Paleo Kotletki

My mom makes a Russian dish called "kotletki" they are basically oval meat patties that are that are fried. she adds onions and bread to them and rolls them in bread crumbs, then fries them. they are a great meal and a great brown bag lunch.It is one of my favorite "mommy" dishes.I decided to put a paleo twist on them. instead of bread I used minced onions, carrots and chopped spinach.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 lbs ground meat (I used 1 lb of ground turkey and 1/2 lb lean ground beef) you can experiment with different meats and meat combos for different tastes!
• 4 small onions finely minced
• 2 carrots finely shredded
• 1 bag of chopped spinach
• Canola oil
• 1 egg
• salt / pepper to taste

Directions:

Sweat the onions and carrots in canola oil, set aside in a large bowl to cool. add the spinach to the skillet to dry it out a bit an cook for about 10 min. add to the bowl of onions and carrots. Once the veggies are cooled add the ground meat and egg, salt pepper. my mom puts the mixture through a meat grinder to create a very fine texture, but I did not. Mix by hand. this is the important part: while mixing scoop and fold the mixture by hand 100 times to aerate the mixture and make fluffy. Heat canola oil in non-stick pan. Wet hands (I kept a small bowl of water next to me) shape the mixture into an oval by hand, place in pan and flatten a bit. looks like thick oval burger patties. Cook on both sides until browned. I flipped them over twice.I have varied the veggie content several times. I really like the onions, carrots and zucchini combo.

Grass Fed, give your self the best

If you really want to emulate the Paleolithic Diet, eating Grass Fed meat is the way to go. there are many health benefits. Here are a few links to get you pointed in the right direction:

http://www.eatwild.com/basics.html

http://www.eatwild.com/healthbenefits.htm

http://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/grass-fed-natural-beef.asp

http://www.bisonbasics.com/pastured/fully_grass_fed_and_finished.html

Grass fed beef is more expensive, so to cut down cost you have to buy in bulk. Then there is the problem of shipping costs.. If you are fortunate enough to live a reasonable drive to a grass fed farm, you cam pick up your own in what ever quantity you want. Then there is the problem of storage. This is where a separate freezer becomes handy.

Well I finally bought a separate freezer that resides in my garage.

I found some Grass fed farmers using http://www.eatwild.com/ close to me. Unfortunately, the closest one was about 5 hours away. Now I had to consider traveling costs/time vs. shipping costs. Fortunately for me, my father in law lives 10 min from a grass fed farm. Unfortunately for me he lives 6 hours away in Upstate NY. As it turns out there are many farms in his area, some grass fed farms! We visit him a few times a year, so now its no-brainer.

After calling around I finally found a farm that had meat for sale.
Although it was "out of season" this farmer kept a reserve for her regular customers. And she was pretty stingy with the meat. I practically had to beg her to sell me the meat.

I wound up buying a 50 lb variety pack for about $4/lb, 20 lbs of (beef/calf tongue, liver and 1 pair of kidneys) at $2/lb and 30 lbs of grass fed lamb variety pack. at $8/lb

Next time I will buy 1/4 carcass butchered to my specifications. I think this is the way to go. Ideally I would like to buy meat once per year.

I think the best gift you can give your family is investing in their health by buying grass fed meats.

Snails in garlick sauce (Escargot)

For me the Paleo Diet is about variety. Our Paleolithic ancestors ate whatever the could catch or find. Insects are a staple source of protein in many cultures. I love eating different kinds of food. While at a local grocery store I noticed a can of snails. 4.4 oz dry weight made by Roland. packed in water, salt, pepper and citric acid. cost $1.85 pretty paleo and affordable. Escargot anyone????

Ingredients:

• 1 4.4oz can of large escargot snails (12 snails)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• Olive oil
• 1tsp dry chives
• 1tsp dried parsley
• pepper to taste.

Directions:

Saute Garik in olive oil on med heat until it begins to brown. lower heat and add herbs and snails. Saute for a few minutes until the snails are heated through. Makes a great snack with a side salad!

Braised Chicken gizzzards and hearts

I grew up in Russia. People were poor and they cooked "poor" or Pesant food. People could not afford to be picky and ate every part of the animal. Most cultures have poor peoples dishes made from cheaper cuts of meat and offal. I ate a lot of offal in Russia. There is no doubt that our Paleolithic ancestors used to eat the whole animal. nothing was wasted. Here is one of my favorite childhood dishes:

You can find chicken gizzards and hearts in almost every supermarket in US, right next to the livers. and they are cheap:$1.50 per lb.

Ingredients:

• 3 packages of chicken gizzards and hearts or just gizzards.
• 5 medium onoins, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic,chopped
• canola oil
• salt/ pepper to taste

Directions:

Wash gizzards an remove any hard lining (usually yellow-green). In a cast iron Dutch Oven sauite onions in canola oil, when onions softened add garlic. Saute until onions are browned on med-high heat. Heat skillet and canola oil and brown gizzards/hearts. they will give of some liquid at first. cover pan with lid and pour off exess liquid into pot with onions, otherwise it will take forever to brown. I browned each package at a time. Deglaze with water (1/4 cup) or stock or white wine if you like by scrubbing the brown goodness on botttom of pan with a wooden spatula. Add deglazing liquid into pot bring to a boil and simmer. you want the liquild to slowly reduce until the onoins become mushy and liquified. This makes a very tasty sauce. simmer for about 3 hours or until meat is tender and almost all the liquid is gone. after 2 hrs I opened up the lid and let the liquid reduce a lot , then semicovered the pot and let it simmer on low.

New Twist on the Old Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken, skinned and joined
• 1 med onion ,whole,
• 1 stalk celery, cut into 3rds
• 1 large carrot, cut into thirds
• 4 slices of fresh, ginger root.
• salt pepper to taste.

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a large pot cover with water, bring to a boil and turn the heat off. The chicken will cook very tender as it cools. Skim the scum as needed with a slotted spoon. Remove chicken from pot, after about an hour. Remove meat form bones and shred with fingers to bite size pieces. remove vegetables and strain liquid into a second smaller pot. return chicken to pot, add strained liquid reserving about a cup in the second pot. add vegetables to smaller pot, discarding the ginger root. using a hand blender puree the vegetables and return to original pot. simmer for an additional hour or until the chicken meat is tender. The ginger gives this soup a little something extra and the pureed vegetables give the soup a little body.