Ostrich- the other red meat

I hit a lull last week and really just didn’t know what to make for dinner.  I used to be constantly reading recipe books and magazines tabbing and cutting out pages for future dinner ideas.  I had such a backlog we never made it through half of the recipes.  That was a long time ago. 

I don’t get the same excitement browsing recipes on the web.  It’s just not the same. 

So, I was stuck and decided just to head to the grocery and let the ingredients inspire me.  I found ostrich.  Minced ostrich to be exact.  I have had ostrich a few times in the States and a few times here and really like it, so I thought- “Why not?”

It’s getting cooler here so I wanted homey food.  I decided a shepherd’s pie was in order.  If you’ve never had it, it’s basically ground beef,  corn and topped with mashed potatoes and then baked.  Sometimes with cheese on top, really there are tons of variations out there.

I decided to keep it simple, but give it a twist since I was already using ostrich.

I love their sweet potatoes here… 

They’re white and have a more delicate flavor so I chopped, boiled and mashed them with a little milk, salt and pepper. Set aside.

I boiled fresh corn and then cut it off the cob.  Canned corn doesn’t have that crunch and I wanted the sweet pop to give the pie some texture.

I sautéed some  onions and then just browned the ostrich. I seasoned with salt, pepper and loads of cinnamon.  I had those ostrich steaks before at Moyo and cinnamon really goes well with the slightly gamey taste of the ostrich and it would go perfectly with the sweet potatoes.

Put the meat and onions in a casserole, top with corn and then spread the mash on top- pop in the oven until hot and starting to brown. 

Um, guys- this was delicious.  As in de-lish-us.

I know you can find ostrich at groceries back home and I’m telling you- get it.  It has less calories and fat than a skinless chicken breast but tastes like red meat.  Win, win!

I’m eyeing some ostrich fillets for my next escapade with the giant bird. 

Moyo

We went to Moyo back in 2009 and had a great meal and a great time so we decided to go back. They serve food from all over the continent and it has a great atmosphere with musicians, face painters, dancers- you’ve never heard happy birthday sung like this. We had 2 birthdays at neighboring tables and it was like a mini-concert.

The menu is a bit daunting because you don’t know what 80% of the things actually are, but sometimes it's better just to go for it.

The Wife went with a fillet of beef, but for the life of me I can’t remember anything about where this dish was from or what the sauce was…

I was far too focused on my own dish, but hers was really, really good. Served over sliced potatoes, the sauce was a little sweet and had a nice mild heat.

I had the Ethiopian ostrich steaks…

The meat was heavily seasoned with cinnamon, cardamom, clove and who knows what else. The spices were about a quarter of an inch thick around the rare fillet.

Ostrich is very lean so you need to eat it rare to medium rare. If you’ve never had it, it’s much more like a red meat than poultry. It was spectacular and the mashed pumpkin with peanut butter was the perfect companion. I WILL go back here to have this again before we leave.

dinner in the bush

We had an awesome dinner in the bush on our safari weekend. The torch light was not conducive for pics, but I will say I am now a HUGE fan of ostrich and of malva pudding. I plan on making that pudding very soon so stay tuned for the recipe.

I also finally found a way to like pap, a thick porridge-esque maize substance, that is a staple down here. I’ve always found it ridiculously bland and too thick for my liking, but our chef told us to eat it with the spicy tomato, onion and bean mixture called chakalaka. Delicious.

Woman cooking pap over hot coals.