In March, contestants from the Inner City Pastoral Ministry (ICPM) became team 96th Street Chefs and submitted their unique recipe for meatballs at the first annual Ecumenical Meatball Cook Off at Ascension Lutheran Church.

This event was part of a fundraiser to benefit E4C. The competition was tight with a variety of meatball dishes which included: bacon and maple, elk and pork, mushroom, and a white sauce.

Team 96th Street Chefs (Chaplain Rick Chapman, Jim Gurnett, and Michelle Nieviadomy) took home the second place trophy. The ingredients include a mixture of items commonly used in Indigenous meals within Northern Alberta areas.

ICPM Meatballs
Mix moose meat with toasted pine nuts.
Flavour to your liking with sage, rosemary, salt, chives, and celery.

For the Sauce:
Combine vegetable broth, saskatoon berries, chokecherries, and maple syrup; thicken with corn starch. This recipe calls for birch syrup, however, maple syrup was used as a substitute due to the difficulty in acquiring this ingredient.

This meatball dish goes well with a basic side dish of yams, mashed potatoes, rice, or mashed cauliflower.

Yovella is a former resident of McCauley who still works and volunteers in the area.