Meatballs for Zenn

This is the time of the year I start looking through gardening catalogs and watching the snow ever so slowly recede from my garden beds.  It's also the time to take inventory of those things which are still on hand from last year's abundance.

I am down to my last few carrots and they are as sweet as ever.  I've just a couple of onions left, lots of garlic, and in the freezer, I discovered a couple of the last quarts of Fire Roasted Marinara (see my post from September 2012 fire-roasted-marinara-sauce).

Every year I say not so many tomatoes, because by the end, I'm totally worn out.  But every year when it comes time to plant I want all the usual, plus I like to try something new.  I'm sure this year will be no different.

The recipe that I'm going to share is an old standby.  By now, if you've been following this blog very long, you know that I like to cook pots of stuff that always leave leftovers for more than one meal.  My motto might be "the one pot wonder with leftovers".

The other day when my 3 year old grandson found out we were heading over to his house, he began to explain as we were in the car, "Grammie, when we get there maybe we could make some cookies in the shape of hearts, and then we could make some muffins without egg, and some meatballs, I love meatballs."  I have a feeling he's going to be my little cooking buddy as he likes to cook and he loves to eat almost as much as he love to talk.  So, I'm going to make him some meatballs.  I'm also going to put them in that Fire Roasted Marinara from the freezer and give you one more way I love to use them.

My recipe for meatballs offers no earth shattering enlightenment, but I hope it might just remind you how easy they are to make, how much better they taste than anything you can buy, and how easy they are to freeze for future meals.

Meatballs

2 pounds of lean ground beef/bison/turkey
1 cup soft bread crumbs (made from bread ends or stale bread, but not dried)
1/2 cup catsup
1/4 cup dried minced onion (or 1/2 c finely minced fresh onion)
1 teaspoon salt
1  teaspoon garlic granules (or 2 cloves finely minced)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend

Thoroughly mix and blend all the ingredients together.  I use my hands and mix until it looks completely consistent. Depending on how lean your meat is, if it has had water added at the store, or how dry your bread crumbs are, you may need to add 1/4 cup of water or milk or add 1 egg to the mixture so that it is manageable.  I used to add egg all the time, but my little guy has been allergic to egg and so I just stopped that and never noticed any difference in the meatballs.

 I use a two tablespoon (coffee measure) to help me form the balls of equal size.  You will get about 36 two tablespoon balls out of this recipe.

You can form the balls and put them into a skillet or on a cookie sheet for the oven.  I usually use the skillet.

If you are going to use the oven method, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Fill the skillet and cook over medium heat until browned on one side.  Using a spoon, turn the balls to brown on another side and cover with a lid.  Cook covered until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

On a cookie sheet, leave an inch or two between the meatballs and bake them for 15 - 20 minutes.  Cut one open to test for doneness.

Place the cooked meatballs on a couple of sheets of paper towel to drain and cool.  Once cool, you can put them into zip-lock bags and put them in the freezer for future use.  I don't bother to try to freeze them on a cookie sheet - I've never had them stick together either.

If you just cooked them in the skillet, drain any grease out of the skillet and use your tomato sauce or marinara to deglaze the skillet.  Heat your sauce and then add your meatballs to the sauce to simmer for about 20 minutes before serving over pasta.

Another way I love to use the meatballs is in a stir fry.  Stir fry some onion, bok choy, celery, red pepper, etc and just before it is finished, add the meatballs so that they get heated through.  Top this with a little Veri Veri Teriyaki  sauce and serve over rice or noodles.

Well, there you have it!  Enjoy!