Did I Mention Picnic-Obsessed? Pork and Apple Koftas

Now that we’ve given up on packing healthy picnic dinners for swim meets – and now that swim season is very nearly over anyway – we’re onto packing healthy picnic dinners for evening concerts at the zoo. On Wednesday evenings during the summer the zoo hosts concerts with a variety of local musicians, although mostly we just look at it as an excuse to have yet another picnic dinner and walk around looking at the animals after the worst of the day’s heat has passed. We invariably run into people we know (last week, a friend and 2 cousins from different sides of the family). These events have also gotten more fun since they opened up a beer tent, but you didn’t hear that from me….

The view from my front window

Let me take a minute here and do a shameless plug for the zoo; it's one of the many things in the metro Detroit area that really doesn't get credit for being as extremely awesome as it is. Since I have kids and we like to go on vacations, we've been to a fair number of zoos in the last decade. I would compare ours favorably to just about all of them. They've added some great events and updated the animal enclosures and generally made it a very nice place to spend a day; and by adding this concert series on weeknights, they've given all the busy working parents a way to hang out there without the crazy weekend crowds. I also live across the street from the zoo, so it's been nice to have somewhere to walk without having to deal with cars and traffic and such; I walked there with Anna every single week the winter after she was born (winter is a great time to go - the animals are very active and the docents will tell you all sorts of juicy stories. At one point I knew waaaay too much about the polar bear love triangle). 

This particular recipe is a variation on what we refer to as “Anna Kabobs” and most cookbooks would call “shish kafta.” I’d love to attribute this to whoever created it, but I can’t find the link David sent me and the printed page doesn’t have any source information on it. It’s even less effort than our usual lamb version, and it cooks up just fine in a skillet if, for some mysterious reason, you actually don’t have the time or inclination to light your grill, cook your dinner, and pack it up to eat somewhere else. If you’re lucky enough to be picnicking somewhere that has a grill, make these up in advance and you will be a Picnic Superhero.

Pork and Apple Koftas

1 lb ground pork

2 cloves of garlic, crushed, or 1 teaspoon jarred garlic paste

¼ cup applesauce (the individual serving-sized cups are perfect for this)

1 bag cabbage and carrot coleslaw (or chop your own)

3 (or more) tablespoons mayonnaise

Splash of lime juice

Mix the pork, garlic, and applesauce together, then shape around skewers (this recipe should give you 12). If skewers feel too fussy (or you’ve forgotten to soak them)(or you’re making these in a skillet), shape the meat as you would if there was a skewer involved. Or into a meatball. Really, it’s a picnic – anything in an easy-to-pick-up-without-utensils shape is fine.

Start your grill or heat your skillet and brush it with a little olive oil. Cook the meat for 8-10 minutes, turning several times, until well-browned and cooked all the way through.

In the meantime, mix the coleslaw with the mayo and lime juice, adjusting to taste.

Serving suggestion: get some of the garlic dip they serve at Middle Eastern restaurants (our local fruit market carries it in the refrigerator case) and serve it with the koftas. The coleslaw really does make a difference here, so don’t be tempted to skip it – it goes very well with this dish.