Chermoula Chicken Boulettes AKA Paleo Chicken Balls on Sticks with Magic Sauce

Chermoula sauce is like fairy dust of the kitchen, it turns all it touches into magic food. Chermoula is a North African blend of warm spices, citrus and herbs in oil which is drizzled on everything from fish to meat and veggies. It can be used as a marinade, or a dressing. And I always wish I made a double batch, so I can drizzle its magical powers on everything. 

The chicken meatballs are so simple it is almost primitive cooking, two ingredients. Without the chermoula sauce they are almost unremarkable. Organic turkey or chicken is a good choice for all the reasons we know, environmental, health,  antibiotics, nutrition and animal rights. But also know that the flavors of the poultry are highlighted here, and it is a good time to choose the most happy organic chicken. 

This is a great dish if you are feeding friends who may or may not be gluten free, egg free or dairy free, or paleo! Obviously not a dish for vegetarians, but if you were doing a big party, I would stick some mushrooms or tofu on other skewers and let the vegetarians get some chermoula loving too.

Ground turkey is easy to find where I live, ground chicken less so. Both work. A butcher will often grind it for you, or in a pinch use a food processor to mince larger pieces of meat.

Anyway, now you have your ground or minced chicken. Mix it with the salt and form compact 1.5 inch balls of the chicken mixture. Thread them on metal or soaked wooden skewers. Place them to rest on a foil lined baking tray to rest while the chermoula sauce is made.

Place garlic, cilantro or parsley, lemon zest, paprika, chili powder, cumin, and olive oil into a blender. A blender really does a better job here than a food processor. If you live an electronics free life, do it old school with a mortar and pestle, adding oil in bit by bit as the herbs get bashed up. The sauce is not an emulsion, spices and herbs will settle out to the bottom giving it a chunky look. The flavors will blossom over time.

Drizzle just a bit of the chermoula on the uncooked meatballs. 

If your outdoor grill is covered in a snowy glacier, cook them under the broiler in your stove. With the broiler on high, line up the chicken skewers. Turning as they brown, keep a close eye on them. If your wooden skewers begin to char, cover them with some foil. 

The balls take about 10 to 12 minutes to cook through. Baste them occasionally with more sauce, or scoop up the pan drippings and use that. A thermometer at the interior should read 170° when the balls are throughly cooked.  

Remove to a plate and drizzle that chermoula sauce over them like crazy. 

Note: For individual appetizers, these can be cooked under a broiler in the same manner without the skewers. After the balls are cooked, plate up with some toothpicks. 

Chermoula Chicken Boulettes

16 medium meatballs, 4-5 servings

For the chermoula sauce:

4 cloves garlic

1/2 cup cilantro or parsley

zest of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup olive oil

pinch of salt

For the chicken balls:

1 pound ground or minced chicken

1 teaspoon salt

4-5 skewers (soak if wooden)

Find this and 101 other meatball recipes in my new book Global Meatballs! I know, that is seriously a lot of meatballs. 

Italian Meatball Subs Sandwiches for Superbowl Sunday!

There are three kinds of people who get excited about Superbowl Sunday. Firstly, the football fans, those who watch every game and get excited by reading stats all season are in the same camp this weekend with the fairweather-playoff-only-fans. Secondly, there are those people who save all their attention for the commercials, with the football footage as a moment to go to the bathroom or read twitter. Thirdly, there are those of us who are happy hunkering down in the kitchen, excited to have a reason to make guacamole, nachos, meatballs and and whatever else. 

Can you tell I am a happy member of the snack-food-making group? I support my Pats and am pro-football watching for everybody else. I just can not keep my attention on that game for more than 2 minutes. My mind wanders and then I am like "...what is happening? Don't I have something else to do?" That is the story of me and football. I will make sure to visit the living room during half time to catch Katy Perry.

So what are we making for the SUPERBOWL? 

MEATBALL SUBS! They epitomize football for me, messy, greasy, cheesy, total guy food, with bold flavors. They are a favorite of my husband, and both the subs and the meatballs themselves are totally easy to put together. This is my recipe from Global Meatballs, my brand new cookbook! 

Firstly, we need ground beef, onion, eggs, milk, bread crumbs, oregano, chili flakes (or powder because I cant find the flakes), parsley, garlic powder (you don't even need to use fresh garlic!) It's dead easy. Remember to get some sort of sub roll, all I could find at TJ's was the baguette, which is a good substitute ;)  And cheese, don't forget the provolone.

Friends, I recommend always making you stuff from scratch, like tomato sauce. And 95% of the time I do. Making marinara sauce isn't hard, especially with canned tomatoes. But sometimes we all have busy days. For those days, keep a jar of a good quality organic marinara sauce in you cupboard. An organic one without preservatives or added junk. Put that in a pan to warm on the stove, if you are using jarred sauce a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar can do wonders to freshen it up. And chili flakes if you roll that way. 

Mince up a yellow onion, saute it in olive oil until softened. Mix bread crumbs, milk, salt, spices and herbs. Add the eggs, ground meat, parsley. Preheat the oven to 400°.

Mix by hand, incorporating all the ingredients together. If things feel dry, add a splash more milk, this is what makes them tender. I like to let the mixture fall through your fingers, sort of sorting it over and over, rather than kneading and massaging it. This will keep the breadcrumbs light and fluffy, helping the meatball to stay tender. 

When you are pleased with the mixture, rinse your hands. Get out two sheet pans to bake the meatballs on. To roll nice smooth balls, moisten your hands under cool water occasionally. I find it makes the process go much faster. I make my meatballs golf ball size. I know some people like really big meatballs in their subs, so ok, just cook them longer. 

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. When done they will be sizzling, cooked though, and crispy on the bottom. Don't fuss over crisping all sides, they all get smothered in sauce. 

Use a thin spatula to remove them from the sheet pans. Deposit them into the red sauce. turning to coat. Set aside. 

Get out the bread and cheese.

slice that bread crosswise, sandwich ends connected. (Hard baguette problems? Pssst...put in it in microwave, makes it all soft.) And LAYER up that cheese. 

Is your oven still hot? No, ok, turn on your broiler for a moment while we melt this. Looking good! And a little line of meatballs, with extra sauce.

Some grated parmesan cheese makes it a pretty picture. 

Enjoy the game, in whatever way you like it. Ill be there making meatball sub sandwiches talking over all the important parts. Here is a good story you can distract people with. Did you know that meatball subs are a totally American food? Subs, hoagies, grinders, or whatever you call them where you are from have only been around for like 100 years or less. I have read they were developed sometime between the year 1900 and 1940. The exact New England city is not known, somewhere between Maine and Pennsylvania lies the home of the sub sandwich. What better thing to eat while our New England Patriots go and crush Seattle! (No offense Seattle, you have cool people in your city.) Cheers to a fun weekend! 

Meatball Sub Sandwiches

for the meatballs:

• 2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 teaspons dried oregano
• pinch of red pepper flakes

For sandwich making:

• Sub rolls or french bread
• marinara sauce
• provolone cheese
• (mozzarella and parmesan cheese optional)

Favorite Spiced Frikkadels, Meatballs of the Rainbow Nation

I have made and eaten a lot of meatballs by now. You see, I wrote a book with over 100 meatball recipes, and that requires eating hundreds of meatballs. I have many favorites, and sometimes they change, but these Picnic Favorite Spiced Frikadelles from South Africa are always in the top 10. Why are they called that, because they are loaded with fragrant spices and because of the nice crust, seem to be the type of food which would travel well. Bring them for picnics, lunches or healthy snacks. No sauces necessary.

I do think that these are one of my favorite meatballs my entire Global Meatballs book. They have an ideal texture, first we encounter a distinct crispy crust fragrant with spices. These spices foretel even more spices inside. The interior is tender with a perfect ratio of breadcrumbs to meat. A mixture of ground beef and pork is used. I like a 2:1 beef:pork ratio, for texture, flavor and fat. Similar to a meatloaf and stuffing but mostly they are unique. 

In writing the book we wanted a representative group of meatball from around the globe. I ended up with recipes from over 40 countries and cultures. In doing the research some were easier to nail down than others. Denmark's national dish is a sort of meatball sandwich (Frikadeller Smorrebrod), lamb meatballs from Greece or Sweedish Meatballs are all well known emblematic dishes of their countries. 

Some parts of the world have huge traditions of meatballs, where it is impossible to pick an iconic one of the many. This may be due to the tradition and popularity of the meatball as a foodstuff, but I note this tends to happen in to areas of the world where diverse cultures have coexisted (often not so peacefully) for years. 

This overlay of cultures and usually results in cooks borrowing the best things from different traditions, food fusions and blurry lines. Regions like the Middle East, the Americas, and South Africa have rich traditions of meatballs with blurry lines of where they "came from" resulting in some of the most innovative and modern recipes. 

South Africa has an fascinating history, local tribes, tribes from further lands, spice traders, displaced people from India and East Africa, the Dutch and English colonists, and more, making up the people of this southern cape. Imagine all the different types of food they liked to eat. But I swear, all of them probably had some type of meatball tradition. 

In my research I found that the people of South Africa have as many favorite meatball recipes as there are cooks. I find this Spiced Frikkadel recipe emblematic of the Rainbow Nation, the taste, ingredients and and how it is made is made, is from everywhere and nowhere in particular. Could we go so far to call it a democratic meatball? There are European, African and and Indian elements in this one delicious food.  

You will find they are flexible at the table, I like them served alongside a big green salad. Or a rice pilaf, cous cous, potatoes, or a pile of cooked vegetables would support them well. Use leftovers in a sandwich the next day. They are equally good eaten hot or at room temperature.

(Note about temperature: The jury is still out about pork, the FDA recommends cooking ground pork to 160° and that what I put in my book. A lot of cooks say 145° is good, this is a hamburger cooked at Medium. I cook mine to 145°. You can Google it and make your choice. I take no responsibility for your overcooked, undercooked, or unnecessary fears of meat.)

Holler back if you try them and tell me what you love about them! I would like that.

Favorite Spiced Frikkadels
22 large meatballs, 5 servings

• 1 cup (115g) unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup (115g) plain yogurt
• 1.5 (680g) ground beef and pork
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 
  
• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2+ tablespoons safflower or canola oil

Combine the breadcrumbs and yogurt in a bowl. Allow the mixture to rest for 5 minutes. Add the meat, egg, garlic, onion, cilantro, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper to the bread crumbs. Using your hands incorporate all together. Add the meat and incorporate into the bread mixture.

In a shallow dish, mix together the chickpea flour, turmeric, paprika, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350° (180°C) Line a baking tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Heat a frying pan on medium high with the safflower oil.

Wet hands will keep the meat from sticking. Form 2.5 inch (6 cm) balls in by rolling them in between your hands. Roll each in the chickpea flour, covering the surface. Place in the hot frying pan and cook the balls in batches. Shake the pan a few times, to brown the surface all over. Cook for 5 - 7 minutes, remove to the prepared baking tray. Repeat with remaining meatballs. 

Finish cooking the meatballs in the 350° oven, 10 -14 minutes should cook them through. A meat thermometer should read 160° for well done meat. (The jury is still out about pork, the FDA recommends cooking ground pork to 160°, a lot of people say 145°. I cook mine to 145°. You can Google it and make your choice.)

Thanksgiving Turkey, what happened that day. Not Quick or Easy, but still Fun!

Last I left you it was the early hours of Thanksgiving morning, when people go for Turkey Trots and road races. The 41 pound turkey was in the oven, we with fingers crossed. (Read here if you missed it.) We were soon distracted by the making of stuffing, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, potatoes and biscuits. The turkey continued to cook. Slowly.

Here we are in the midst of making 4 cups of dressing for these roasted brussels sprouts with walnuts and capers. 

The plan was to eat at 2:30.  My aunt had sworn the bird would take 7 long hours. We had planned to have it finish up around 1:30 so it could "rest".  

1:30- it was not close to done. 

2:00- it was not close to done.

3:00- it was still not done. 

3:05- My grandfather declared he was hungry and ready to eat. 

3:15- My sister brilliantly proposes that we invite people to sit, and serve the lasagna my mother-in-law made. The lasagna was a top notch first course. And bought us some time.

3:30- Not enough time. We propose some entertainment and when nobody steps up to the plate, we take turns sharing something we are thankful for this year. Aww, such nice feelings. 

3:45- Finally! Turkey reaches temperature.

3:47- Turkey is out of oven. Problem: we cannot remove it from the pan. The usual pair of long forks and spoons are not working. A third enormous spoon is added. Nope. The turkey has a beautiful crusty skin and everything is cracking it. 

3:50- We try pulling the turkey out. Nope. We try pulling the pan off the turkey. Nope. Can we turn it upsidown? Note: there are 7 brains around the bird working on this problem. It is snug in the pan.

4:00- What really happened will be know only to those who where there. It involved my awesome husband, some cross fit training, and two oven mitts (one of which did not survive).

Requisite photos were taken to show scale. The table ohhed and ahhed, unaware of the hilarity which had gone on in the kitchen.

The majestic bird was soon carved up and dismantled. Despite 10 hours in the oven, it was juicy, flavorful and by far the most delicious turkey anyone had eaten. 

True to Thanksgiving style, it was quickly overshadowed by biscuits and brussels sprouts that were the biggest favorite of the day. 

  

Stuffed to the gills, we mellowed over the dog show before tucking into pie. You would have thought nobody would have room for pie. But as always, they slowly disappeared over a few hours. Leaving some for breakfast, and another breakfast. Apple, mince, pumpkin and chocolate...50 shades of brown. 

(The darkest pies are the pumpkin, not chocolate, because the amount of dark black molasses in them.)

 It took 3 of us to pick the bird clean of meat for leftovers. All the bones went into a stock pot except these ones, which did not fit. Ive saved them for another time in the freezer. It went into the fridge to make stock on Saturday for soup. Here, I am quite proud to have broken down such an enormous bird...and all without ruining my rather new sweater dress which I didn't even bother to put an apron over. What a day.

Parsnip, Mushroom and Sage Soup, vegetarian and dairy-free

Parsnips, mushroom, celery, onion and sage. I never have a recipe for vegetable soup, it always comes together magically, a little of this and a little of that. I share this parsnip soup more for the idea then the exactness of anything. There is no great story here, just some chilly evenings and this one reminded me how much I love eating soup. I find it satisfying, and comforting. Soup is a good meal for when you are eating alone, with our schedules that is most meals of the week. It uses hardly any dishes that need to be washed, there are lots of leftovers!  

I decided to puree this soup from the get go. So, it does not matter what the veggies look like when you chop them. Except, this is an important thought, celery. Celery doesn't puree up very well, the stringy parts always stay stringy. So if you cut the celery thin to begin with, the strings disappear!

Put all the veggies into the soup pan with olive oil. Heat, until everybody is sizzling nice and hot. Then pour in a good dose of white wine. Give this time to cook off, leaving just the flavor behind. 

Add water to cover the veggies by an inch or so. You can always add more. Simmer your soup for about 30 minutes, it will be ready when the parsnips (the hardest vegetable in there) are soft and can be shushed with the back of a spoon.

This is a job for an immersion blender if you are ok with a "country style" puree, meaning with some variety of texture still there. For a super smooth soup, send batches of it through a traditional blender for the best texture. If you are trying to impress somebody, you can send it through a strainer, a la French. 

Serve hot in soup bowls, with something crunchy on top. I like to toast pepitas in a small frying pan with a tiny bit of oil and salt. They sizzle like crazy when spooned onto the soup, and make a nice crunch. 

• Parsnip Vegetable Soup
• 
  
• 1 head celery
• 2 pounds parsnips 
• 1 red onion
• 8 oz sliced brown mushrooms
• 5 leaves of sage (or 2 teaspoons powdered)
• salt and pepper

Make soup, as directed above. Puree before serving. Keeps for 1 week in the fridge. 

Modern Stuffed Mushrooms, Paleo Vegan and Heathy

This version of stuffed mushrooms may reframe them in your mind as a still relevant modern foodstuff. Begone ubiquitous cheese and breadcrumb appetizer. You will find neither here.

I love mushrooms, they naturally test as close to meat as any vegetable ever gets. Full of earthy umami taste and juice which makes us salivate for more.

I think the tradition of stuffing one food with another is very silly. I just don't get it. Stuffed peppers, squash, mushrooms. In Ottolenghi's Jerusalem there is a whole chapter titled "stuffed" about stuffed turnips, carrots, and other traditional delicacies. It have never understood why the stuffing and the stuffie are better off this way than if they were all in a pot together.  Can somebody explain?

Which brings me back to stuffed mushrooms, which I made on a whim, out of character, since I don't do stuffed things. They are fun because they stay juicy and come out in a round meatball-like shape. And everybody loves food in balls, this is a fact. Maybe this love is related to stuffed veggies?

These guys are not fussy, it would be easy to mess around with the recipe if you don't like parsley or some part, just replace it. I threw a little bit of cheese into a few of them to see if it made a big difference. It didnt. Cheese is yummy, so if you of your guests are in the mood for cheese, some grated parmesan or the like would be a good addition. But these guys are about the flavor of the mushroom, onion and sage. The wine adds complexity.

Modern Stuffed Mushrooms

20 ounces whole baby bella mushrooms (2 long grocery store containers)

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/3 cup small diced red onion

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon dried sage. (more if using fresh)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup dry white wine 

1 teaspoon salt

fresh ground black pepper

With your fingers, pop the stems off of the mushroom caps. Reserve the stems in a pile. Place the caps upside-down on a baking pan. (I lined mine with parchment paper hoping for easy cleanup, it helped a little bit, but not much actually.) 

Discard any yucky or old bits of the stems. Mince the mushroom stems finely. Put them in a bowl. Chop parsley, and red onion into pieces that are as small as the mushroom pieces. Mince garlic, add garlic, thyme and sage to the mixture. Sage works magic with mushrooms.

Add the salt, pepper, olive oil and white wine. Mix it all together well, look at how colorful! Follow your instincts, if you want more olive oil, do it! More sage, do it! The wine adds moisture and flavor, the mixture should feel moist but not wet, there should not be a puddle of liquid in the bowl. If there is, just distribute it into the mushroom caps at the end. 

Fill the mushroom caps with stuffing. This is accomplished best, messily, with a spoon and hands. There should be enough for all the mushroom caps. Try to get the stuffing to stay inside and on top to make a round mushroom! 

Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for about an hour, until they are done. Dark brown, tender, juicy, crispy bits on top. They will look like this:

Serve hot for best wow-factor. They store for a week in the fridge. And they reheat super well! (Even as I did over an open fire on a recent camping trip.)

Camp cooking and the best Loaded Spicy Sweet Potatoes.

Iv'e just returned from a long weekend of camping on Grand Isle in the middle of Lake Champlain. Very beautiful there, like the rest of Vermont but flatter and very rural. Lake swimming was awesome! My favorite bit about camping is (obviously?) camp cooking. Cooking in a fire is different than a oven or stove and I love making do with a very very tiny kitchen in the way of equipment.

I packed very minimally, 2 fry pans and one small pot. My dear husband said "What, you don't need to bring 3 pans!!!" To which I replied "In fact, I do." And I did and he ate his words once we got there. And anyway we were car camping so who cares!

Bare Bones Camp Cooking Equipment

•8" fry pan
•Small fry pan 4"
•Stainless steel pot (to boil water)
•Metal spatula
•Sharp useful 6" knife
•Aluminum foil (its amazing for everything.)
•Tongs (I forgot these and we made do but they are so useful for taking things out of the fire.)
•Forks and spoons for eating that can also be useful when cooking.

SNACKS
Besides the chips and salsa we had an appetizer of savory stuffed mushrooms. Made at home and packed up in the cooler. Having only to warm them over the fire. Smoky and savory stuffed with parsley, sage, red onion and garlic. It would be awesome to stuff them and cook them over the fire next time. That would take about an hour most likely.

These were really good, and different than usual stuffed mushrooms, so ill make them again and post the recipe.
(Check out my Modern Stuffed Mushroom recipe here!)

POTATOES
We had a battle for the best potatoes two nights in a row. Baked Potato with Fire Roasted Garlic and Herbed Goat Cheese. vs Baked Sweet Potato with Goat Cheese and Spicy Blue Corn Chips

Why does food eaten outside often bring the feeling that it is the best EVER!?  That was this roasted garlic, it tasted like the best ever.  Sweet, perfectly soft and even smokey. Instead of drizzling olive oil on the garlic like usual I had spread some coconut oil on it. And left it in the coals for a while.

The sweet potato was an inspired combination. I always love sweet potato and goat cheese so I had packed them both. The real inspiration came upon seeing the bag of Red Hot Blues chips was almost gone, all little chip bits at the bottom with lots of the spicy dust. It resulted in the most silky, creamy, crunchy and spicy dish. Roast whole sweet potatoes until they are so soft and silky, split them open, shove in lots of delicious fresh chévre (preferably with herbs and garlic in it) and top off with spicy blue corn tortilla chips. I am going to make them again, like now.

DESSERT
Obviously s'mores are the best thing, it brings us all memories of being little, happy, and stuffing our bellies with hot marshmallows. Puffy molten burnt sugar and melty chocolate. How did we ever go to sleep after the sugar bombs i'm not sure. Like any reasonable person I can only eat one or two now. I did go with an unorthodox combo of super dark chocolate, vegan marshmallows (no GMOs) and vermont artisan graham crackers by Caselton Crackers. All awesome products on their own, all wicked good together. I was wishing for a bigger stomach so I could eat it all!














BREAKFAST

I have no good photos of breakfast because it is too early to be thinking of camera phones at breakfast. The importance of breakfast is in the rapid making and eating of it. And the consumption of wonderful black tea. And the feeling of "ahhh" that I get with a full belly in the morning. I panic when I get hungry.

Breakfast was mostly eggs, grilled tomatoes, and english muffins. All cooked in coconut oil in the same pan. First grill the muffins, keep them warm in tinfoil. add more oil, the tomatoes, and a piece of canadian bacon for those that feel like eating meat. And finally the eggs. Fried are easier to clean up after than scrambled.

A cool thing about eggs, if you can get them straight from the farm before they are washed or refrigerated then they don't need to be kept in a cooler. Eggs can keep at room temperature for weeks, dont take my word for it, this lady has more to say. This is just cool and also handy when camping.