"meat"

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Easy Meatballs

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For gawd's sake, winter just won't go away.  There was more snow yesterday.  Dreams of rhubarb, strawberries, and asparagus are futile, being months away from the reality.  Might as well hunker down and cook up some more rib sticking meals.

Meatballs are a family favourite here.  Smilosaurus is extending her meat love and will gladly devour at least 4 meatballs at a meal, in favour of the pasta.  And surprisingly, The Monster has never been much of a fan of pasta, but will also pop meatballs into her mouth like they are candy.  We are rather traditional, preferring our meatballs over spaghetti (or tagliatelle when there is no spaghetti) and doused with a thick tomato sauce.  The odd time we will go for that odd standby, Waikiki Meatballs.

Over time I've tried numerous methods and recipes for making meatballs.  Always time consuming and either greasy or burnt I struggled to get the technique right.  Over time I gave up browning them on the stove.  I always ended up with unevenly cooked meatsquares, not meatballs.  Baking them in the oven without browning seemed obvious.  But I hated that they would cook in their own grease.  I highly doubt I am original in my idea, but all my friends seem suitably impressed.  Now I cook them on a cooling rack set atop a cookie sheet.  The grease drips down and I'm left with brown, yet tender meatballs.

Make sure you cover your cookie sheet with foil - it really saves on clean-up.  And spray your cooling rack with cooking spray or brush with a bit of olive oil so the meatballs don't stick. Bake at high heat (400 degrees Celcius).  The final size of your meatball will determine your cooking time.  I usually make mine about an inch diameter and they cook in a little over 10 minutes.

When it comes to recipes, I'm afraid I don't have one of my own to share.  This is the kind of thing that is a little of this and a little of that.  Sometimes I use breadcrumbs, sometimes I use milk soaked bread cubes.  Maybe I'll throw in a splash of balsamic, or some parmesan.  One day I'll use bison, the next turkey.  And when I'm feeling lazy I simply take half beef and half italian sausage.  No other seasonings, but they are moist and tasty.  Use your favourite, or check out some of these.

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Never Turn Your Back in the Kitchen

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Winter storms attacked us again.  Sneaking in from behind they walloped us good yesterday.  It wasn't much of a day for venturing out, although we did that - there is something to be said for the snowsuit overtop of PJs.  Rather, it was a day for the oven.  And really, it was a day for the couch, but unless you want to watch this all day you have to get up and encourage the kids to jump on the beds.  

With a pile of carrots and parsnips in the house stew was on the menu.  Passion fruit ice cream too, but that will come another day.  The Monster and I set about peeling veg while Hubby tried to rest on the couch.  Oh, did I mention that all four of us have colds right now?  So we get all our veg peeled and chopped and I set to browning the beef.  After a quick deglaze of the pan with orange juice (my favourite thing to use when making stew) I turned around to grab all my veg.  As you can see from the above photo I had cause to pause.  We have a 'no hands on the cutting board' rule in the house, but apparently that doesn't apply to rubber duckies.

There are so many reasons to cook with your kids, giggles notwithstanding.
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Taste Adventure - Deer

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The home of my brother- and sister-in-law is situated in country residential East of Edmonton. Their house is set back from a rural road and surrounded by trees.  Moose will bed down on their front lawn and there is a new deer track every morning.  What a perfect location for a family of hunters.

At our last visit we watched a snacking deer as the sun set.  The Monster was actually quite afraid of the deer, hiding behind her uncle as he tried to point out the doe in the trees.  She constantly repeated, "I'm afraid of the deer."  Hmm, maybe it had something to do with the head of a buck on the living room wall?

Regardless, I was a little nervous as to how she would react when I pulled out a gifted deer roast from the freezer.  Would the memory be so strong and she would be afraid to eat?  Would she get upset at eating an animal, albeit a different animal, she just saw?  

The roast was simply labelled "deer roast".  Hmm, I had no idea what cut it was.  That makes a difference in how you cook a roast.  Animals with lots of connective tissue require a slow, low roast to ensure a tender piece of meat.  At the other end of the spectrum, a cut like a tenderloin needs high heat and to be cooked for only a short time.  What to do, what to do? God love the internet.  Most hunting related sites suggested marinating the roast in buttermilk or milk, overnight.  Well, that wasn't an option.  I was making it for dinner that night.  What I did find is that unless it was a tenderloin that most methods included a liquid of sorts.  So I went with an old fashioned pot roast.

Smashed garlic, a rough chopped onion, and a pile of carrots went into the La Creuset beside the well seasoned and browned roast.  I poured in a bottle of beer and stuck it in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees.  In the end, it was a bit long, with the roast cooked all the way through. But oh, was it ever tender.  You could definitely tell it was game and not beef, but it had tremendous, rich flavour.  I served it with some homemade horseradish cream that my dad makes every year.

It turns out I didn't need to be nervous about whether The Monster would like it or not.  Her plate is always put down first.  By the time I turned around and put down plates for Hubby and I she'd already powered through half of what I gave her.  "Good bacon, Mama," she informed me.  And this past weekend she told her uncle that she was no longer afraid of the deer.

The deer roast was also a good introduction to red meat for The Smilosaurus.  Cut in tiny little chunks she ate more than The Monster.  And since that night she's been a meat fiend.  Steak dinner out one night, ribs, even chicken tagine.  Our little carnivore.  And it all started with the deer our family provided.  Now that's local.