Eating Local - What's for Dinner, May 31 2009

Have you tried emu? Emu is a high-protein, low-fat, nutrient-packed red meat, and the American Heart Association has included emu in its listing of heart-healthy meats. Our farmers market has added an emu farm to its lineup this year, so I decided to give it a try. I bought a pound of emu sandwich steaks, with an eye to doing a stir fry. I also bought some asparagus and some spring onions with nice sized pinkish-red bulbs.

I cut the green tops off the onions, and set them aside for future use. I then sliced each onion bulb in half. Next, I heated some olive oil in my large non-stick skillet, and added two cloves of garlic, sliced, from my stash. I tossed in the onions, then added the emu steaks. The thinly sliced meat cooked fairly quickly, even though it was still partially frozen. When the meat had lost most of its reddish tinge, I added the asparagus, which I had sliced on the diagonal into one inch pieces. After stirring it all around, I put on the lid and let it cook until the asparagus were tender. I finished it off with some balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Sorry, no pic of tonight's meal; I was too hungry! But Greg made lots of mmmm noises as he ate, and said the dish was "awesome". We will definitely be buying more emu!