the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Primal Mojo Meatballs

I have to admit, I’ve been a huge fan of meatballs all the way back to my earliest childhood memories.

Growing up in our little ag-based, rural community in the Texas panhandle, there wasn’t a huge amount of variety in the meatball world back in the day – they were usually slathered in a rich tomato sauce atop a plate full of spaghetti. And our family recipes were pretty typical of the day, incorporating rice, crushed crackers (one of my grandmother’s recipes), or bread crumbs into the mix before the meatballs were formed up by hand.

The thought of fancied-up meatball recipes using a combination of meats, or the number of different sauces you see out and about today, was simply beyond comprehension back in that day.

We have a slew of great recipes we cycle through these days, often including a bit of organ meats into the mix – meatballs, well-spiced and packed with interesting flavors, are a great vehicle to sneak organ meats past picky eaters who’d never come within a mile of plate of liver (or other organ delicacies).

When something approaching this recipe showed up in my feed from Bon Appetit, we started playing around with the recipe while entertaining our adult daughter who was down for a few weeks in March from Montana. She travels extensively in her work as a photojournalist, and is particularly fond of the spices and flavors of Cuba and the Caribbean.

Ensconced fairly firmly in the Primal/Paleo camp in our kitchen, it was a simple maneuver to sub finely ground pork rinds for the typical meatball bread crumb component, and we upped the spices quite a bit too.

The best thing about this recipe just might be the mojo sauce – we agree with daughter Jess that a punchy Cuban mojo – based on sour orange and lime juice – with lots of garlic, pepper heat, and cilantro, is simply out of this world good.

Despite what appears at first glance to be a lengthy ingredient list, these come together very quickly and reheat like a charm too. Save that sauce for the leftovers, and don’t skip out on the roasted red onions – they’re great!

2 pounds ground pork (or a combo of your faves, including organ meats)

2 large eggs
1 cup finely ground pork rinds
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp avocado or EVOO oil
2 tsp kosher salt (or 3 tsp Diamond Crystal)
5-6 garlic cloves, grated
2-4 serrano chiles, grated
1 cup finely chopped cilantro

2-3 medium red onions, cut into wedges, root ends intact
1 tbsp avocado or EVOO oil
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Juice of two oranges, sour oranges if you can find them
Juice of four limes
1 cup cilantro leaves and small sprigs
1/2 cup avocado or EVOO oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1-2 serranos, stemmed, seeded, and rough chopped
1 tsp kosher salt
Optional: 1-2 tsp honey

Fire your trusty oven and preheat to 475.

Cut the onions into wedges, drizzle with oil of choice on a baking sheet, season with salt, and roast for 10-12 minutes until charred a bit on the bottom.

Then beat the eggs and add the ground pork rinds, cumin, oil of choice, and salt; stir to mix well and hydrate the pork rinds. Grate in the garlic and serranos, then stir in the cilantro. Now add the pork, mixing with your hands until evenly combined. Roll into 2-inch diameter balls.

When the onions have good color on their bottoms, turn them, then scoot the onions to the side of the pan and add the meatballs in the center; return to the oven for 12-15 minutes until the meatballs are browned and onions charred on their tops.

While the meatballs are roasting, into the blender goes the juices, cilantro leaves, oil of choice, garlic clove, chopped serranos, and salt (also the optional honey if using); blend until almost smooth (it’s more attractive with the cilantro in larger pieces).

Serve hot drizzled with the mojo sauce (or place a small ramekin of sauce on the side as we did in the pics); the sauce is amazing over rice if you’re enjoying a carb refeed day, or with a great cauliflower rice prep like this one, or this one.

Enjoy.