Easter Weekend: Celebration of meats!

So, I realize this blog is out of order, but I thought I would right it anyway.  For Easter, we once again drove to my hometown, Midland, MI.  My brother is an excellent gourmet chef and only cooks when he wants.  Holidays are frequently times for us to travel north for an excellent holiday dinner.  This Easter was no different. 

The week of Easter, I was talking to him and mentioned that I had a bunch of ground meat in my freezer that I haven't been able to keep up with and really needed to do something with it before the summer shares start.  He told me to bring it along and we would cook it up over the weekend.  So, I went through my freezer and found 2 lbs ground beef, 1 lb hamloaf (ground smoked pork) and 1 lb of ground duck.  I put it in a cooler with an iceblock and headed north. 

When we got there, the meat was still a bit frozen.  So, my brother finished thawing it while we played a round of cards.  Then because he's never worked with hamloaf or ground duck, he made some sample patties along with some fatback that he basically oven-fried to make crunchy sticks.  When we tasted everything, it was so good.  Especially the duck, which I purchased on a whim when Trevor had it available as an extra item.  I will definitely be buying more of that!

Ultimately, my brother decided to make meatballs with the ground beef and hamloaf and leave the duck to have alone (it was just that good!).  I am going to try to recreate his meatballs and sauce, although I do not have exact measurements on the seasonings, but you will get the idea.  Bob, if you read this and want to give me adjustments, let me know, I will make corrections as needed.

Bob Pierce's Meatballs and Bolognese Sauce
Meatballs:

• 2 lbs ground beef*
• 1 lb hamloaf*
• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• Sweet Basil, dried (1Tbsp?)
• Oregano, dried (1 tsp?)
• 2 eggs

Combine everything in a large bowl.  Mix thoroughly with your hands.  Form into golf ball sized meatballs.  Heat olive oil in an heavy alumimum pan.  Brown meatballs on all sides and place on a baking sheet.  Bake in a 375F (?) oven for 20 minutes.

Sauce:

• 2 (32-oz) cans homecanned tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lg carrot, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 small potato, diced
• Sweet Basil, dried (1Tbsp?)
• Oreganio, dried (1tsp?)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan

Roast vegetables (carrot, onion, potato and garlic) at 400F (?) for 40 min (?), stirring a couple times to evenly cook.  Pour tomatoes into a large pot, add roasted vegetables, basil, oregano and parmesan.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Using an immersion blender, blend until sauce is pureed.  Add meatballs and allow to simmer another 20-30 minutes.


As I said, I didn't get measurements or check temperatures or times, but this is the best that I can remember.  We served this over pasta while we played several rounds of euchre!  What a great evening.

The next morning, since it was Easter, we kept it simple.  We talked about what to do with the duck and Bob finally decided to try grilling it.  In the meantime, I fried up some eggs for John and I.  The duck was fantastic grilled with just a little salt and pepper.  Great breakfast!

For dinner, Bob had gotten a fresh Michigan ham.  He makes up a crust of gingersnap and mustard (among other things) and bakes the ham.  He served that along with green beans with bacon and onions, a Korean spinach salad that my mom made (we all love this!) and for dessert, Bob's famous cheesecake (NY style) and my mom's cream puffs (which we haven't had in years!).  It was quite a foodie weekend and always worth the drive!

*CSA ingredients