Konigsberger meatballs in caper sauce, AIP version

This is a recipe for a day when you have a little more time and want to make something that feels like a real meal, not just fuel. Konigsberger Klopse is a German classic, and the work of adapting it has already been done here, including the trickiest part to translate, the egg-free binder and the dairy-free cream sauce. The result tastes like the real thing.

The medicine runs all the way through it. The meatballs are made from beef and pork, a source of protein and zinc that supports immune regulation and gut-barrier repair, and they are poached in bone broth, whose glycine and collagen give the gut lining the raw materials it uses to mend. The squash and parsnip puree underneath is a source of beta-carotene, and the anchovy folded into the meat brings a deep savory note plus a little of the sea. Almost nothing here is wasted.

Several animals nourish this single plate, the beef, the pork, the small fish, the bones in the broth. That is worth a quiet moment of gratitude before you eat. Plate it with care, the pale meatballs over the gold puree, the caper sauce drizzled over, a little parsley on top. Make it beautiful and eat it slowly. A settled body receives the food better than a rushed one.

Ingredients

For the puree:

• 1 medium Hokkaido or butternut squash
• 1/2 pound parsnips
• coconut oil
• olive oil
• sea salt
• a pinch of mace

For the meatballs:

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 anchovy fillets, mashed
• 1/2 cup cassava flour
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot
• sea salt
• ground ginger (in place of the traditional white pepper)

For the poaching broth:

• 1 quart bone broth
• 1/2 onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic clove
• sea salt

For the caper sauce:

• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup of the reserved poaching broth
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup capers

Method

Start the puree. Heat the oven to 400 F. Cut the squash and parsnips into chunks, toss with a little coconut and olive oil and salt, and roast covered 30 to 35 minutes until tender. A Hokkaido squash can keep its skin; peel a butternut. Blend the roasted vegetables with a little olive oil into a smooth puree and season with salt and a pinch of mace. Keep warm.

Make the meatballs. Mix the ground beef and pork with the mashed anchovy, cassava flour, finely chopped onion, arrowroot, salt, and a little ground ginger until evenly combined. Shape into meatballs by hand. The cassava flour and arrowroot are doing the binding here, so there is no egg in this version.

Bring the bone broth to a gentle simmer with the onion, bay leaf, garlic, and salt. Slip in the meatballs and poach 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let them steep another 10 minutes. Lift them out, keep them warm, and strain and reserve 1 cup of the broth for the sauce.

Make the sauce off the heat so it does not break. Melt the coconut oil, then stir in the arrowroot until you have a smooth paste. Whisk in the reserved cup of broth gradually so no lumps form, then warm it gently until it thickens. Add the capers and the coconut milk and warm through without letting it boil, boiling after the coconut milk goes in will split the sauce. Finish with lemon juice and salt to taste.

To plate, spoon the puree onto each plate, set the meatballs on top, drizzle with the caper sauce, and garnish with parsley.

Instant Pot variation

You can do most of this in one pot. Use the Saute setting to soften the onion, garlic, and bay in the bone broth, then poach the meatballs right in the pot using Saute on low for the 10-minute simmer plus a 10-minute steep off heat, exactly as on the stovetop, rather than pressure cooking, so the delicate meatballs do not toughen. Reserve a cup of the broth and make the caper sauce off heat as written. This is an untested conversion, so watch the meatballs and adjust.

*Adapted from asquirrelinthekitchen.com*