Moroccan Lamb Meatballs

When we were doing some grocery shopping on Sunday, we came across some pasture raised ground lamb. It was priced reasonably, so I picked some up. I immediately thought of making some lamb meatballs. I looked up a couple of recipes and combined some features from Nigella Lawson and some from Bon Appetit. Here are the results:

Moroccan Lamb Meatballs
1 lb ground lamb
1/4 C scallions, finely chopped
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t cumin
1 t turmeric
1/2 t cayenne
1 t allspice
1 t salt
3 T oatmeal (I used cooked steel cut oats)
1 egg
Vegetable oil, for frying


Put the lamb into a bowl and add the scallions, the spices, salt, oatmeal and egg. Work everything together thoroughly with your hands, and then place in the refrigerator for half an hour for the flavors to combine.

Scoop out some of the mixture and roll in your hands to form 1 inch meatballs. Place on a plate.

When the meatballs are ready, heat about 1/4-inch of oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, fry the meatballs in batches until golden brown all over (approx. 5-8 minutes for well done meatballs).

We served them with a Tamarind sauce. The results were delicious. The combination of the spicy, savory meatballs and the sweet, tangy sauce was taste bud heaven. We served our meatballs over Dirt Candy Roti. The next post will give a recipe.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Works-for-Me Wednesday at We are That Family.

Crock Pot Greens

We had a lot of greens to use up, and I decided to try something new. I washed them, chopped them up and put them in the crock pot. I have never cooked greens in the crock pot before. They turned out really well. I have read how vegetables should be cooked for as little time as possible to maintain highest possible nutrients, but these were beet greens and mustard greens and they had to cook for a while. I just served them with a little butter. Very tasty!

I cooked a second batch of greens in the same water. I thought it would help preserve some nutrient content? I didn't really pay attention to the clock, but I think the first set was done in about an hour on high. I scooped those out with a slotted spoon, and put in one large bunch of collard greens chopped up while the water was still hot. I don't think I have ever made collard greens before. I probably ended up cooking them for about 4 hours. I sauteed some bacon and added it half way through and added some apple cider vinegar. At the end of the 4 hours, the greens were tender but the bacon and vinegar couldn't be tasted. I drained them and added a couple of extra tablespoons of vinegar. The results were OK. The bacon had completely lost its flavor, but the taste of the extra vinegar came through. This was one of those times when I should have actually consulted a recipe. When I make them again, I would simmer them, drain them, and add them to a hot pan with the bacon and vinegar (but first consult a couple of recipes to see if I could find improvements on my plan).

The crock pot is great in hot weather. It doesn't heat up the apartment, and it adds some variety to our diet. I would definitely try crock pot greens again.

Chicken Scampi

I mentioned yesterday that my husband and I are feeling a bit under the weather. Not bad enough to keep me home from a wedding shower I had to attend, but yucky enough to want to stay home and eat comfort food after it was over.

I was at a total loss for dinner ideas, but my husband came up with the idea of chicken scampi, and that sounded perfect to me. Later he confessed that he was inspired by his lunch on Friday. Apparently he forgot to eat breakfast before he left for work, and he felt like a treat by the time lunch rolled around. He went to Urban Lobster Shack and got a lobster roll scampi style. The chicken scampi wasn't the most photogenic meal, but it was quick and delicious. The combination of butter, garlic, lemon and white wine is always a hit with me. I'm allergic to shell fish, so this is how he translated it for me.

Chicken Scampi
1 lb chicken, chopped
1 C flour
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 T butter
2 T garlic
2 T oregano
1 C white wine
juice of half a lemon
pasta
Parmesan cheese

Start a large pot of water for the pasta. Season flour with a pinch of salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour. Coat a hot skillet with olive oil and add chicken. Cook until the chicken is done (about 5 minutes, but it depends on the size of your pieces). Remove chicken from the pan. Start the pasta. Add butter, garlic, oregano, wine to the same pan used for the chicken. Cook over medium-low heat for one minute while scraping off any flour from the chicken to help thicken your sauce. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Add chicken back to the pan and combine with sauce. Serve over pasta. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and an extra shake of oregano.

Week 10

We love getting out of town and visiting new places, but this year each weekend away is a little bittersweet. Our farm share pick-up is on Saturday afternoon, so each time we go away we miss out on the week's vegetables. Last weekend we were in Boston, and missed out on week 9. That put us up all the way up to week 10 of our CSA. Hard to believe! This week in our share we got some old favorites including kale, radishes, beets, braising greens, cucumbers and carrots, plus onions and basil.

We have been feeling a bit under the weather, so it will be good to eat lots of fresh vegetables and get us back to our regular selves. Any suggestions on easy greens recipes? We're not using our oven because of our hot summer weather, so we're looking for stove top recipes for collard and mustard greens, kale and beet greens.

US Wellness Meats Giveaway

As you may know, I just recently started blogging. I started this blog to document our summer with our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm share. I thought it would be a useful tool to hold myself accountable to make sure we ate up the veggies each week, and keep track of the recipes we used. I had no ambitions for readers (or anything else) because I had no expectations. As I started reading other people's blogs, and learning more and more about the blogging community, I became a bit more ambitious. I have learned about the world of networking and some of the techniques for gaining readers. One way to increase your readership is by offering giveaways. These giveaways function like raffles. The blogger offers virtual raffle tickets in exchange for following their blog, tweeting about it, etc.

I have never gone after a giveaway until today. There is a US Wellness Meats giveaway at the Food Renegade blog that has caught my fancy. She is "raffling" off a package of sausage that includes: Braunsweiger, Salami, Liverwurst, Italian Sausage and more all from pasture raised meat. Doesn't that sound delicious? You too can enter by visiting the above website, or purchase your own products at US Wellness Meats .

Wish me luck!

Boston, Part II

As much as I like to search out restaurants with nice atmosphere and delicious food, sometimes it comes down to location. We didn't get in to Boston until 8:30 PM, so we looked for a seafood restaurant close to our hotel in the financial district that was still serving dinner at 9:30. It came down to Union Oyster House. I read some reviews and they weren't the best. People said the service wasn't friendly, the food was OK, but overpriced. But we were undeterred, and went there any way.

It claims to be the oldest restaurant in America, and has the ambiance to match. The food was simple, but good. I had the broiled scrod with boiled salt potatoes, and my husband had a small lobster with broccoli. It wasn't inexpensive, but the prices weren't shocking.


Sunday morning, we were looking for a breakfast place near Old South Meeting House when we came across Emmet's Pub. We both ordered the Irish breakfast which included the Irish bacon, sausages, black and white pudding, grilled tomato, two eggs served with home fries. The black and white pudding was excellent. I highly recommend Emmet's for a hearty breakfast before a busy day of sightseeing.

Boston, Part I

We are so spoiled. We have been eating lots of delicious homemade food prepared with fresh local ingredients. We are accustomed to vibrant tomatoes bursting with flavor; nutty, whole grain breads with naturally fermented starter; and creamy fresh mozzarella from the Italian cheese shop down the street. All these foods have raised our standards.


We were in Boston over the weekend to visit family and do some sightseeing. We had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and provided the perfect backdrop for 2 days of walking and seeing the sights. We always keep an eye out for local institutions to try. We were looking for some food to take on the road when we came across Cardullo's in Harvard Square. We were excited to explore the old school deli and charming gourmet food shop. Unfortunately, the sandwiches were a bit disappointing. We chose Caprese and Italian sandwiches. The tomatoes were green in the center which was a shame because it was the centerpiece of the Caprese sandwich. The Italian had a variety of meats and lots of hot peppers. Both were solid, and made a good dinner for our trip back to New York, but they didn't beat sandwiches we had at home.

All in all, the next time we are in Boston I would still peek in the store to see what's on the shelves, and I would try another sandwich. There was one with pate and figs that was intriguing.