Grandma was doing Paleo before it was cool

So in case you’ve never read my bio, I’m half-Armenian and Half Cuban-Venezuelan, I know what you’re thinking, get to the meat you asshole, I agree, but it’s only important because it means that I grew up with a vast variety of peasant foods that utilized everything from the rooter to the tooter, never knowing that eating tripe stew, beef tongue or fish-head soup wasn’t the typical fare for growing young boys. Since then I’ve eaten everything from Rattlesnake to Rocky Mountain Oysters (sheep nuts) and have never had an issue with being culinarily adventurous, and i never learned to discriminate against food (nor do I have any textural issues which helps the you’re eating tripe).

Ok, on to the meat of this post. On my Armenian side I had Grandma Lu and Grandpa Al, and Sunday dinners at Grandma Lu’s happened at least once or twice a month, we would drive from Grand View on Hudson, NY to their home in Alpine, NJ. Grandma Lu cooked traditional Armenian fare and one of these delicacies was a dish called CheeKufta. It’s usually served with other items like kalamata olives, pita bread, string cheese, etc in a “tapas” like manner as an appetizer before the Shish Kebab and Pilaf arrive. It also didn’t happen that often, because it’s a little more work than throwing out a plate of olives. CheeKufta is basically Armenian Steak Tartare, so it’s raw ground beef blended with bulgur wheat, parley and onions and it’s amazingly delicious. When Grandma Lu brought a platter of these raw little “meatballs” out they disappeared in minutes…if you went down the shag carpeted staircase to the nearest bathroom when they came out, they would be gone before you finished shaking it off.

So, you wanna try some Armo tiger meat? well, here ya go…

2 Lbs Ground Top Round/London Broil
Full 1/4 cup chopped curly parsley
Lean 1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/2 Cup of Bulgur cooked w/ 1 -1/2 Cups V8 Juice then chilled
1/2 tsp Ground Pepper
Kosher Salt to taste (about 1 tsp)
1 Tbsp Red Pepper Paste (optional)

Mix it all together then fashion into 1/8 cup size meatballs, serve with Pita Bread….if your a total wuss you can grill them and serve with some Tsatziki sauce
Notes: Top Round (AKA London Broil) is, in my opinion, the most flavorful and lean cut of meat to use for this, but it’s usually only found as steaks, not ground. If you don’t have your own means of grinding meat, just ask your butcher, but explain to him that you’re using it for tartare so he uses a clean grinder. Also, find the leanest cut you can, you don’t want fat or marbling for this.