I tried for, like, 10 minutes to come up with a workable play on caraway seeds. Get Carried-Away Seed Meatballs? I'm Caraway'd Meatballs? Caraway'd Away Balls? Dave grimaced.
His contribution: "Czech Out My Balls?"
And that is how we settled on the not-very-creative, but accurately-descriptive and patently-inoffensive "Paleo Czech Meatballs." Enjoy!
Paleo Czech Meatballs
Inspired by Simply Recipes German Pork Burgers
Ingredients:Directions:
2 pounds ground pork
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1. Mix all ingredients together until well blended and form into meatballs. I made them fairly-large – about 9 per pound of meat. (mostly because I get bored rolling meatballs. You could also make these burgers, but balls are more fun. [Heh. I said 'balls are more fun.'])
2. On the grill: Heat grill to high, then cook meatballs five minutes with lid closed, flip, and cook an additional five minutes, until nicely browned. In the oven: Preheat oven to 400F and cook 15 minutes or so. On the stovetop: Brown in a hot saute pan, then cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium-low until cooked through.
These are wicked good: tender, flavorful, and perfect for Fall. Dave and I ate them for dinner, and the next day, I earned bonus points when I told Dave he could have the leftovers.
Make sure you get two veggies on your plate with the meatballs! The original recipe called for sauerkraut as a topping, but I made sauteed cabbage as a bed instead. Saute 1/2 onion in coconut oil 'til soft. Add 1/2 head sliced cabbage, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, and a generous sprinkle of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Saute until everything is nicely wilted and starting to brown around the edges.
To create the green beans you see below, follow this recipe but leave out the mint.
I'm excited to once again join the punk rock foodies on Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.
Lurker and fan-girl here. I'm a couple weeks into my third attempt to do a 30-day cleanup. I've been crossfitting for 6 months. This is all so that I can get in shape for roller derby tryouts! I'm kinda in love with your blog.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking to myself "what should I have for lunch?" and also "what should I do with that delicious cabbage that was so cheap at the farmer's market?" Thanks for one answer to two questions.
Hi, Sally! Congrats... third time is the charm!
ReplyDeleteI realized yesterday that I'm not actually sure if I've ever done an entire 30-day clean-up. So I'm digging in my heels and really doing it this time. No wavering. GAH!
Thanks for the sweet words about my blog. I'm excited for you that you're trying out for Derby!
Have fun cooking.
I like Dave's answer. To heck with offensive, it's funny!!!
ReplyDeleteAmber, you have my permission to refer to these as "Czech Out My Balls" Balls. (Heh. I said balls. Twice.)
ReplyDeleteholy coincidence.
ReplyDeletei'm working on a gluten-free meatball recipe now to serve for (gulp) 30 people on saturday.
trying to get some tenderness into the little suckers without breadcrumbs is challenging... first batch with some almond flour was good, but i think i can do better.
have you ever made italian-style meatballs, paleo?
Hey, Michele!
ReplyDeleteI haven't made Italian style. I wonder if it would help to combine beef and pork -- the pork definitely makes things a little more tender.
i mixed pork, beef and *veal*, bitches! but maybe i take your point and switch up the proportions...
ReplyDeletewith and egg, parm and some parsely, the taste was fantastic. (sorry about the cheese, i am genuflecting right now, i really am.)
gluten-free girl says use Udi's and make breadcrumbs from that... in fact they just put up a video about it today (another freaky coincidence.) so i'll try that. i feel like gluten-free bread is dangerous to have around - like giving alcohol-free beer to an alcoholic, it's a no-no - but for the sake of this gig, which is for a client with celiac, i'll try it.
good luck on your clean up.
Awesome recipe Mel! I'm going to make these with my girlfriend, should be a big hit! Good luck with the thirty days.
ReplyDeleteive followed your blog for a while and just wanna say that something about this post has finally made me get to it and follow a recipe! Tomorrow dinner: Czechit Meatballs! Awesome, thanks.
ReplyDeleteps. been paleo strictish for a good year and loving it.
wow, I got your blog link from whole30, but i think i will keep it in my favourites, this looks so yummy, the meat balls that is. going to try them out sometime soon :)
ReplyDeletelooks easy! I only happen to have a 1lb of pork in my freezer..if I cut the recipe in half..wonder what the baking time would be??
ReplyDeleteOoooh! I love your blog! You are so bad-ass and inspirational! I'm gonna be cooking a lot of your dino-chow...
ReplyDeleteJesse --> Be sure to let me know how like them!
ReplyDeleteBen --> I LOVE it: Czechit! Genius. Congrats on a year of paleo... hope you like the Czech balls.
Ashley --> Glad you like my blog. Let me know if there's anything you're curious about and I'll tackle it in a post.
Trixie --> The baking time is the same, even if you cut the recipe in half. But I recommend making the whole pound and having leftovers!
Michelle --> Thanks for your kind words. Being called bad-ass is one of my favorite things!
Gotcha, I do have 1lb..just not 2lbs like your recipe calls for.
ReplyDeleteWith recipes like this, you can always halve -- or double or triple. With baking recipes, not so much. But with this one, just cut all the ingredients in half but keep the cooking time the same. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHey Melissa-
ReplyDeleteFound you on Whole 30. I made these tonight. They were good, but VERY salty. I should have followed my gut and cut the salt. Other than that they were yummy. Thanks.
Hey, Brenda! Did you use sea salt? I do like my food salty, but sea salt is less potent than table salt, hence the tablespoon in this recipe. It also depends on how salty the mustard is that you use.
ReplyDeleteWith any recipe, you can also decrease the salt, then add more after cooking, if you're worried about it.
Hey Melissa- I do use sea salt. Maybe it is just that we don't use that much salt anymore. My hubby has high blood pressure and is a salt nazi!!! I used to use tons of salt, but have cut back a ton. I think I will try them with cumin next time more of a mexican flare.
ReplyDeleteI love your web-site.
Hey Mel! I am in a meatball kinda mood today but only have ground lamb and beef in the fridge. Either or both? Any other suggestions?
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your site too! I can't imagine you get tired of hearing that.
Hey, Julie! Thanks for the compliment, and no! hearing that you like my site will NEVER get old.
ReplyDeleteOK. If you want to make the Czech meatballs, use the beef... then use the lamb for Moroccan meatballs.
Or, if you want to combine the beef and lamb together, that's a perfect meat mix for Moroccan meatballs, too.
Recipe here:http://theclothesmakethegirl.blogspot.com/2009/03/mmmmm-moroccan-meatballs.html
OR... if you want to try a Mexican thing... mix the lamb and beef together, then add cumin and chili powder (maybe 2 teaspoons of each) and some chopped cilantro. Brown the meatballs, then serve with salsa and avocado. I just totally made that up, so it might need more tweaking, but I think it would work.
OK - I just made some-kinda-YUM! with the beef & lamb. You inspired me to tweak and that's just what I did. OMG!
ReplyDelete1 lb ground beef
1lb ground lamb
4 T chopped fresh cilantro
2 eggs
1 T cumin
1 T chili powder
2-3 tsp Cinnamon (I just dumped the end of a bottle in)
1 tsp sea salt
a generous few turns of the pepper mill
a few hearty shakes of crushed red pepper
Mixed it all up and browned them in an oven proof frying pan with coconut oil. Finished them in a 400 degree oven. Ate it over left over roasted asparagus and avocado slices. This is "Happy-Dance" food!
Julie --> Those sound super tasty! Congratulations on inventing Julie Balls! :-)
ReplyDeleteThese are awesome! I only had a pound of pork thawed, but next time I'm totally using at least two pounds, maybe more like four (I'm working through a quarter share of pastured hog, so four pounds is actually feasible). I paired them with leftover kale, and some parsnip and carrot puree for lunch, but I'm totally sauteeing some cabbage to go with em for dinner. Your cabbage slaw with lime really changed my mind about cabbage, so thank you for that too!
ReplyDeleteKatie --> I'm glad you like them! I only had a pound of pork the last time I made them, too, and I was sad.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking... you could easily double the recipe, and if you don't feel like rolling all those meatballs, you could either make burger patties or put the meat mixture into a muffin pan and make mini-meatloaf muffin thingies.
Cabbage sauteed with onion, garlic, and a splash of cider vinegar would be really good with these. Glad you've come around to the magic of cabbage!
this recipe is OFF THE HOOK! i have made it about 4 times in the past month- once with ground pork then the other times with varying fat% of ground turkey.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing!
XOXO --> Hooray! Glad you like them. They are tasty little buggers, aren't they?
ReplyDelete