Irish Meatball Stew for a crod

  Don't be put off by the task of making a large amount of meatballs.  They can be made a day or two in advance and refrigerated until you are ready to use them.

It will serve 25 - 30 with a salad and some crusty buns.

Meatball Ingredients

• 5 pounds ground beef
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups panko crumbs
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese or other hard cheese
• 1 large onion, minced fine
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon rosemary
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Combine all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl or a large pot if necessary using your hands.
3. Line two rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper.
4. Roll meatballs about 1 1/2 inches and lay side by side onto the cookie sheets.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until browned.

Stew Ingredients

• 2 large onions, diced
• 2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
• 24 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
• 5 pounds small potatoes cut into chunks
• 10 large carrots peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 head of celery cut into chunks
• 2 pounds green beans cut into chunks
• 2 cartons beef broth 900 ml size
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon worchestire sauce
• 1 can Guinness beer (you could substitute additional beef broth for the wine and beer but these ingredients make a difference in the complexity of the flavour)
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• fresh ground salt and pepper to taste after it has finished roasting

1. In a very large roaster, layer the vegetables and meatballs.  If you do not have one roaster large enough you can divide it all between two and adjust the roasting time as it will cook faster.
2. Combine the red wine and the cornstarch and set aside until 1 hour before the stew is finished.
3. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the top.
4. Bake at 350 covered for about 3 hours. Stir in the cornstarch and red wine and cook one more hour. (Stir it once each hour to  ensure that it roasts evenly.)

Maple Glazed Cornish Game Hens

*I got this reciepe out of a Paula Deen Magazine but can find it on line to link you

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 Cornish game hens (about 1 3/4 pounds each)
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds carrots, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 medium red onion, quartered
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Stir together maple syrup and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Using kitchen twine, tie hen legs together, then tuck wing tips underneath. Place hens on a rimmed baking sheet and rub with 1 teaspoon oil; season with salt and pepper.
2. Roast 10 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and add carrots, onion, garlic, and thyme. Toss vegetables with 2 teaspoons oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast 20 minutes.
3. Brush hens with maple mixture. Continue to roast, brushing twice more, until juices run clear when hens are pierced between breast and leg or an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees, about 15 minutes. Transfer hens to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toss vegetables with lemon juice. Carve hens and serve with vegetables.

Whatchagot Soup

Crumble up 1/2 a link of smoked farmer sausage

or

brown 1 lb. hamburger

Get out your soup pot or dutch oven and put in:

1 tbsp. oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion chopped

1 large stalk celery, chopped

1/2 each green pepper and red pepper, chopped

(or a yellow or orange pepper)

1 large carrot, peeled and coarsely shredded

Saute' about 7 minutes.

Add:

the farmer sausage or hamburger

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans, drained or lentils

1 can baked beans

1 can corn

1 can tomato soup or tomato sauce

3-4 cups water

Stir well and add your spices. I added:

1 Tbsp. Chili powder

2 tsp. Basil

1 - 2 tsp. Montreal Steak Spice

1 tsp. Paprika

 

Cook until vegetables are cooked and flavours are blended - about 45 minutes, adding 1 small zucchini coarsely shredded about 10 minutes before it's done.

Garnish with cheddar cheese if desired.

Spinach with black-eyed beans

A complete meal, this spinach and legume dish is nourishing and delightfully simple. Serve hot or cold. I will be serving it cold tonight with Cajun snapper and a crisp salad with fresh basil, tomatoes and goat cheese.
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups black-eyed beans, soaked for 1 hour
• 5 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 large onion peeled and finely chopped
• 2 bunches fresh spinach chopped or 1 bag/container frozen chopped spinach, thawed.
• fresh ground pepper

Soak the beans for 1 hour. Then put in pot, cover with water and bring it to boil. Simmer about 20 minutes but be careful....they should not turn to 'mush' for this dish. Drain.

Meanwhile heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onions until they are translucent. Add the spinach and continue to fry stirring continuously until cooked...Add salt and pepper to taste and then stir in the drained black eyed beans. I love this served cold as a side dish.

Rollkuchen

Ingredients:
2 eggs
¾ c milk
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp oil
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 generous tsp baking powder

Filling:
left over sloppy joe sauce or chili


Method:

1. In small bowl, mix eggs with fork and then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.
2. In another larger bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder, make a well and stir in the wet ingredients. Stir with wooden spoon until all ingredients are mixed well.
3. Knead slightly with hands to smooth, adding milk or flour if needed and roll out thinly on floured board or counter.
4. Place a tsp of filling about one to one and half inches apart in a row, along one end.
5. Fold dough over top of filling and press with a cup to form a perogie like crescent.No need to pinch. Lay on floured cookie sheet until all done before proceeding to fry.
6. Heat about 2 - 3 cups of canola oil – test with a little dough to make sure it fries quickly. The trick to not having deep fried food soak up too much oil is to fry it quickly in very hot fat. Use 2 forks and have a pan lined with paper towel ready.

Nachos

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 package taco season
• 1 small onion chopped fine
• 1/2 cup sliced black olives
• 2 small tomatoes diced small
• 1 jalapeno sliced.
• 1 package Tex Mex or use 2 cups medium cheddar cheese.
• 1 large bag Nachos
• Salsa & sour cream

1. Brown the ground beef with taco seasoning. Set aside
2. On a round deep pie plate, start to build and layer all the ingredients in the following order:
3. Nachos
4. Cheese
5. Beef
6. Tomatoes
7. Black Olives
8. Onions
9. Jalapenos
10. Chili Powder
11. Sprinkle cheese on top
12. Your deep plate will be heaped. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, waiting till the cheese has melted.
13. Serve with side dish of Salsa and sour cream.
14. You can vary or adjust your amounts and make a large batch on a cookie sheet.

Nalesniki with Cheese and Raisins

Ingredients for crepes:½ cup lukewarm water
1 cup milk
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted. Plus more to sauté.
1 cup all-purpose flour (you can use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose)
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of Salt

Ingredients for cheese filling:  8 oz package cream cheese, at room temperature
16 oz small curd cottage cheese
1/3 cup sugar
¾ cup raisins
Powdered sugar for serving (optional)

How to Make Crepes:

1. Put all of the ingredients for the crepes (in the order that they are listed) in a blender and blend until well combined.
2. Melt a dab of butter in 2 non-stick skillets over medium heat. (2 skillets make the process go faster).
3. Pour about 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the skillet.  I use a 1-ounce measuring cup.

4. As you are pouring into the skillet, swirl the batter to evenly coat the bottom. If you get any small gaps, you can fill them with more batter.
5. Once the bottom is golden, flip the crepe using a sharp edged spatula to easily get under the crepe. Let the other side get golden and plop the crepe out onto a cutting board.
Repeat with all of the batter, using a dot of butter each time. Don’t stack hot crepes on top of each other. Once they are just luke-warm or room temp, they can be stacked.
Don’t panic, the first crepe in the pan never turns out nice!

How to make Cheese filling and complete Blinchiki:1. In a colander, rinse the cottage cheese with cold water and DRAIN WELL. A cheese cloth also works well.
2. Mash the cream cheese, cottage cheese and sugar with a potato masher until well combined and creamy. Cottage cheese will still be a little lumpy.
3.  Using a spatula, spread 2 generous tablespoons of cheese filling on each crepe.

4. Sprinkle with 15 raisins.
5. Roll the crepe into a log and cut in half.
6. Refrigerate crepes that aren’t being served. It keeps in the fridge for almost one week.

To Serve:
Melt about 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet and sauté the rolled cheese crepes on medium heat until golden brown on both sides. They don’t take long to sauté. Be careful not to burn them.
Dust with powered sugar (optional) and serve with sour cream or jam on the side.