Saturday, March 5, 2011

meatballs version 2.0 aka "bison balls"

i found some ground bison at the market and thought... meatballs. i added it to my original meatball recipe and they turned out great. let's go for it:


sauce--
  • 3-4 (mine were small so i used 5) cloves of garlic, grated or finely minced
  • 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme, minced
  • 2 bell peppers, chopped
  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 1 cup of chopped carrots
  • 2-28 oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes, san marzano if you can find them
  • 6 oz. of tomato paste
  • red pepper flake
  • 2 bay leaves
  • salt & pepper
  • olive oil




prep the garlic, thyme, peppers, onions and carrots. preheat a deep pot to medium-highish heat.

saute all the vegetables until they are starting to get soft, about 7 or 8 minutes. season with salt & pepper and don't let the garlic burn!





next add the 2 bay leaves followed by tomato paste. mix everything together well and finally add the 2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes, crush the whole tomatoes in your hand as they go in. you could smash them with a potato masher once they are in the pot too. once everything is in, reduce the heat to low and cover.






meatballs--
  • 1 pound of ground bison
  • 1 pound of grass fed ground beef
  • 1 pound of ground pork
  • 2 duck eggs (or 3 chicken eggs)
  • 1/2 cup of almond flour
  • salt &pepper
  • 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning (or your favorite steak seasoning)


next up are the meatballs! preheat your oven to 350 degrees. add all the ingredients to a large bowl and mix together. remember, don't mix them too much, just enough so they hold together. the longer you mix, the tougher they will be. this recipe yielded about 20 mediumish sized meatballs. i cooked them on a silpat for about 25 minutes.


this is a good "all-day" recipe because the longer the sauce simmers, the more concentrated the flavors get. i made the sauce late morning, and made the meatballs 25 minutes before we wanted to eat. it was perfect served with steamed brussel sprouts but spaghetti squash was excellent the last time i made meatballs.


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1 comment:

Alissa @ Not Just Apples said...

homemade meatballs are the best! i definitely think they are so genius in their simplicity - and with bison they sound irresistible...