Tasty Goodness in a Roll: Pork Meatball Banh Mi

When I wrote about that party animal of breads, the Italian bread, I mentioned that I had a tasty sandwich in mind when I decided to make both rolls and a loaf of Italian bread. An Italian roll is perhaps the be-all-end-all of sandwich rolls, and it's used to make the sandwich great, the hoagie. Incidentally, I don't know if I've ever actually had a hoagie, per se. I'm sure I've had an approximation of a hoagie many times, but I've never ordered a "hoagie." Hoagies are really beside the point because I made banh mi with my Italian rolls. The January issue of Bon Appétit had an excellent spread on the humble meatball, and I found myself drooling on the pages. I want to make every single recipe in that spread eventually, but I started with the Pork Meatball Banh Mi. The recipe calls for crusty individual baguettes, and French bread would work really well here, too, and I thought that the Italian bread rolls would be a perfect excuse to make the Pork Meatball Banh Mi.

Banh mi, like any good sandwich, comes in all different flavor variations, but I love the idea of using little pork meatballs to fill up this sandwich (if you're interested in Banh Mi and what it is, check out Battle of the Banh Mi). Meatballs, by their very nature, are flavorful additions to any dish, and these are no exception. The meatballs for this banh mi are full of basil, garlic, green onions, sriracha, fish sauce, and a bit of sugar, just for good measure. The sandwich is rounded out with a sort of carrot and radish pickle salad (the veggies are marinated in a rice vinegar and sugar mixture -- I subbed sliced snap peas (again!) for the daikon radish because I forgot to purchase it (again!)), sriracha mayonnaise, sliced jalapenos, and cilantro. There are many different elements of this sandwich, but they combine to create some serious harmony in your mouth.

I thought that the sandwich would be really labor intensive, but I was wrong, it's not that time consuming. There are many different steps to the recipe, but each step is fairly simple. In theory, the mayonnaise and carrot salad can be made ahead of time, the meatballs can be mixed and formed the morning of, and then all that's left is to cook the meatballs and build the sandwiches. I thought that this banh mi was so incredibly good. There's a huge play of textures and flavors going on all at once and it all combines to create a rather perfect sandwich. The meatballs are hot and the salad is cold, there's the spicy heat of the sriracha and the jalapenos but that's cooled by the carrot slaw and the cilantro, and the sweetness of the carrot salad plays witht the savory bites of meatball and mayonnaise. All in all, this is a darned tasty sandwich! I served the banh mi with baked sweet potato fries, and I thought it was a really fun, tasty dinner.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi

Bon Appétit, January 2010

INGREDIENTS

Hot Chili Mayo:

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)*

Meatballs:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)*
• 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Sandwiches:

• 2 cups coarsely grated carrots
• 2 cups coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)**
• 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
• 4 10-inch-long individual baguettes or four 10-inch-long pieces French-bread baguette (cut from 2 baguettes)
• Thinly sliced jalapeño chiles
• 16 large fresh cilantro sprigs

PREPARATION


Hot Chili Mayo:
Stir all ingredients in small bowl. Season with salt. do ahead Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Meatballs:
Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange on baking sheet. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Sandwiches:
Toss first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of meatballs. Sauté until brown and cooked through, turning meatballs often and lowering heat if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
Cut each baguette or baguette piece horizontally in half. Pull out enough bread from each bread half to leave 1/2-inch-thick shell. Spread hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange jalapeños, then cilantro, in bottom halves. Fill each with 1/4 of meatballs. Drain pickled vegetables; place atop meatballs. Press on baguette tops.
*Available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets and at Asian markets.
**Available at some supermarkets and at Asian markets.