Not Just a Man's World

With all the pumpkin available at the moment for Halloween, this was the perfect time to experiment with it. 

I was busy on Saturday afternoon and evening so there was no time to cook the usual roast dinner, but I did get time to try out something quick and simple for the lunches.  So here are my three experiments:

• Roasted pumpkin (as part of meatballs and roasted veg)
• Pumpkin soup
• Toasted pumpkin seeds

I’ll cover the soup and toasted seeds on another day though.

Meatballs and roasted vegetables

I could chuck the vegetables in the oven in the morning on the timer, along with some meatballs I’d prepared earlier in the week, get on with my weights and all the other chores that had to be fitted into my morning, and still have time for a filling and nutritious lunch before I went out for the rest of the day.

The pumpkin was a disappointment.  Flavourless and watery.  But the roasted leeks, courgette, garlic and onions were good enough to make up for it.  And the oregano and wholegrain mustard that I had filled the meatballs with shone through (on Sunday, after I had cut down the quantity of tomato sauce I served with it).

Meatballs:

Ingredients (made 29 meatballs, which is about 5 small helpings):
750g lean beef mince
1 egg, beaten
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp wholegrain mustard

Directions:

1. Lightly fry and sweat the onions and garlic in a pan over a low heat until they are softened.
2. Place the mince in a large bowl, add the herbs, mustard, onion and garlic and mix well, pressing any lumps out of the mince so that it becomes a reasonably smooth paste.
3. Once everything is well-combined, add the egg and mix in thoroughly.
4. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry a bit of the mixture to check the seasoning.  If desired add more seasoning (oregano and mustard were what I used this time, but you could put in anything you like to this – maybe try some chilli seeds and paprika for a spicy meatball mix).
5. Once happy with the seasoning, form the mincemeat into balls.  If you wanted to make burgers instead of meatballs you could form the mix into patties instead.
6. Heat oil in a pan and fry the meatballs for up to 10 minutes, frequently turning, so that they are cooked through.
7. When you are ready to cook them, place in an oven dish with some tomato sauce (I used the sauce I made last week) and put in a hot oven (mine happened to be 200C because of the veg that was roasting, but 180C would do - you’re just trying to warm it through) for 20-30 minutes until piping hot.

Options abound here.  I’ve eluded to a few above (changing the seasoning, making them into burgers instead of meatballs), but there is also plenty of flexibility. 

On Saturday I grated cheese over it to brown in the oven.  The cheese didn’t add much so I left it out on Sunday.  I made the mince mix on Thursday and stored the meatballs uncooked in the fridge, but on Saturday morning I cooked the whole lot and stored the ones for Sunday in the fridge in their cooked state (the fifth helping is now in the freezer in this state).  Both storing stages worked, but if you are making in advance to minimise your work, I would recommend taking them through to the fried state.

Related posts:

1. Paleo kitchen experiments – pumpkin soup and seeds
2. Paleo kitchen experiments: perfect pot roast
3. Paleo kitchen experiments: meatloaf and cauliflower bake
4. Paleo recipes: braised meatballs