Quarantine Meatballs

This post is by Matt, the Beer Baron

When she isn’t being awesome in the kitchen, the Clockwatching Tart actually works for a local health unit, which means she is incredibly busy at the moment. Between that and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, cooking has been a bit of a challenge lately. 

One thing that has definitely helped us out has been a delivery service from one of our favourite local restaurants, Grace. Rather than deliver actual meals, Grace has rebranded as Grace Pantry during this time of physical distancing and is using their connections in the food industry to deliver an amazing selection of locally sourced meats, produce and other tasty treats. You can check out their online store here.

When I was unpacking our very first order from Grace Pantry, I was blown away by how beautiful the ground pork from Stonecroft Farms looked. I wanted to do something special with it, so I decided to try a variation of my favourite recipe for meatballs from Anne Burrell. 

I don’t normally refer to ground pork as “pretty”, but there’s the evidence. For my version of the recipe above, I just omitted the veal, substituted dried parsley for fresh (we are in a pandemic, after all), and used more than a cup of parmigiano (pandemic or not, I like what I like). 

Another interesting note about cooking in the age of a pandemic is the absolutely bonkers number of onions I go through in a week. I suppose it is because I have all the time in the world, so I’m making everything from scratch, which often includes onions in one form or another. Luckily, I love dicing onions. I find it soothing and the OCD part of my brain enjoys the symmetry of the process.

While I love garlic, I wouldn’t call the process of smashing it with the flat blade of a knife soothing, but it is certainly satisfying.

When I have the luxury of time, prep work is my absolute favourite part of cooking. It’s obviously the OCD thing, but having nicely diced ingredients all out in their own little bowls or own their own little plates is a very satisfying feeling. 

While the Clockwatching Tart tends to individually weigh her meatballs on a kitchen scale, I opted to just eyeball it and am pretty proud of how they all turned out. I suppose I missed my true calling in meatball forming. C’est la vie.

Apart from quality ingredients, it is how you cook them that really brings out the flavour in these meatballs. Searing each side as best you can in the frying pan before they get finished off in the oven adds so much flavour.

These photos are about two weeks old as I write this post and oddly enough, we had some store bought meatballs for lunch today and I was so disappointed with them that I wanted to throw them out. That is how good these homemade meatballs are in comparison.

Cheers to wonderful comfort food and finding the silver lining during strange times. (And a shout out to Grace Pantry for their awesome, contact-free delivery.)

Swedish Meatballs

It's been a crazy month for us.  We just moved into a new house and haven't been cooking much lately.  But in the midst of unpacking I decided I needed to cook something. This recipe isn't complicated, but it's time consuming.  Better suited to a Sunday afternoon than a weeknight when your kitchen is filled with boxes.  But the final product is worth it, and it makes enough for at least two meals. 

I love the way the meatballs turned out and I'd definitely use this method again for any kind of meatball. The beef and pork together make a very tender meatball.  Swedish meatballs are spiced with allspice and sometimes ginger and/or nutmeg.  Well, the allspice hasn't yet made it out of my packing boxes, but I had a little tin of pumpkin spice and it worked great!  Pumpkin spice meatballs! 

The gravy contains lingonberry jam, and it's extra tasty to serve a little extra jam on the side.  

Here's what you need for 55 meatballs!

Meatball Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff is so tasty.  I love the creamy, tangy sauce over rich beef and any excuse to eat egg noodles.  The Food Lab just posted a delicious-looking recipe for Stroganoff using beef tenderloin steak, cooked whole and sliced over the noodles and sauce.  It sounds delicious, but this version is a little less fancy.  It still tastes great though!

Bocconcini Stuffed Meatballs

I happened to have some leftover bocconcini (fresh mozzarella balls, packed in water and often sold in a tub in the deli section of the grocery store), so, of course, I decided to stuff them inside some meatballs to see what would happen.  It turned out pretty great!

I served the meatballs with spaghetti tossed with a quick tomato sauce and sprinkled with fresh basil for a very tasty, decadent meal. 

Here's what you need for these crazy meatballs:

Batch Cooking - Turkey Meatballs

I've made these meatballs before. They're great in this Italian Wedding Soup, but they have plenty of other uses and it's great to have a bunch on hand in the freezer for soup, spaghetti and other meatball dishes in minutes.  

I ended up using four pounds of ground turkey to make about 120 meatballs.  but started with two pounds.  

Add 1/2 cup the bread crumbs to the turkey.

Then add a tablespoon of garlic powder.

And a tablespoon of dried Italian seasoning.

Then add 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper and two eggs.

Mix it all together to combine.

I wore gloves because, to be honest, it's kinda gross to touch.

Roll it into small-ish meatballs.  You should be able to get about 30 meatballs per pound of turkey.  I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap.

The batch at the back is another two pounds of turkey with parmesan cheese also added to the meatballs.

I set two large pans over medium heat and added a bit of oil to each to cook the meatballs in batches.  Honestly, next time I think I'd just put them in the oven, but the pan gives them a nice brown crust. 

Add the meatballs to the pan without crowding.

Flip to brown on all sides.  

Once they're browned all over...

... remove to a plate to cool.  And add another batch to the pan with more oil if necessary.

Once the meatballs are all cooked and cooled it's time to package them up.

I used medium freezer bags and added about 16 meatballs per package.

And ended up with 7 nice meals for the freezer.  About an hour of prep saves hours of time on busy weeknights.  Just thaw and add to soup, pasta sauce, or any other sauce to heat through and serve.

Italian Wedding Soup with Turkey Meatballs

This soup far, far exceeded expectations.  I didn't even expect to like it much but I absolutely loved it!  Plus, it's pretty darn healthy.  Excuse the lighting on the pictures though.  

This recipe is from Clean Eating Magazine.  

First you need to make some turkey meatballs.  
You'll need 3/4 pound of ground turkey, breadcrumbs, an egg and Italian seasoning or oregano and basil. 

Mix those ingredients together.

The nice thing about ground turkey and chicken is that you don't have to be super careful mixing it like you do with ground beef.  You can really pack it together without it becoming tough.

Roll the turkey mixture into about 30-40 small meatballs.

I placed them on a plastic wrap-covered baking sheet.

Heat some oil in a large pan.

Place half the meatballs in the pan to brown.

Cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Then flip over.

Keep flipping until  browned on all sides.

Now for the soup, here's what you need:

For two people you can use half the meatballs and freeze the rest for next time.  You'll also need onions, carrots, celery, parsnip, chicken stock, orzo and spinach.  You'll also want some more Italian seasoning, chili flakes, and some parmesan cheese.  

Peel and dice the onions, carrots and parsnip and dice the celery.

Sauté in a little oil until slightly softened.  Then add some Italian seasoning and red chili flakes.

Add four cups chicken stock.  I used homemade stock for this but you can use store-bought.  Bring it to a boil.

Stir in meatballs and 1 cup of orzo pasta.  Simmer for about 15 minutes until pasta is cooked.

Add 2 cups fresh baby spinach and stir in until wilted. 

I served the soup in a shallow bowl.

Topped with curls of fresh parmesan cheese.  This is a delicious, warming soup.  It actually really thickens up almost like a stew.  It's a great, healthy meal on a cold night.