Herb & stuff chicken meatballs

 When it's wet and gloomy outside I like to share recipes that are categorized as 'comfort food'.  This delicious recipe comes from cousin Susan and it is easy to make and really healthy for the family as well. Today to serve with my chicken meatballs I have made a simple mushroom gravy that will go perfectly with a batch of jumbo Yorkshire puddings and mashed potatoes.  Please remember that this recipe does not 'need' all the greens in the recipe. Sometimes I know we are missing one or more of the ingredients and to that I say be flexible.  For example if you don't have fresh sage you could always add a 1/4 tsp. of sage powder or leave it out all together.  

I hope you enjoy and thanks to Susan F for this great recipe. If you have questions about this or any of my recipes please email me at mlborys@telus.net

Yield: 16 meatballs - enough meatballs for a family of 4 or for you with lots of leftovers for another meal.

Ingredients

454 gr. ground chicken (turkey works also if you don't have chicken)

5 sage leaves

parsley - 1/4 of a cup 

1 small onion

garlic - 2 small cloves (Thanks to Ellen for the edit)

rosemary - 1 tbsp.

thyme - 1 tsp. 

spinach & arugula - a small handful 

Procedure

Rinse parsley first and remove as much of the water as possible. 

Add the onion, garlic, herbs and spinach into a food processor and process until well pureed.

Place the ground chicken in a large bowl. Add the pureed greens from the food processor. Mix well with your clean hands.

Shape into round balls for frying. 

Pre heat your frying pan and add a small amount of cooking spray or oil.

Sauté until brown on all sides on a medium high heat. Be careful to not burn the chicken balls. Remove from the pan and use the frying pan to make gravy if desired.

Serve with whatever your heart desires. This meal I served the meatballs with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes (Yukon gold), Yorkshire puddings and steamed broccoli.  

Miriam's Time Saving Tip♥ A general rule of thumb to convert fresh herbs to dry: Use one-third the amount of dried herb for the fresh herb called for in the recipe. 

These are my jumbo Yorkshires and I used a jumbo muffin tin (six piece) instead of my usual 12 piece muffin tin. 

Spagetti Squash - Roasted

 Spaghetti Squash is one of the most delicious vegetables and is so very easy to roast.  I hope you enjoy!

How to Roast Spaghetti Squash 

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut squash in half and remove the seeds and the membranes and discard.

Rub olive oil on the inside of the squash.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven for 40 - 45 minutes. 

Once the squash is baked and is soft when piercing with a fork, remove from oven and allow to cool slightly so it can be handled.  With a fork, scrape out the spaghetti-like squash from each half of the squash. 

Place in a bowl and toss with 2 tbsp. butter and salt and pepper as desired.  Serve hot.

'Spaghetti squash is a nutrient-dense food, meaning it’s low in calories but high in several key vitamins and minerals. In particular, spaghetti squash is a good source of fiber, vitamin C, manganese, and vitamin B6' https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/spaghetti-squash#nutrition

Curried Chicken Pot Pie

Matreya and Timo wanted to learn how to make a curry dish and we decided to make a curried chicken pot pie. This dish takes a bit of time but so very delicious. 

1 recipe of pastry (please click here to go to my recipe of how to make pastry). Store bought pastry works well too if you are not able to make the pastry. Make the pastry first, ahead of time and refrigerate for at least 1/2 an hour to chill the pastry. 

Filling for the pot pie.

1 large onion

olive oil

3 chicken breasts cut into bite size cubes

3 tbsp. curry paste (add curry to taste)

1  1/2  cups each of celery, carrots and potatoes (for this recipe I use  yellow skin potatoes and they are washed not peeled)

2 cups chicken broth

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup white wine

6 mushrooms (optional for this recipe but adds nicely to the flavour)

small bag frozen peas (1  1/2 cups)

Method:

Preheat a large frying pan. Add 3 tbsp. olive oil. 

Sauté onions and celery first. Remove these from the pan and set aside in a bowl when the onions start to turn translucent.

Saute chicken in the same frying pan. Cook the chicken just to get some 'fond' on the bottom of the frying pan. (fond is the stuff that sticks to your pan after browning meat or vegetables) The chicken does not need to be cooked fully at this stage as it will be cooking in the oven for 50 minutes.

Add mushrooms to the chicken and continue to sauté. 

Meanwhile, In another pot, par boil the cubed potatoes. This means to boil until the potatoes just start to soften. Drain the water off the potatoes and set aside.

Remove the chicken and mushrooms from the pan and hold in a bowl.

Add 3 tbsp. oil to your hot frying pan and 1/2 cup butter. Melt butter. Add 1/2 cup flour to the butter/oil mixture.

Incorporate the flour as best you can. Then add the coconut milk and wine and continue to stir/whisk until the flour has disappeared. Use a whisk at this point to remove any lumps. Add the chicken stock and continue to stir to deglaze the pan.  The sauce will thicken at this point. Cook the sauce for 5 minutes stirring constantly.

Add chicken, mushrooms, carrots, peas, onions, celery, and potatoes to the cooking sauce. Stir well and allow to simmer for 15 minutes to par cook the vegetables. Stir when needed to keep the sauce from burning.

Line a deep casserole dish with pastry. Brush the raw pastry with egg white to seal it. This will help to keep the pastry flaky. 

Pour in the curry chicken filling and top with pastry. Matreya and Timo decided to do a 'lattice' top for their pot pie and they did a marvellous job.

Egg wash the pastry topping and bake in a preheated oven (400 degrees) for 45-50 minutes. The filling will be bubbling at this point.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving. 

 

Timo's choice is to learn how to do a 'lattice' top...lots of fun 

Pastry, Mom's Recipe

This recipe is my Mom's recipe and is easy to make.  I hope you enjoy.

1 Lb. vegetable shortening - cold

5 Cups all- purpose Flour

2 Tsp. Salt

3 Tbsp. Vinegar  (apple cider or white wine vinegars work well) 

1 Egg 

Cold water (approx. 1 cup)

You will need approximately a total of 1 1/2 cups of fluid so here is how we make up the fluid. Add one egg to a 2 cup measure. Beat with a fork. Add vinegar and whisk again. Then add the cold water  and bring the combined fluid up to 1 1/2 cups.  You may not need all this liquid, but sometimes you do depending on the moisture content of the flour and shortening.

Prep: 

Mix together flour, salt. Whisk together to remove the lumps.

Add shortening to the flour mixture and cut up shortening into the flour with a pastry cutter (see photo to the right). If you have a stand mixer you can use this too. Be careful not to over mix.

Miriam's Time Saving Tip♥ I now realize after making pastry for so many years that the flakiness of your pastry is directly correlated with how well your shortening is cut into the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter helps with this process. The shortening should disappear into small chunks while keeping the flour powdery.

Prepare liquid and add 90% of the liquid to the flour mixture. Combine the liquid until it is incorporated and the pastry starts to come together into a ball. Do not over mix at this stage or your pastry will be tough. Continue to mix with your clean hands and if it is too dry add the rest of the liquid.

Roll dough up into a disc and wrap in parchment paper and then in a clean plastic bag and store in cooler until needed.

BBQ Oven Ribs for David

David is coming for dinner so we are having ribs.  I am borrowing this recipe from Cousin Susan who also makes up her own BBQ sauce similar to mine.  This recipe is easy but the ribs take time...both to boil first and then to roast...well worth it for rib lovers. If you don't have all the ingredients for the sauce you can use what you have...I know it will be delicious.

2 racks pork back ribs - membrane removed

1 recipe of BBQ sauce (below) or use the BBQ sauce of your choice

BBQ Sauce Recipe

3/4 cup ketchup

1 tsp. mustard powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tbsp. molases

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp. HP sauce

2 tsp. sambal oelek chili paste

Cut raw ribs into manageable size pieces (4 ribs per piece).

Submerge ribs in water and boil.  Instant pot time is 15 minutes on pressure cook high. On the stove top the ribs can cook for 1 hour.

Remove ribs and drain off the water.  Place ribs in a shallow baking dish.

Prep and combine the BBQ sauce. Pour sauce over boiled ribs and bake in a low oven (275°) for 2 hours.

Serve hot.

Rainy Day Meat Balls with delicious mushroom gravy.

There is nothing better than delicious meatballs with gravy and mashed potatoes on a rainy day.

This recipe is quick and easy and is so very delicious. If you are not a mashed potato fan then pasta or rice always works. Please click here to go to my YouTube channel to see the video of this recipe. 

MEATBALLS

454gr ground beef

1 small egg

1/8 cup hemp seeds (this is optional but so delicious) if not available use bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped mushrooms

salt & pepper to taste

Add all of the above into a bowl and mix well. Roll all the ground beef mixture into balls (makes approximately 12 large meatballs).

Pre heat a frying pan and sauté meat balls until 3/4 done. Remove meat balls when all sides are brown. Use a paper towel to remove excess fat. We will be using the pan and the fond on the bottom of the pan to add to the flavour of our gravy when we deglaze the pan. Hold meat balls for later use.

"In the culinary arts, there's a word for everything, including the brown particles found at the bottom of pans after browning meat or vegetables, known as fond. The technique for dislodging the fond from the bottom of the pan and incorporating into a sauce is called deglazing."

MUSHROOM GRAVY

To the frying pan add 3 tbsp. butter.  Add sliced mushrooms and sauté.  Add 3 tablespoons flour. Stir until the flour disappears. Add milk and continue to stir. This will thicken up and then you can add the wine, and slowly, the stock. This sauce will turn a lovely golden brown and be creamy and smooth.  Add the meatballs back into the sauce and cook so that the juices run clear in the meatballs. Serve hot over mashed potatoes.

1 cup milk

1/2 cup wine

1/2 - 1  cups beef stock

6 mushrooms - sliced 

salt & pepper

Mom's butter tarts

 Butter tarts are a classic dessert. This recipe is my Mom's, Eileen's and I remember baking these as a young girl. Mom found this recipe in a 1940's Purity Cookbook and as she writes at the bottom of the recipe it was 'still her favourite'.  I have included a copy of the original recipe below with my Mom's notes at the bottom. Baking butter tarts always brings back such good memories of my Mom's kitchen and her teaching me how to bake.

Yield:  2 doz. tarts

Make pastry (click here to go to my recipe of my Mom's pastry recipe) ahead of time and allow pastry to cool in the fridge. Meanwhile combine the ingredients below for the filling.

Butter Tart Filling

2 eggs

2 cups brown sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup of melted butter

1 cup of raisins & currents (if you are not a raisin fan you can use chopped toasted pecans, or coconut as well)

Beat eggs only until the whites and yolks are blended. Beat in sugar, vinegar and vanilla. Melt butter and stir into egg mixture. 

Line muffin tins with pastry rounds. (the original recipe calls them patty tins. I have my Mom's patty tins which are a shallower version of our muffin tins) and carefully pour in filling to 2/3 full.

Your pastry should be thin and about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Bake at 400° for 20 minutes.

These tarts freeze well. 

This is my Mom on Christmas Day 2020...still going strong.