Meatball Gyros

This morning I did a few of the little things I've been wanting to do, but have been too hurried lately to actually take time for. Besides the usual feeding and watering of all the animals, I took time for holding the newly hatched chicks and growing rabbits, and doling out treats of leftover pancakes for the little piggy, comfrey for the rabbits, and kitchen scraps for the chickens. I also rotated the flock into a fresh pasture, then watered the blueberry bushes, and cleaned all the rabbit trays.



It's been awhile since I baked bread, but after coming back inside, I pulled out my big green bowl I use for making bread. I added Bob's Red Mill 5-grain rolled cereal to the basic ingredients of yeast, water, buttermilk, honey, egg, and flour, mixed and kneaded it all into a soft bread dough, and then left it to rise. We have a small radiant heat panel mounted on the wall in a closet where a small bed barely fits. It is a funky little extra sleeping space with a tiny window that some visitors find absolutely charming -and others find claustrophobic. It is the perfect spot for raising bread dough...



...and keeping newly hatched chicks like these (click here) for their first few days (we have nine so far this morning!). Of course, I don't brood chicks, proof bread, AND sleep guests all at the same time in it -it's a VERY small space- but I did put my bread dough in the warm closet with the wee little peeping chicks this morning.



I cut up a chicken and put the pieces and marinade ingredients for Chicken Marbella (click here) into a gallon Ziploc bag to marinate in the fridge for a few days. I also cut duck breast into strips and put them into a (different) Ziploc bag to marinate for Sesame-Hoisin Wraps tonight, and I made and froze some beef meatballs for making these gyros for tomorrow night (or possibly this weekend in which case they will go into yet another Ziploc bag). If I ignore my to-do list that gets longer with each passing day, and all the weeding and housecleaning left undone, I ALMOST feel as if I'm on top of things here! ALMOST.



Meatball Gyros
1 to 1 1/4 lbs ground beef or lamb
1/2 finely minced onion'
4 pressed garlic cloves
1 egg
2 T. yogurt and whey
2-3 T. olive oil
1 T. each lemon juice, dried oregano, mint and parsley
1/2 c. Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. ground black pepper
Combine, form meatballs, and freeze overnight. Put into a gallon Ziploc bag if not using right away.

To cook, line a baking sheet with foil, spray or oil and arrange meatballs on pan and bake 425 degrees for 15-25 minutes or until done, OR pan fry in a caste iron skillet.
To serve, tuck a few meatballs into a pita bread along with a few tomato and cucumber slices, a bit of diced onion, and some shredded lettuce. Drizzle with Greek Yogurt Sauce (Tzatsiki) and top with crumbled feta.



Greek Yogurt Sauce
Combine:
1 1/2 c. plain yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
1 pressed garlic clove
1-2 T. minced fresh dill weed
1-2 T. red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1-2 T. olive oil
1/2 - 1 t. salt

Oink! Oink!

Banh Mi Pork Burgers

Back in January, Bon Apetit had a pork meatball sandwich recipe made with the Vietnamese ingredients and flavors found in the Vietnamese Sandwich, Banh Mi -one of my absolutely favorite foods. They substituted ground pork meatballs for the usual pate and/or grilled pork found in Banh Mi Sandwiches. I thought, "How can this not be a good thing?" but for one reason or the other, I never got around to making them. Months later, I saw Bahn Mi Burgers (a burger is just a huge flattened meatball, right?) on the food porn site, Tastespotting and after that it snowballed. It seemed I was seeing recipes for Banh Mi Burgers everywhere: Serious Eats, Saveur, All recipes.com and others. EVERYBODY it seems was onto the Banh Mi Burger idea.



This was a few months ago, but we had to wait until our ground pork was in packages in the freezer, and not nosing around in the mud in her pen, to make these burgers. That's part of the deal with raising your own foods: you eat what you raise, and you try and raise what you want to eat; you sometimes have to wait months for that food's season to come around -and you see its face. Chaos in the Kitchen's recipe for Banh Mi Burgers is adapted from Bon Apetit's meatball sandwich recipe, and the recipe I adapted last night. These burgers taste more like the filling for Vietnamese Spring Rolls tucked into a burger bun than a Vietnamese sandwich -which is every bit as good, or even better, than I thought they would be.



Banh Mi Pork Burgers

Mix salad and set aside for 1 hour or so.
2 c. shredded cabbage
2 c. grated daikon radish
2 c. grated carrots
1 jalapeno, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 c. cilantro leaves
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
Use on burgers and also serve on the side with the seasoned mayo dressing.

Mix seasoned mayo dressing.
1 c. mayo
1 T. Maggi Seasoning
2 T. rice vinegar
2 T. sugar
1 t. hot chili-garlic sauce (sriracha)

Mix for burgers:
1 lb. ground pork
1/4 c. basil, minced
2 T. cilantro, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 small leeks, finely shredded
1 T. fish sauce
1 T. Maggi Seasoning
1 t. hot chili garlic sauce (sriracha)
1 t. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. black pepper
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sesame oil
Form four patties and fry in a caste iron skillet with a bit of sesame oil (or cook on a grill) until done. Lightly coat burger buns with sauce, add a dollop of salad, tomato slices and pork burgers. Serve with French fries, seasoned mayo dressing for dipping sauce, and more salad on the side.

Smart Duck and Miss Piggy

This is smart duck -our only Muscovy duck to elude the marauding coyote that has decimated our poultry population over the past few months. The coyote dug into the chicken tractor and killed our two geriatric hens, including Violet, a beloved pet we've had since the kids were young. We also lost a breeding pair of Saxony ducks, a breeding trio of geese, half a dozen Muscovy ducks -and a turkey hen just a few nights ago. We have put the remaining breeding pair of turkeys in a room in the chicken house and they will have to stay there until we are rid of the coyote.

This is Miss Piggy. She is quite rambunctious.

The two are friends. Maybe Miss Piggy protects Smart Duck from the coyote. Then again, maybe Smart Duck just likes to eat the pig food. Miss Piggy does like her company though.