Moroccan Meatballs

From the one and only Paleo cookbook I have in my kitchen, comes this gem.  There are so many good recipes from this cookbook, but in keeping with the whole purpose of this blog -- to have my favorite recipes at close hand no matter where I am in the world -- this is one of two recipes that I will be posting from this book.  There is more in the book than what I list here related to the recipe.  Consider purchasing Well Fed from the genius of Melissa Joulwan, you will be glad you did!

Moroccan Meatballs

Meatball Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced (about 2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt (1/2 tsp if using sea salt)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 pounds ground meat (lamb, preferably)

Sauce Ingredients

1 Tbsp coconut oil
2 medium onions, diced (about 2 cups)
2 garlic cloves, crushed (about 2 tsp)
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt (1/2 tsp if using sea salt)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 medium tomatoes, diced (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced (about 2 Tbsp)

Directions

Combine the parsley, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper in a large bowl with a fork.  Add in the meat and mix until well-combined.

Roll a tablespoon of meat mixture into a ball and set on a piece of parchment or other temporary holding surface.

Heat a large, deep skillet or pot (I use our Dutch oven) over medium-high heat and add the oil.  Once the oil has warmed add the onion and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the chopped tomatoes and stir about 1 minute.  Add the water, tomato paste, and parsley, mixing to dissolve the tomato paste.

Bring the sauce to a boil, then gently place the meatballs in the sauce, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook 40 minutes covered, then remove the lid and cook an additional 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

Notes

See the book for more hints, tips, and suggested pairings.

See you next meal!!

Ratatouille

It has been a long hiatus!!  Sorry about that folks.  The format from now on will be a little different: a very brief recipe will begin my post, with any details at the bottom.  Let me know if you have any comments/suggestions!

Here's our latest "favorite" from the ever awesome folks at Cooks Illustrated.  We deconstructed this and paired it with our Paleo Meatballs to have an excellent meal of meatballs on a bed of roasted veggies, covered in a tomato sauce.  Yum yum!

Ratatouille

Ingredients

2 large eggplants (about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds) cut into 1-inch cubes
2 large zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds) cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 medium ripe tomatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste


Directions

Prepare the eggplant (see details below).

Adjust two oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions, heat oven to 475 degreees F, and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Toss eggplant, zucchini, and 2 tablespoons of oil together in a large bowl.  Spread mixture evenly in a single layer between the two baking sheets.  Sprinkle with salt and roast, turning the veggies and rotating the sheets every 10 minutes, for 30-40 minutes.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onion, season to taste with salt and pepper, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until soft and golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes.

In the original recipe, everything is then cooked together, but we kept them separate.  At this point, we added the chopped fresh herbs for about 1 to 2 minutes and then served with the tomato portion ladled over the roasted veggie portion.  Season with salt and pepper or additional fresh herbs to taste.


Notes and Details

To prepare eggplant for cooking, it is important to remove the bitter juices (especially with the larger, globe eggplants).  Believe me, I've tried going without this step and the dish can almost come out inedible, depending on the eggplant.  It's simple, you just have to plan on doing this step ahead of time.  I did this first and then worked on the meatballs while the salt was working its' magic:
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Place cubed eggplant in a large colander set over a large bowl.  Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of table salt and toss until the eggplant is evenly covered.  Let the salted eggplant stand in the colander for at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.  Rinse the eggplant well under running water to remove the salt and remaining bitter juices.  Spread the eggplant evenly in a single layer over a triple thickness of paper towels, cover with another triple thickness of paper towels, and press firmly on the eggplant with the palm of your hands until the eggplant feels dry and compressed.
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Summer squash can be substituted for one or both of the zucchinis.  I did a 2:1 summer squash to zucchini substitution for this recipe.

If you don't have a Dutch oven, any heavy-bottomed sauce pot will do.  And you can substitute your choice of cooking fat for the oil in this step.

That's it!  Buon appetito!!

Paleo Meatballs

Welcome back!

Well, I have some recipes to catch up on (we are on Day 11 after all!).  Some of them were excellent and some need a little adjustment before I post them.  And some of our old stand-bys are passing the test beautifully.  To get this recipe roll-call going, we're going to start with tonight's meal: Paleo Meatballs.

Already prejudiced towards my Italian Grandma Lucy's homemade-non-paleo-version, I did not have very high expectations for these 'health-food' meat mounds.  But I was pleasantly surprised and my husband gobbled these down, as if he forgot they were 'healthy'.

There are a few sources to reference when discussing where I got the idea for this recipe, but they were all relatively the same and I simply adjusted it slightly for the items I had in the fridge and what I wanted to use up before it went bad.  To see the original recipes, you can check out CrossFit Football, Everyday Paleo, and/or Food.com.  Here is my permutation:

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 lb ground pork
2 celery sticks, chopped small/thin
1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
2 Tbs fresh oregano
1 1/2 Tbs Dijon or spicy brown mustard (whatever you have that is 'paleo')
2 eggs
about 1 Tbs garlic salt
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix all of the above well in a large bowl.  Shape about 2/3 cup of the mixture into balls (or enough to make the meatball just smaller than your fist, they will cook down smaller by the end).  Cook the meatballs however you prefer; in the oven, on the range, or in a slow cooker.  I browned mine in a dutch oven with 1 Tbs pasture-raised pork fat (from my friends at the Old Havana Cuban Sandwich Shop) and 2-3 Tbs olive oil, or however much was needed to coat the bottom of the dutch oven.  I preheated the oil on medium-high and then added my meatballs.

Once the meatballs were done, I removed them from the pot to make the sauce:

Ingredients

1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
5-6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 handful of fresh basil leaves, torn coarsely
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

With the meatballs resting on a plate, I deglazed the dutch oven with the diced tomatoes, added the rest of the ingredients plus the meatballs, returned the sauce to a simmer and reduced the heat to low.  After the flavors melded (about 10-15 minutes) serve up with your favorite veggie sides!!

Buon appetito!!!