In my ongoing quest to make as many fabulous recipes from this month’s Food & Wine magazine, I attempted my third one this past weekend…  Quinoa -Pork Meatballs.  This recipe was part the Handbook – What to Cook now recipes from F&W’s Kay Chin called “Market Math:  Quinoa”.  Well, I do enjoy Quinoa very much, I am a fan of pork and I make meatballs quite a bit but with ground turkey, so thought this recipe might be nice change for me.  It also seemed healthy enough to eat throughout the work week when I try to avoid “bad” foods.

This dish is very easy to make, however, I did make one adjustment to it.  The recipe doesn’t call for breadcrumbs as it substitutes quinoa, however, I did have to add some as the quinoa/pork mix was too wet and messy.  This could have been the type of quinoa I used which was a new (quite expensive) organic brand.  To be honest, even with a ¼ cup of breadcrumbs, they did still fall apart a little in the pan but I have to say they were quite possibly the tastiest meatballs I have had in years and my friend, Kathleen would concur as we devoured enough of them between us – so much for being healthy.  I was actually eating the broken ones straight from the pan as I was taking them.  Nothing was wasted at all.

Print Recipe

Quinoa-Pork Meatballs

A tasty alternative to beef or turkey meatballs
Total Time1 hour
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • ½ Cup Quinoa
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
  • ½ teaspoon of grated nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 cups marinara sauce
  • ¼ chopped fresh basil
  • Up to ¼ dry breadcrumbs use if necessary

Instructions

  • Cook the quinoa until tender, let cool. In a bowl, mix the quinoa with 1lb ground pork, eggs, salt & pepper and nutmeg. Mix and form into 12 meatballs. If the mixture is too wet add some breadcrumbs a teaspoon at a time.
  • Heat the canola oil in a large skillet and brown the meatballs over moderate heat, turning, 8 minutes.
  • Add the marinara sauce and basil and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through, about 8 minutes.

Notes

Tastes great over pasta.
Adapted from Food & Wine Magazine
Tracey