A New Business and Turkey Meatballs with Blackberry Barbeque Sauce

Where has the time gone?

Seems like just yesterday we were complaining about the heat and humidity of mid-summer. And now, suddenly, we've jumped full-on into the lap of autumn.

I'm not one to complain, as I really love it when there's a slight chill in the air and the breeze smells of musty leaves. But, I'm shocked that I didn't even see it coming this year.

One of the reasons is that I've been spending quite a bit of my free time doing research, talking with designers, and crunching numbers for a new endeavor that Peef and I are taking on this fall.

The business will be called "From Milwaukee With Love" and it will be an online retail store specializing in gift boxes filled with artisan food products made right here in the Milwaukee area. 

The concept has been a long-time in coming - and more details are forthcoming - but for now, let's suffice it to say it's been a labor of love that's really served to bring together my freelance writing, my love for the city of Milwaukee, and my desire to really showcase all the amazing food that's being produced right here.

I won't bore you with too many of the details here, but I'll let you know when we get things up and running, and you'll be able to follow our progress on Facebook and Twitter in the upcoming weeks.  Until then, I hope to keep up with at least a modicum of the recipe development and delicious food sharing I've always enjoyed so much here at Burp!

For today, I figured I'd dig down in my recipe file and share something deliciously different -- but seriously useful. I know you've all got football parties and family gatherings coming up, so I thought I'd take the time to share a recipe that should come in handy for any number of those things.

Barbequed meatballs commonly make their appearance on appetizer spreads or church pot-lucks. This homemade version made with blackberry barbeque sauce capture all the sweet-tart-vinegary goodness of a traditional sauce, while offering up a beautiful color and distinctly fresh flavor. 

Meatballs made with turkey lighten things up a bit, but maintain a rich flavor and caramelized exterior when browned in real butter. And this recipe is perfectly amiable to the use of either fresh or frozen berries, so you don't have to wait for the next batch of fresh berries to make it happen.

Serve as part of your next party spread, or simply served alongside mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables for a distinctly different weeknight meal.

Blackberry Turkey Meatballs

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Fresh Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream

Ufda. Uff da. It's been so long since I've been in the kitchen. Fortunately, this recipe is a treat worth waiting for.

Berries are definitely my favorites when it comes to summer fruits.  And blackberries -- well, they pretty much take the cake as far as I'm concerned.

Because they don't ship well, you'll seldom find blackberries in the market .  And the sheer rarity of them probably fuels my seemingly insatiable desire for them. However, if (like me) you're lucky enough to find a local source for them, you may be able to get your fill during the latter days of summer.

If you've ever been fortunate enough to pick your own, the flavor of blackberries -- tart, yet sweeter then their distant cousin the raspberry -- is likely to conjure nothing less than images & memories of sweltering summer days, brambly thorn-ridden bushes, and the inevitable purpled fingers. 

This year, I happened to have sourced my berries at Outpost, our local food co-op.  There weren't many, but I bought up everything that I could, knowing that I'd find a use for them before they turned bad.  I didn't quite have enough berries to make Megan's Blackberry Basil Jam (though I'm still haunted by the thought of it). And, as much as eating pints of berries out of hand sounded like a great plan, I really wanted to stretch it out as far as I could -- to prolong the joy, so to speak.

To be honest, there wasn't much conversation at all before we decided on making a batch of ice cream. No surprise there, right?

So, we did what we usually do.  We dragged out all the ice cream cookbooks we could find and started playing around with recipes.  What we came up with was an absolute delight -- rich, creamy vanilla ice cream with plenty of daubs of tart/sweet berries. Exactly the sort of thing you'd want to pile into a cone on a warm late summer's night and enjoy right out on the patio.  Or, in our case, feed to our adorable niece!  (She, btw, declared the icecream "marvelous" and proceeded to tell everyone that we'd made it "just for her.")

The recipe for the ice cream is basic -- just a rich vanilla base with a blackberry swirl. That said, I want to share a couple of pieces of information with you while I'm writing all of this down.

We mashed 1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries with a fork and about 3-4 tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. We took David Lebovitz's advice and added a bit of vodka to the berries to keep them from freezing solid, and then we layered the blackberries in with the churned ice cream.  The trick didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped (the berries froze a bit more solid than I would have liked) -- not sure exactly why. But, I plan to play around with the proportions of berries to alcohol next time to see what I can come up with.

Beautiful. Luscious. And perfectly local.  Just about nothing beats a bowl of blackberry ice cream.



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