Garlic Basil Pork Meatballs

Garlic Basil Pork Meatballs

It is October and National Pork Month is here!  Kick Halloween kid costume stress to the side. Put a pig cut out among the fall mums, pumpkins and gourds you are curb-scaping your yard or deck with!

This year I would challenge all of us to consider about how many people the Iowa and American Pork Industry touches. Think about all the people you know who are involved in growing the feed, taking care of health and housing and handling the hogs… Now think of the folks involved in hauling live animals to the processing plants and meat to the grocery store…  Now think of the folks in the meat counter and grocery stores, restaurants and customers who are a part of the consumer chain that is influenced by what my family produces! We depend on every person in that chain.

Most of you know that I wholeheartedly support our farm’s decision to produce pork.  I love sorting hogs in our confinement buildings with my husband and kids.  I love that my kids work with piglets all the way to market hogs and that they understand this fall’s wet weather will impact our ability to apply both liquid and composted manure to our fields. That manure will build soil nutrients back up for next year’s crop that will feed the following year’s hogs. This isn’t a short-sighted process and it takes planning and thoughtful production to get that pork chop to your plate.

This year the MiniMe reached the critical age of babysitting without supervision and she also reached the critical age where she can do Sunday afternoon chores in the barns without an adult being by her side.  These were a rite of passage that made me realize how quickly her time in our home is flying by and how much her time helping on our farm is shaping her developing responsibility and ability to follow through on tasks.

Over the years I’ve enjoyed swapping recipes with other pork producing families, but this new recipe is one that morphed from a Facebook plea of needing ideas of how to use up an avalanche of frozen, pureed basil from our garden. I don’t think I can ever make enough spaghetti sauce to use that much up!  My west coast cousin Laura suggested pesto turkey burgers and we wondered through Facebook comments back and forth if pesto burgers would work for ground pork which is something I have in my freezer. I love being able to swap kitchen and food ideas with cousins half a country away through this technology.  Her caution was to start light on the pesto, because who really wants to eat a green burger.  So right.

I made the Pesto Pork burgers for a field food night with provolone cheese…winner, winner, ground pork dinner!  And then MiniMe and I chatted about how we could reinvent the burger… Hmmmm, we thought these would be really good meatballs for tailgating, meatball subs, in spaghetti sauce on noodles or zucchini noodles… This could be my new go-to transformation food in cook once for a bunch efforts! It is also gluten free, so extra bonus for my friends with wheat sensitivities.

Even if you don’t make this recipe, think about my family the next time you load a burger with a slice of bacon or throw a chop on the grill.

Garlic Pesto Pork Meatballs

 The Groceries:

2 pounds of ground pork

2 Eggs

½ C Milk

3/4  C Oatmeal

3-4 tablespoons of Kate’s Garlic Pesto, Recipe below or your favorite pesto with a ¼ t garlic paste added.

1 t salt

Optional: Provolone cheese cubes or mozzarella cheese sticks cut into ¾ inch sections.

The Process:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Line a rimmed cookie sheet with aluminum foil that has been lightly sprayed.

Combine all the ingredients until very well mixed.

Using a cookie scoop measure out the meatballs and place on the cookie sheet.  (If adding cheese, form the ball around the cheese chunk before putting on the cookie sheet.)

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature of the oven to 350F and bake until internal temperature has reached 160 degrees.

Once cooked you can freeze for a fast reheat or add to your favorite sauce to eat on noodles or in a meatball sub.

Kate’s Garlic Pesto

The Groceries:

2-3 T of pureed basil leaves

2 T Pine Nuts

2 t minced garlic

Canola Oil to puree/emulsify

The Process:

Combine basil, pine nuts and garlic in mini-food processor and process while drizzling oil over as it blends and emulsifies.  Will become 1/3- scant 1/2 cup of (avocado colored and somewhat creamy looking) pesto that can be used as a wet rub on pork roasts or whole chickens for roasting or in pasta dishes.