Recipes Dinner Meat Dishes Meatballs Lemongrass Meatballs 3.0 (1) 1 Review Gail Simmons serves pork meatballs with lemongrass, a few dashes of fish sauce, and tons of fresh herbs for salty brightness. By Gail Simmons Gail Simmons Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert, food writer, and dynamic television personality. Since the show's inception in 2006, she has lent her expertise as a permanent judge on BRAVO's Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series Top Chef, now in its 19th successful season. She is a co-host of The Good Dish, the new daily syndicated series offering delicious recipes, real-life wisdom, and conversations on the topics of the day, and most recently was host of Top Chef Amateurs, as well as IronChef Canada. From 2004 to 2019, Gail served as the special projects director at Food & Wine. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on January 24, 2024 Save Rate PRINT Share Close Top Chef judge Gail Simmons first met Andrew Carmellini in 2002, when he was chef de cuisine at Café Boulud. She was working for chef-owner Daniel Boulud at the time and spent hours hanging out at the café, usually because its kitchen always had the best staff meal. One of the things she loved about Carmellini’s menu was the changing section highlighting a specific world cuisine. Carmellini left Café Boulud in 2005 and went on to open many of New York’s most successful restaurants, including Locanda Verde, where his lamb meatball sliders caused a national frenzy. Simmons’s own recipe owes a debt to his meatballs, as well as to her honeymoon trip to Vietnam. The combination of lemongrass, a few dashes of fish sauce and tons of fresh herbs creates a salty brightness to crave year-round. Photo: Abby Hocking Active Time: 30 mins Total Time: 1 hr Yield: 4 servings Gail Simmons first met Andrew Carmellini in 2002, when he was chef de cuisine at Café Boulud. She was working for chef-owner Daniel Boulud at the time and spent hours hanging out at the café, usually because its kitchen always had the best staff meal. One of the things she loved about Carmellini’s menu was the changing section highlighting a specific world cuisine. Carmellini left Café Boulud in 2005 and went on to open many of New York’s most successful restaurants, including Locanda Verde, where his lamb meatball sliders caused a national frenzy. Simmons was inspired by the sliders and her honeymoon trip to Vietnam to develop this lemongrass meatballs recipe. Cook Mode (Keep screen awake) Ingredients 4 shallots, 2 thinly sliced and 2 minced 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar Kosher salt 1 pound ground pork 1 large egg 3 tablespoons minced lemongrass 1 tablespoon minced cilantro, plus leaves for garnish 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 garlic clove, minced 1 tablespoon canola oil Bibb lettuce leaves, mint and basil leaves, lime wedges, chile-garlic paste and julienned cucumber and carrot, for garnish Directions In a small bowl, mix the sliced shallots with the vinegar and a generous pinch of salt. In a bowl, mix the pork with the egg, lemongrass, minced shallots and cilantro, fish sauce, cornstarch, garlic and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Form into 1 1/2-inch balls. In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the meatballs and cook over moderate heat until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a platter and serve in Bibb lettuce leaves with the pickled shallots and garnishes. Originally appeared: November 2017 Rate It Print