Ange's Pork & Veal Meatballs

Ange is one of supremely talented kitchen crew at Earthy Market Cafe in Causewayside.

Veal is one of my favourite meats - rose or ruby veal that is. Raised outdoors, alongside their mothers, grazing & feeding naturally ruby veal is full of flavour, delicate texture and is a world away from the box raised, milk feed white veal that once earned the meat such a poor reputation. Chris & Denise at Peelham Farm do a superb job mixing it with their delicious organic pork to make the perfect blend for Italian classic.

As the nights draw in and the weather gets colder this warming dish is an ideal dinner. Easy & quick to make (all the prep only takes 15 minutes and my girls love getting their hands in the bowl to mix up the mince and rolling all the meatballs) I love the smell coming from the oven as it slowly roasts away guaranteeing succulent meatballs that absorb the delicious flavours from the sauce. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


Makes 6 generous portions

For the Meatballs

1 packet of Peelhams Organic Pork & Veal mince, 1 packet of Peelhams Organic cooking chorizo (remove meat from skins), 20g garlic puree (peel & grate on a micro grater), 140g spring onions (finely chopped), 5g salt, 50g corriander (roughly chopped), All the zest from large lemon

For the Sauce

2 medium red onions (130g), 2 red chilli’s (25g), 1 tin of Suma Organic cherry tomatoes, 50ml olive oil, 5g salt, 2 cloves garlic (10g), 250g fresh tomatoes (roughly chopped)

Method - Meatballs

Whack all your meatball ingredients into a big bowl and mix together thoroughly. Portion up into golf-ball sized pieces (you should get 18 0r so) and roll into ball shapes. Seal them in a frying pan on a gentle heat (you just want to get them nice & brown all over). Place in an ovenproof dish & pour over your tomato sauce mixture. Cook at 180 C for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meatballs are soft.

Method - Simple Tomato Sauce

Finely slice up the red onions, red chilli's & garlic then gently fry in the olive oil until soft. Roughly chop the tinned & fresh tomatoes and salt then add the to pan, heat until simmering and you are ready to pour over the meatballs.

Serve with your favourite pasta, with some of James's delicious crusty baguette or Ange's favourite - basmati rice.

Dig-in

Darren's Sweet Chilli Chicken Wraps

Darren's Sweet Chilli Chicken Wraps

Ever since John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, decided to ask his servant to bring him slices roast beef held between two pieces of bread so he didn’t need to leave the card table to dine, Britain has been sandwich obsessed. Here at Earthy, however, we like to think outside the bun when it comes to quick & easy lunchtime snacks and Earthy chef Darren has come up with a cracker.

An ideal way to use up left over chicken from the previous night’s roast these tasty wraps can be made in minutes then popped in the picnic hamper, lunchbox or just devoured on the spot.

Ingredients (6 generously filled wraps)

500g Free-Range Chicken - Darren’s favourite is Hugh Grierson Organic

70ml Amaizin Sweet Chilli Sauce

A good handful of corriander - finely chopped

50ml Free Range Mayonnaise - Stokes is fantasticly clean & fresh, Tracklements has a more mustardy bite.

3 organic spring onions - sliced

1 bag of Phantassie Organic Mixed Lettuce Leaves

1 pack Amaizin Tortilla Wraps

Method

If you are using left over chicken, clean the carcass, roughly tearing the meat into bite sized pieces. If you are working from scratch put a splash of water and a squeeze of lemon in a covered casserole dish & roast a couple of thighs (by far the best combination of flavour & value) at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes. When they are done, allow to cool and strip off all the meat from the bone.

Next combine all your ingredients except the leaves in a large bowl, mix together & season with salt & pepper.

If you are eating straight away simply pop the chicken mix, leaves & wraps out on the table and let people build their own. If it is for later in the day get a dry frying pan good & hot then toast the wraps for a few seconds on each side (this stops it going soggy), add some leaves & a big dollop of the chicken mix, fold in the ends of the wrap then roll, burrito style, to stop the mix falling out the ends.

Dig-in