No, I am not talking about the books or the movies. I have not seen or read any of the series, and based on my three rules for entertainment, I will have to miss The Hunger Games. My rules for movies are:
1) No children can be harmed
2) No animals can be harmed, especially dogs or any baby animals
3) No moms can be harmed
My family knows that if any of these rules are broken in a book or a movie, I will not enjoy it and complain about it the entire time -- ruining it for everyone else. Needless to say, my children did not grow up watching a lot of the “Disney Classics” and The Hunger Games was not on my reading list.
However, after five or six months of lockdown or “safer at home” orders (as an aside, “safer at home” may not fit my family who is actually NOT safer at home with me!), I am bored being only with my family. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family. But we have been together seven days a week for at least two meals a day for almost six months. I am tired of them, and I know they are tired of me. We continue to try to abide by all the safety guidelines and stay at home and social distance from others, but I need other people. I need new stories around the dinner table. I am beginning to feel like I am in a scene from Bill Murray’s movie Groundhog Day were every day is a repeat of the day before.
This is where the Hunger Games Challenge started. I told my family that each person was responsible for finding and submitting one new main dish recipe for dinner. We decided we could make each submission, and then we could vote on the best dish. The winner will get to pick out the next ice cream flavor (another source of many battles.). I only had two rules: the ingredients had to be easily found and the recipe had to be something new and different. These were our Hunger Games, and it really proved to be a fun distraction from the mundane.
Selby’s Cheese-Stuffed Garlic
Dough Balls
My son has three basic food groups: bread, cheese, and butter. His recipe covered all his favorite things. He admitted that he never really thought about how to find a recipe, and when I suggested he just Google the things that he liked, this recipe is what he found. My hope is that in a few years when he is on his own and has to cook something he can now at least search and find a recipe. He helped me with the preparation, and we talked about how to follow a recipe.
3 1/2 tablespoons butter, cubed
2 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons or one envelope of dried yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pound block of mozzarella cheese, cut into half inch cubes
For the garlic butter:
2/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 fresh rosemary sprig, finally chopped
For the tomato sauce dip:
1 (14 oz.) jar of pasta sauce
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
A pinch of chili flakes
To make the dough:
Heat 3/4 cup water in a sauce pan until steaming, then add the butter. Remove from the heat and leave to cool until the mixture is just warm. Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and one teaspoon of salt in a large bowl or stand mixer. Add cooled butter and water mixture and mix to make a soft though. Kneed for about five minutes until the dough feels bouncy and smooth. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl and cover with a clean cloth. Leave to rise for one to one-and-a-half hours until it’s doubled in size.
Once the dough has risen, push in the center and kneed for several minutes. Flatten a small piece of the dough into a disk and put in a cube of mozzarella cheese. Enclose the cheese with the dough and roll tightly into a ball. Transfer all the balls to a well-greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cheese and dough, placing the dough balls a quarter of an inch apart on the baking sheet.
Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the garlic butter. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over low heat, stir in the garlic and rosemary. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.
Preheat oven to 375°. Brush the risen dough balls with garlic butter and then bake 25 to 30 minutes until the balls are cooked through and the tops are golden brown.
While the dough balls are baking, make the tomato sauce dip by heating a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and add the garlic for about 30 seconds. Pour in the pasta sauce, vinegar, sugar and chili flakes allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Season to taste.
Brush the warm dough balls with any remaining garlic butter and serve with the tomato sauce as a dip.
Anna Kat’s Kalakuri Khinkali
My daughter is away at school, but she was not going to miss out on a family challenge. She loves to cook and loves all kinds of interesting and unusual foods. Her recipe is for Kalakuri Khakali which I discovered is a type of Georgian Dumpling. She calmly explained that this Georgia is not the state but the country. Seriously, where do we get these kids?
Once I got the recipe, I realized the ingredients were readily available and although the dumplings took a little time to prepare, we thought they were worth the effort.
For the dough:
4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
For the dumpling mixture:
About 1 pound of equal parts ground beef and ground pork
1 cup water
1 large onion, diced very fine
4 to 5 garlic cloves, finely diced or grated
1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine
1 bunch parsley, chopped fine
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Make the dough by combining the flour salt and egg. Add the warm water and mix until you get a firm dough. The dough should be stiff but keep kneading for about five minutes. Add more flour if necessary. Cover and set aside for about 30 minutes to rest.
To make the filling; combine all the remaining ingredients. The mixture should be somewhat thin.
Roll out the dough to approximately quarter of an inch thick on a clean and floured surface. Take a small cup or cookie cutter and cut circles. Roll out the circles to approximately four inches in diameter and add about one to two tablespoons of filling to the center of the dough. Fold and pinch edges together repeating until all the edges are thoroughly sealed and you have made a little bag shape. Start a large pot of water with a generous pinch of salt to boil. When water is boiling, gently add the dumplings a few at a time and boil for about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir gently so the dumplings do not stick on the bottom. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.
Sai’s German Sauerbraten
My husband was the first to join in on the competition. I had hardly even gotten the words out of my mouth before he came in with his recipe. He said he always wanted to try it, and I have never made it: German Sauerbraten - basically a sweet and sour German pot roast.
I am not necessarily a huge fan of German cuisine. It might have been a bad experience as a little girl at the German pavilion at EPCOT. I just remember that everything we ate there was very pale and not very tasty. With a little planning (you have to marinate the roast for two days), we had a delicious German meal.
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 pound beef top round roast
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 medium onions sliced and divided
2 tablespoons pickling spice mix, divided
2 teaspoons whole peppercorns divided
8 whole cloves divided
2 Bay leaves, divided
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
14 to 16 gingersnaps, crushed.
In a small bowl combine salt and ginger. Rub over roast. Place roast in a deep glass bowl. In a separate bowl combine water, vinegar, and sugar. Pour half of this mixture into a sauce pan. Add half onions, half the pickling spices, half the peppercorns, four cloves and one Bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Once the mixture has boiled, pour over the roast. Cover and refrigerate roast and marinade for two days, turning twice a day.
Add the remaining spices and onions to the remaining water, vinegar, and sugar mixture. Cover and refrigerate.
After two days, drain and discard the marinade from around the roast. Pat roast dry and brown it in a little oil in a dutch oven.
Once roast is brown, pour one cup of the reserved marinade with all the onions and seasonings over the roast. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat cover and simmer for about three hours until meat is tender. You may need to occasionally add more water around the roast.
Once roast is tender, remove and strain the cooking juices, discarding onions and seasoning. Add enough reserve marinade to the cooking juices to measure about three cups. Pour into a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add crushed ginger snaps and reduce heat and simmer until gravy is thicken. Slice roast and serve with gravy.
We served the roast with braised red cabbage and a dish called Späetzle (German butter noodles).
Lisa’s Korean Pork Lettuce Wraps
I love Korean barbecue, and when I saw this recipe I knew it was going to be a hit. The best part is that you make it in your crockpot. It was super easy, and I found all of these ingredients at our local grocery store.
1/4 cup miso
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons gochujang Pepper paste or Sriracha, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and quartered
lettuce leaves for serving
chopped or sliced radishes for serving
cucumbers, sliced, for serving
green onions, finely diced for serving
Whisk miso, soy sauce, gochujang or Sriracha, sesame oil, and pepper in a slow cooker or crockpot. Add pork shoulder and cook on high for six to seven hours or until pork is tender and easy to shred.
Shred pork and serve as lettuce wraps with radishes, cucumbers, green onions and additional hot sauce.
I made the pork the day before in my crockpot and heated it up in my cast-iron skillet until it was crispy on the edges. We loved the combination of the spicy Korean pepper paste, cucumbers and radishes with the salty pork. I served it with some coconut ginger rice on the side and it was a big hit.
So, our hunger games ended, and we each loved our recipes. It gave us a lot to talk about and was a fun distraction for the week. Consider trying it at your house.
Next up, the sequel: The Hunger Games, Part 2: Side Dishes.
