Hot pocket

April 27, 2010
Test lunch #13
Tasters: Lisa, Mr. H, Will and Kristin

Menu:
Meatball "pocket" sandwich
Roasted cauliflower
Orange
Caramel pudding
Recipes, notes and feedback:
Meatball sandwich: Meatballs and sauce made from an old recipe I found in the newspaper ages ago. The meatballs were a combo of pork and beef which I purchased, ground, at the UC Davis meat lab. It was pretty cool to use local meat as well as vegetables. I halved the already smallish meatballs and put about 3 halves in each pocket along with sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan. The dough for the pocket was Olive Oil Bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I rolled dough circles about 6-7 inches across making a smallish pocket. The sandwiches were a hit. Kristin said she doesn't normally order/like meatball sandwiches but it's primarily because of the mess so she appreciated the pocket that kept the sauce contained. Lisa thought it was just the right portion size.

Roasted Cauliflower: I sliced the cauliflower about 3/8 inches thick and then roasted it in olive oil with salt in a 375 degree oven until tender with brown/crispy edges. I think it was about 30 minutes. Despite cauliflower's status as an unpopular veggie everyone ate theirs and seemed to like it. The roasting brought flavor for those who think cauliflower is boring. It was good cold/cool or warm.
Orange: Navel orange peeled and sectioned (about 3 oranges for 5 servings). Lisa really likes having her fruit peeled for her. I guess it's the small luxuries in life.
Caramel Pudding: This recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Generally considered too sweet and the texture was off. I had never made a cornstarch thickened pudding and should not have cooked it so long. It thickened considerably upon cooling. I would try this again with about 2/3 cup sugar and 5 T cornstarch but only because I love caramel, pudding and sweet stuff so I thought it was fabulous. Not a big hit for lunch although the packaging in little gladwares is fun.

Lessons Learned:
Don't overcook pudding
Adding another tester does make a difference--I ran out of cauliflower--one head barely serves 6.
Hot pockets were well received but a hassle. Could be offered to use up spaghetti sauce if that were on the menu (that's why I made them--we had lots of leftovers)

Goals for next week:
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