iron stef: guest post! corey woodruff's andouille meatball po' boy

My good buddy (and favorite photographer) Corey started his own food blog... a sandwich blog called Picklerookies. So far the blog is as fun as the guy behind it. Gorgeous photos, interesting and yummy sandwiches, and extremely entertaining writing! So, I was thrilled when Woody offered to do a guest post here! Ball Sandwich, duh! This looks so effing amazeballs. I hope he saved me some leftovers!!

When I started Picklerookies, I made a list of sandwiches, and it was good. And that's not even close to the least productive way I have spent an hour.

On the list is sandwiches I want to make, based on weird ideas I've had and personal faves--both mine and other folks'. It's manifested itself as a dry erase board covered with words like "reuben", "torta", "Maid-Rite" and many more. Atop the list until now has been the phrase "meatball sub". You can check that one off the list folks. But this ain't your Italian granny's meatball sub.

As with most of the "traditional" items on my list, I took a detour with this sandwich. Most folks think of a meatball sub as an Italian specialty--succulent meatballs covered in marinara sauce with some parmesan or mozzarella cheese on top. While I have ingested several hundred thousand of those sandwiches in all manner of variations, I figured that I would be wasting my time by making one to post here. "Hey everybody! I just spent three hours blogging about something you have seen a million times!".

Nah. I wanted to take the meatball sandwich somewhere new. Somewhere...South. So I bring to you the Cajun meatball sub a.k.a. The Andouille Meatball Po' Boy. It's tastes like a nice Italian boy fromBrooklyn went to NOLA on a bender and shacked up with a gorgeous Cajun gal. Or something.

Basically, I swapped out the beef-based meatballs for an andouille/poxrk variety and instead of marinara I dressed it with lettuce and tomato, po boy-style. Oh, and homemade remoulade.

INGREDIENTS/PREPARATION

For meatballs (makes fifteen 2" meatballs):

3/4 lb. of andouille sausage (if you can get it sans casing, awesome)

3/4 lb. ground pork

2 eggs

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup half and half (that's right, bitches--CREAM!)

1/2 TSP cayenne pepper (optional, but don't wuss out now)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Fahrenheit, because this is America.

Since almost all andouille comes in a casing, you'll need to chop it into 1/2" pieces and chuck it into a food processor to grind it up a little. If you miraculously obtained it sans casing, pat yourself on the back with a greasy hand and skip this step.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix together thoroughly. With your bare hands.

Shape meatballs into roughly 2" diameter and place in oven safe roasting dish.

Bake 25-30 minutes

While your balls are in the oven, whip up some remoulade with this recipe I adapted from some guy named Emeril.

1/4 cup lemon juice

3/4 cup mayo (he says vegetable oil, but I didn't have a food processor so I used light mayo and it was glorious)

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup finely chopped celery
2 TBSP chopped garlic
2 TBSP prepared horseradish

3 TBSP Creole mustard

3 TBSP Heinz chili sauce (Emeril says ketchup. BORING.)

1/4 TSP cayenne pepper

1/8 TSP black pepper (let's just call it a 'dash'. Who the hell has an 1/8 TSP lying around?)

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Or, if you are fancy, put them in the food processor for 30 seconds. And push the button. Duh.
Use immediately or refrigerate for up to a week in an airtight container.

When it comes time to build your glorious sandwich, find some good French bread (here in St. Louis I like A&M Bakery). I think you can handle it from here.

For what it's worth, the sandwich is great as pictured. It's even better if you add a slice of pepper jack cheese, toast it under the broiler for a couple minutes, then dress it with the tomato and lettuce. Just sayin.

Also: BALLS!