Luau in your Living Room: Hawaiian Meatballs

Thursday 5 August

We bought and chopped up a pineapple for Saturday's tropical salsa, and though it had kept well (once we had sprinkled on a little Water of Life, otherwise known as Triple Sec), we had to use it or lose it. So we decided to go retro, and make Hawaiian Meatballs.

Our go-to-guys for retro cuisine are Jane and Michael Stern, whose Square Meals is lots of fun. But their recipe was just a bit too midwestern (carrots? really?), so we improvised.

For the meatballs, mix up:

1 lb. ground beef

1/4 onion, minced

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

2 tsps. soy sauce

1/8 tsp. allspice

salt and pepper

I would also add a beaten egg, if I had it to do again.

Mould these into about a dozen round patties; they are panfried in oil until browned, and it's easier to panfry patties than globular meatballs.

Set out the meatballs on plates, and in the same pan, start the sauce:

Half an onion, chopped

Half a stalk of celery, chopped

Sauté these until tender.

Add a a cup of chopped fresh pineapple, with some juice (and triple sec), then:

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Taste and correct the seasoning; you could add some brown sugar if you wanted it sweeter, but we didn't. It turned out as a chunky salsa-style sauce, and went well on top of the meatballs.