Bratwurst Meatballs

 So I'm on a roll today (a meaty one).  As I've mentioned before, I've been getting pork from PTB Farms (If you follow that link you should also check out their instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pinetroughfarm/ as Hailey posts great stories about life on the farm.  In addition to every pork cut you could imagine, they also sell sausage of many flavors including bratwurst.  Thought the bratwurst is tasty, it's not the same as my favorite bratwurst, which was also the first bratwurst I'd ever had.  When I was in graduate school in Texas, there was a local butcher that sold the best brats.  Legend had it that one of the chemistry professors at A&M missed Wisconsin brats when he moved to Texas and took his grandmother's recipe to Readfield's Meats and they ended up being one of their bestselling items, as well as the star of many a GSAC cookout (damn, they have a website now, and merch!  And David and I thought we were so fancy writing the newsletter on his first gen Apple Macintosh).  Anyhow, I've not really had brats like that since leaving Texas.  

A few weeks ago, I watched this video from Sohla El-Waylly on making meatballs.  Her "Sohla Off-Script" videos on Food52 are short and fun, and she teaches you a basic technique that you can take in many different directions.  When she said that "meatballs are just a hand-formed sausage" I had the idea to try a bratwurst meatball.  And it went pretty darn well.

Bratwurst Meatballs

Adapted from: https://food52.com/blog/26252-sohla-off-script-meatballs-guide and https://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/wisconsin-style-bratwurst

Ingredients

2 oz bread (sandwich bread, hamburger buns, etc)

½ cup whole milk

1 lb ground pork

2 tsp kosher salt (I used Diamond Crystal)

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground coriander

1/8 tsp ground marjoram (did not have so substituted a pinch of dried oregano, rubbed between my fingers to crush)

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp dried ginger

12-oz beer (I used an amber ale)

1 large onion, sliced

1-2 tsp kosher salt

 

Directions

1.     Tear the bread into small pieces, ranging in size from small cornflakes to panko sized crumbs.  Mix with milk until everything is moistened and incorporated but still lumpy.  Let sit at least 5 minutes so all the starches are hydrated.

2.     Add the pork and the rest of the spices (through ginger) to the bread/milk mixture.  Mix in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment at medium speed for about 1 minute until the mixture is well combined and springy.  (if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead the mixture with your hands for 3-5 minutes until it is well combined and springy). 

3.     Transfer the mixture to a container and refrigerate overnight (24 hours).

4.     To form meatballs, measure out ¼ cup portions of meat mixture onto a greased sheet pan (lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Wet your hands with cold water to help prevent sticking and roll each meatball in your palms to get a rounded shape. I got 11 meatballs with this mixture, but #11 was a little runty.

5.     Place the sliced onion, salt and beer in a 10” saute pan (you could also use a 5qt dutch oven).  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

6.     Carefully place the meatballs in the poaching liquid, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.  Carefully turn the meatballs over, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.  Meatballs should be fully cooked at this point.

7.     To finish, grill meatballs over medium heat to heat through and get some grill marks on them.  Serve in a hot dog bun with mustard and sauerkraut and some of the onions from the poaching liquid.

 

fFformed and ready to poach:

 

 Served up with oven fries and homemade sauerkraut.

Hello!  Sorry it's been a bit.  If you are a reader, you're probably looking at me reproachfully like the Guilford Farm cats, Oliver and Katie:

(they did get some food).

What can I say?  It's been a busy month.  The part of teaching all of Organic Chemistry I from August 21-September 11 was especially busy.  But I've got a few things in my phone to share, and a giant backlog of hot peppers and okra I need to do something with.  But for today, let's talk about watermelon.  I made this a few weeks ago, but now I have another watermelon in this week's CSA so I'll be making it again soon.

I've cooked a lot from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots, which makes sense, since her book is organized around produce in North Carolina.  This recipe looks crazy, but I promise (just like like Vivian does) that it tastes great!   The recipe for Country Style Pork Ribs in Red Curry Braised Watermelon calls for "pork shoulder or blade steaks" which are just sliced up pork shoulder or "Boston Butt".  I have no idea why they are called "country style ribs" but it's good to know that's what those are, especially if you have a recipe that calls for 2-3 lbs of pork shoulder and the only pork shoulders you can find are the 6-10 lb behemoths at the grocery store.  This is easy to put together and delicious served over rice.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 8-ounce pork shoulder or blade steaks
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons red curry paste
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 5 cups watermelon, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes, seeds removed

First you need a watermelon:

Once you've got the rind off, chunk it up so you've got about 5 cups

Heat up the oil in a enameled cast iron dutch oven, and brown the ribs you've seasoned with salt and pepper:

Dump the watermelon on top, and add the rest of the ingredients that you've whisked together

Slap on the lid, slide it into a 350° oven and braise for 1 1/2 hours.  Then remove the lid and let it cook for 30 min more.  Serve over rice to soak up the broth.

Plated up with a little of Thai basil garnish:

Blackeyed Pea Posole with Pork and Collard Greens

This is one of my favorite recipes for collard greens.  It's a great, hearty soup that uses lots of greens.  This is from Cooking Light (RIP) and I make a few substitutions.

 As printed:

• 1 poblano pepper (I sub a can of roasted green chiles -that is, unless there is a poblano in the CSA box)
• 3/4 lb boneless pork shoulder (also called country style ribs) cut into 1-1/2 inch chunks (I usually try to use 1 lb of bone in)
• 3 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth (I usually use 2 cans of chicken broth)
• 4 cups loosely packed bagged, prewashed, chopped collard greens (OBVS I subbed collard greens from the farm)
• 1 cup chopped red onion (ooh, I had one of those from the farm, also a yellow onion)
• 1 cup chopped tomatillos
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (if you hate cilantro, I bet you could leave this out)
• 2 tsp finely chopped jalepeño pepper (I used chopped Thai chiles from the CSA box)
• 1/2 tsp oregano (preferably Mexican)
• 2 garlic cloves chopped (I have SO MUCH GARLIC from the farm right now).
• 1 15 oz can of black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• salt
• pepper

If you're using a poblano, roast in according to the directions.  Otherwise just get going w/ a can of chopped green chiles is just fine!

Heat a 5qt dutch oven over medium heat.  Add 1-2 tsp olive oil.  Add  pork, and cook for 4-8 minutes until browned.

Add 1 cup of chicken broth to the pan, and stir to scrape up browned bits.

Stir in remaining 2 cups broth,  canned chiles, greens, and next six ingredients (through garlic).  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 min or until pork is tender.  Stir in peas, salt and pepper, simmer 5 minutes until heated through.

This freezes well.  Also, once you've got the pork browned and deglazed the pan with broth, you can just chop and dump stuff in the pan.  I bet you could do this in a crockpot for 4-6 hours or so on high (until the pork was tender), then add the peas and heat through.

A few pics:
Browning the pork:

I had at least half a red onion left over from a previous CSA as well a yellow onion...

No poblano in the CSA - and these are easy and nice - just drain them!

Throw in the chopped collard greens:

 Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 40 min, add the drained and rinsed blackeyed peas and it dinnertime!

Blueberry Barbecue Pizza (Flatbread)

Pizza..flatbread...pizza...flatbread.  What's the difference?  I reckon if something is called a "pizza" it should be vaguely Italian, which this was not.  What's used from the CSA?  Thinly sliced red onion and a chopped red Thai chili from last weeks' basket.

So, I've been working on a lot of Vivian Howard's recipes from Deep Run Roots.  Early this summer, I made her Blueberry Barbecue sauce, and I've used it on pork barbecue, as well as on grilled chicken or pork.  I've also used it as a flavoring for seltzer (like a "shrub").  I found a recipe online in which she used the Blueberry Barbecue sauce on a barbecued chicken flatbread:  Link to flatbread recipe

I love to make pizza, so this was super-intriguing.  Recently I had some leftover grilled pork tenderloin, and I had the sauce in the fridge and, believe it or not, some smoked gouda from some other recipe I can't recall the name of. But there it was, threatening to get moldy so let's use it up!  I used the recipe as a guide.  I substituted chopped grilled pork tenderloin for chicken, and used the red onion from the farm.  I didn't have jalepeños, but I did have some Thai red chilies from last week's basket and I used one of them.  I also used this pizza dough recipe: Link to pizza dough recipe.

I rolled out 12 oz of dough to make a flatbreat, and covered it with 4-5 tbs of Blue Barbecue sauce.  Then I put the chopped pork tenderloin (4 oz) on, and added 5 oz of the shredded smoked gouda.  I added about 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, and one chopped red Thai chile.

Before baking:

note: I start my pizzas on parchment - bake 5 min, then slide off the parchment onto the stone and bake 5 more min.  Much easier to get the raw pizza dough onto the stone.

After baking:

Ugly, but very, very tasty.

All the tomatillos...

I love tomatillos.  I love the lemony flavor they have, green salsa you can make with them, along with recipes like Black-eyed Pea Posole with Collard Greens, or Enchiladas Verdes (though I usually use a jar of pre-made salsa for that one).  The recipe that got me started on using fresh tomatillos in cooking was this White Chili from way back in the day.  My roommate Kathy and I had planted tomatillos in our garden in Oregon, and were stunned at how prolific they were!  The White Chili was a good way to use them up.  I think if I make it again I'd use boneless chicken thighs instead of breasts, but that's just me.

When my mother-in-law was in California, she subscribed to the LA Times and would save the food sections for when we'd come to visit.  I'd clip out all the recipes I thought looked interesting, bring them home and .... never make them.  Oh well.  One page I'd saved forever (from 2008) was an article entitled "The Tomatillo Unwrapped":

Slow-Cooked Pork with Fresh Herb Tomatillo Sauce
LA Times, Wed May 14, 2008 (http://www.latimes.com/style/la-fo-tomatillosrec14b-2008may14-story.html#)
Total time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
Servings: 6
Note: From test kitchen director Donna Deane.
2 pounds boneless pork butt
2 to 3 slivered garlic cloves, plus 1 minced garlic clove, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 small serrano chile, seeded and minced
1 pound tomatillos, husks removed and coarsely chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, divided
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1 tablespoon chopped mint
1 teaspoon lime juice
Black pepper
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a small sharp knife to make small 1-inch deep cuts all over the surface of the pork, and push one sliver of garlic into each slit. Season the pork with salt and pepper, rubbing the seasonings all over the meat.
2. In a large, heavy oven-proof casserole, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sear on all sides to a rich brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the pork to a plate and set aside.
3. Add the onion to the casserole and reduce the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until tender, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the minced garlic, the serrano chile and the tomatillos and continue to sauté until the tomatillos are tender, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the chicken broth to deglaze the pan. Stir in the orange peel and 1 teaspoon of the oregano. Nestle the roast back with the vegetables and spoon some of the juices over the meat. Cover and roast 2 hours, until the pork is tender (it will pull apart easily). Remove the casserole from the oven.
5. Carefully lift the meat out of the casserole onto a carving board. Stir the basil, mint, remaining oregano, lime juice and a few grinds of black pepper into the sauce. Use a fork to break the meat apart into bite size pieces. Divide the pork evenly among six plates and spoon the tomatillo sauce evenly over the portions. Serve with grilled tortillas and/or rice.
Each serving: 323 calories; 27 grams protein; 8 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 21 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 90 mg. cholesterol; 385 mg. sodium.


 This weekend I went to the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market.  I hadn't been much this summer since, well, with the CSA I have a ton of produce to use!  But they also sell meat, eggs, baked goods, milk and cheese, and also it is corn and cantaloupe season and the Guilford College farm doesn't grow either of those.  And I am tomato snob and need my Cherokee Purples.  While there I stopped at Pine Trough Branch Farm and along with some pork chops that were on sale, I picked up a 2 lb pork shoulder that I knew would be perfect for the recipe above.  And I was right.  Their pork shoulder is more expensive than what I can get at the grocery store, but as they say on their web site "We grow beyond-organic vegetables and highest-quality meat from free-range animals born and raised on pasture and forest land. All our meat production is certified as Animal Welfare Approved."  The pigs are a heritage breed that produces 2-lb shoulders as opposed to the 7-9 lb behemoths I see at the Teeter.  And while that might not be the best for a big barbecue (though I should consider it) it's definitely good for dinner for 2-6.  The recipe came out great.  I really liked the fresh herbs and lime added to the sauce at the end.  It wasn't that hard to put together and this it just did it's thing in the over for 2 hours (you could probably toss it in a slow cooker as well).

Here's the pork shoulder seasoned with salt and pepper (this one was bone in):

Chopping up the tomatillo (husks peeled and rinsed):

The pork after browning, sitting in the tomatillo/onion/chicken broth mixture, ready to braise:

After 2 hours at 350°F

Plated up!  With grilled squash from the Guilford College Farm.

Verdict?  Worth keeping around that recipe for the past 10 years.  Also worth the PTB pork!