Whit's Wisdom

I've been really blogged down today (blogged - get it?  ha?) and didn't even really think about what I was going to talk about tonight.  I did, however, make some amazing meat pies out of a little of this and a lot of that, so since they were so successful I think I will share my recipe tonight!

Alrighty, to begin with, if you are an awesome cook or someone who has to completely follow a recipe, you might as well stop reading.  This is in no way a real recipe from a real cook.  When I said above "a little of this..." I meant it!  I had some ground pork that I had to do something with and I just started playing.  Somehow it turned out yummy.  Hopefully I will be able to replicate it.  So if you try this - and it stinks - uhm, I warned you.

Ingredients:

1. Approx. 1 1/2 lbs. ground or chopped meat - I used fresh chopped pork (chopped in my food processor) because I had tons of it leftover from a smoked roast and chops.  I am thinking that ground beef or turkey would work really well too.  Make sure the meat is already cooked!!
2. 1  large can of french onion soup  - drained - but reserve the stock.
3. 2-3.7 fl oz of jalapenos - finely chopped
4. cumin
5. 1 clove of minced garlic
6. garlic salt to taste
7. a little salt, a lot of pepper
8. Panko bread crumbs (usually found in the Asian section at your grocery store)
9. Egg Roll Wrappers (I found these in the health food section)  * if you don't want to use these you can use a pie crust cut into squares and just improvise.  This would be more fattening, but probably pretty good!!

So, I drained the onions from the soup and put the onions, chopped jalapenos and minced garlic in a large non-stick pan and basically just heated them up on a medium heat for a few minutes to blend the flavors.  I then added my ground pork and mixed well.  Lower the heat to just a simmer, and  add  in just enough onion soup to moisten the meat - not swimming in it.  Then I added a good bit of cumin.  See, cumin is a hard spice (?) to use in my opinion.  Too little and you don't taste it - too much and it smells like feet.  So I did a LOT of adding and tasting, adding and tasting.  If you want to play it safe, you could add just a packet of taco seasoning instead of the cumin....  but you decide.  Anyway, add in the seasoning and some garlic salt, salt and pepper to taste. 

Once you have the flavors the way you enjoy them (add in some extra jalapenos if you like super spicy!) put in 1/2 cup of Panko bread crumbs and the mixture into your food processor.  Turn it on and let it spin for 30 seconds or so.  It is basically making this concoction into a paste - a meat paste.  Sounds gross - tastes yummy!

Follow the directions on the back of the Egg Roll Wrapper for rolling egg rolls.  Basically, you spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, lay a wrapper on it, put 2 tbs of meat product in the center, and fold similar to a diaper...then roll it up!  I never knew it was so easy!

Bake as directed on the wrapper package.  I think mine was 400 for 10-12 mins.  I wanted mine crunchy on both sides so I rolled them over and put them on the bottom rack for about 4 more minutes.  Gotta keep an eye on them though!

Are you totally lost now?  I sure hope not because these are really tasty treats.  So good, in fact, that my Daughter's boyfriend wants me to add it to our New Years Eve Menu.  I call that making it to the big league!!