly about Wolfgang Puck appliances.

I know who Wolfgang Puck is. He is a very well know chef who has restaurants all over the world, and I had seen him cooking on the Shopping Channel, selling his appliances and his cookware.

I quickly put together my entry and easily forgot all about it. The phone call from the Shopping Channel reminded me quickly enough, as I was one of three winners in the country!

The first prize was an all expense paid trip for two, for two days, to the Shopping Channel’s headquarters and the opportunity to cook your dish on the web. Maybe, if you were lucky, you might do it on television and you might meet Wolfgang Puck. The headquarters for the Shopping Channel is in Mississauga, Ontario, a forty five minute drive from my house. I may have been given gas money!

The runners up prizes were a 26 piece set of Wolfgang Puck cookware, which came in a forty two pound box currently sitting in my garage waiting for us to open it officially on Christmas. It is big and beautiful!

The recipe is for Lion’s Head Meatballs, a gourmet Asian dish I had tasted once many years ago as it was made for me by a friend who was involved with gourmet cooking classes. I have seen it described in cookbooks twice, and put together my recipe, which I find wonderful.

When we did this in the paper, my daughters were attacking it with chopsticks, when my youngest was two years old. The photo was great but a bit fictitious as she could hardly do much with a fork at that time. Today, she is a wiz!

Enjoy the recipe!

LIONS HEAD MEATBALLS

1 pound Ground Pork or Ground Turkey

1/4 pound Cooked Shrimp

4 ounce (1/2 can) Water Chestnuts

2 Scallions

1/2-1 bunch Swiss Chard (trimmed of stems)

3 tbs Hoisin Sauce

1 1/2 cups Chicken Bouillon

1 teas Chopped Garlic

1 teas Ground or Minced Fresh Ginger

2 teas Soy Sauce

2 tbs Corn or Tapioca Starch

Salt and Pepper

2 tbs Cooking Oil

1/2 teas Sesame Oil

Combine shrimp, pork or turkey, scallions, water chestnuts, 1 tbs cornstarch, soy sauce, some salt and pepper and 1 1/2 tbs hoisin in a Wolfgang Puck Professional Series Food Processor with Flow Attachment and lightly blend. Shape into 8 large meatballs and dust with cornstarch.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add meatballs and brown on all sides and drain grease and oil. Add ginger root and garlic, bouillon, 1 1/2 tbs hoisin and some salt and pepper. Bring to boil and simmer meatballs for 5 minutes. Cover meatballs with as many Swiss chard leaves as possible, cover and simmer for 10-15 more minutes. Add remaining cornstarch, mixed in a little cold water to thicken the liquid.

Serve by placing cooked leaves on plate (Lions Mane) and cover with meatballs (Lions Head) and spoon on sauce. Serve four with rice made in our Wolfgang Puck 7 Cup Rice Cooker with Removable Lid.