Similar recipes have existed for meatballs and have been discovered in German, Belgium, and Holland cooking. In Europe, they use pork, beef, and/or horse meat.  In Asian cooking they would use pork, fish or seafood. Unlike meatloaves that had to be shaped and then cooked, meatball recipes were more versatile – could be baked, boiled or fried.

The meatloaf and meatball recipes add various fillers including bread, rice, or oatmeal to chopped, minced or ground meat, and would allow anyone could stretch a small amount of meat to feed others.  My mixing the meat and the fillers, cooks could use their hands or spoons to drop the meat in boiling water, hot oil, or bake and choose to serve them immediately, use in another recipe or wrap up to be eaten at a later time.  Because of its size, it was very portable and could be used when traveling.

Modern eaters are accustomed to seeing the meatball used in Italian dishes and can be used in other recipes or eaten as a snack. The meatball stew recipe  below is simple and is a great people pleaser for the fussiest of palates.  It can be adapted for any guest and any ingredient and travels well to potlucks and family dinners.

Meatballs
2 lbs. of ground beef (or turkey)
1 cup of raw oatmeal or breadcrumbs
2 eggs

Mix all of the ingredients together.  Form 1.5” – 2” balls and bake for 20 minutes in the oven at 300 degrees.  These may be frozen for future use or used in the recipe below.

Meatball Stew
2 lbs of meatballs (Can be pre-prepared or home-made)
4 cups of beef broth (use chicken or turkey broth with ground turkey)
1 cup of baby carrots or regular carrots thickly chopped
One medium onion, coarsely chopped
10 green onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of rice
1 sprig or rosemary
1/2 tsp of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: red potatoes, turnips (peeled), green beans, pea pods, or sweet potatoes (peeled)
Serves 3-4

In a cast iron Dutch oven, add the meatballs, broth and add enough water to covered the meatballs.  Cook on stovetop or open flame for 20 minutes and add the onions and garlic and let cook for another 20 minutes.  Add the carrots and stir occasionally.

If water is getting low, add more water so the meatballs remain covered.  Continue cooking for 10 more minutes and add rice, rosemary, and thyme.  Stir it up and the rice will settle near bottom to cook. Add optional ingredients.  Keep an eye on the pot to make sure the rice doesn’t burn.  Cook for 20 – 30 minutes and when rice is done.  Garnish with the green onions and serve hot.

Bacon Hash made at the Siouxland Renaissance Festival

Ingredients:

1 lb. bacon, cut up in 1 inch strips
1 cup fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
4 large carrots, large julienne cut
4 medium red potatoes, washed and 3/4″ cubed
2 medium gloves of garlic
sea salt (to taste)

Over medium heat add the bacon.  The fat will render quicker than it will cook.  When the bacon is half done, remove it from the pot and pour the bacon fat into a bowl (do not dispose of it yet).  Put the pot back on the heat and add 4 tablespoons of bacon fat (olive oil may be used if you are watching your fat content).  Add all the vegetables at one time to the pot and stir constantly for two minutes.  Add the bacon back in to the pot and continue cooking for 4 more minutes.  Add a 1/4 cup of water and continue to stir.  The dish is ready when the carrots and potatoes are tender.  Remove from heat and let it set for 2 minutes before serving.

Ingredients:
1 lb sliced portabella mushrooms
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
½ cup pine nuts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cup water
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tbsp fresh thyme
Pinch of fresh rosemary, minced
¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste

Begin heating a pan on medium heat.  Add the olive oil, garlic, shallots, and pine nuts and begin to sauté.  After about two minutes, add the thyme, rosemary, black and cayenne pepper and continue to sauté for 2 more minutes.  While stirring, add the mushrooms.  Keep stirring so that everything is covered in oil and will not stick to the pan.  Add 1 cup of water and cover the pan and continue to let it cook. 

The goal is to let the mushrooms cook down a bit so that they are soft.  If the water is evaporating too quickly, add more water. When the mushrooms are soft, drain off most of the extra water and place the cooked mushrooms and spices in a food processor or mortar and pestle and begin to mix and pulverize the cooked ingredients.   Place the mixture into a mold and refrigerate for two hours until firm.  Place the mold upside down, onto a plate and release it from the mold.  The pâté is ready to serve.  It is best served with roasted garlic or caramelized shallots on toasted bread or crackers.

As Alice the Cook, one of the top comments I receive is that my fans would like to see what I do year round. Because the winters don’t always cooperate, I wanted to find a way where I could create a web series online and produce a weekly show so that all of you could learn something each week (or more often).

I’ve started a another Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1211437384/setting-the-stage

This campaign will allow me to build a stage in my backyard that will appear to be a period kitchen where I can film a weekly web series on period cooking.

Please consider making a pledge if you are interested in seeing videos on stage (instead of a boring modern kitchen), and passing this along to your friends. Gramercy!!

2 medium red potatoes, baked
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 green onions, diced
Pinch of dried red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp of olive oil or margarine
1 rib of celery, minced

Take two baked red potatoes and cut them up and place them into a bowl. Ideally, these should be baked in the oven rather than microwaved so that the skin is not soggy.

Add the oil or margarine and the garlic and use a fork to mash them together. Add the Dijon mustard, green onions (and optional celery), black pepper, red pepper flakes and salt. Stir together and serve hot or cold.