Crispy Pork Belly Rice Bowls
Serves 2

A quick rice bowl with crispy pork belly, seasoned jasmine rice, avocado, Japanese pickled vegetables, seaweed, and spicy lime mayo.

Ingredients
For the bowls:
- 1 package cooked pork belly, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
- 3/4 cup dry jasmine rice
- Small pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, divided
- Soy sauce, a couple spoonfuls
- Fresh lime juice, to taste
- 1 avocado, sliced
- Assorted Japanese bento vegetables, such as pickled radish, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, seaweed, and other pickled vegetables (or as alternatives, get an assortment of pickled vegetables, kimchi, etc)
- Roasted seaweed snacks
- Sesame seeds

For the sriracha mayo:
- 4 tablespoons Kewpie mayo
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sriracha, to taste
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

1. Cook the rice.
Rinse the jasmine rice, then add it to the rice cooker with the usual amount of water. Add a small pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil before cooking.

2. Make the sriracha mayo.
In a small bowl, mix the Kewpie mayo, sriracha, lime juice, and sesame oil until smooth. Taste and adjust with more sriracha or lime if needed.

3. Crisp the pork belly.
Slice the cooked pork belly into 1/2-inch pieces. Heat a dry skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the pork belly and cook until browned and crisp on both sides. As the fat renders and pools in the pan, carefully pour off most of it, leaving only a thin layer to help the pork continue crisping.

4. Season the rice.
When the rice is done, fluff it. Drizzle over the remaining 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil, a couple spoonfuls of soy sauce, and a small squeeze of lime. Mix gently.

5. Assemble the bowls.
Divide the rice between two bowls. Top with crispy pork belly, sliced avocado, assorted Japanese pickled vegetables, roasted seaweed snacks, and sesame seeds.

6. Finish.
Drizzle the sriracha mayo over the bowls and serve immediately.

Ok. Lets start with the ingredients for this classic Italian-style meatball recipe:

2 large eggs
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt/pepper
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup olive oil
Two jars (about 5 cups) of your preferred pasta sauce

Now the steps to make about 24 meatballs.

Step 1
Heat oven to 424 degrees. Prepare the meatballs: In a large bowl, whisk to combine the egg, ricotta, Pecorino Romano, parsley, garlic, 4 teaspoons salt and 3 teaspoons pepper. With your hands or a spatula, mix in the ground beef and pork until the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Step 2
Form the meatballs: Using a spoon or cookie sized scooper, scoop a dollop of the meatball mixture snd form into a ball.

Step 3
To cook the meatballs, first put them in the oven for 10 minutes. Heat the ¼ cup olive oil in a medium skillet along with one jar of the tomato sauce. Once the sauce is hot and shimmery, add the baked meatballs and let simmer for 10-15 minutes on low heat. As more batches of meatballs finish, remove the previous batch to the saucepan and add the new ones. This will ensure the sauce continues to build flavor.

Step 5
After all batches of meatballs are out of the oven and have completed their simmer step, add all of the meatballs back to the saucepan and add the remaining sauce from the jars if any is left. Simmer and stir for 3 minutes to ensure they are consistently reheated.

Step 6
Serve the meatballs with the tomato sauce, more Pecorino and a drizzle of olive oil.

Some tips to make my signature meatball recipe extra baller:
1. Use angel hair pasta. Something about angel hair works especially well with meatballs - perhaps a contrast in the textures. It just makes sense.
2. Don’t make your meatballs too big. I used a cookie scooper. You don’t want each meatball to become a hassle. Much better if you can eat them in one bite.