Meatballs FTW!

One night after a run, Jonno and I got home absolutely starving and with a whole lotta nothing in the kitchen, except for some beef mince and the occasional about-to-go-off onion.  I was groaning to myself, moaning, "what the hell do you make with mince other than meatloaf and burritos that is also quick and filling and doesn't take too many other ingredients?!"

Please excuse the neon nature of these photos, they may have been slighly retouched.

Well, what we made didn't turn out to be too quick, but hot damn it was der-ish-us!!  (Say it out loud if you're confused as to my new word.  Patented by C.Hoey 2011)

I have never in my life made meatballs, and usually don't eat them if they're on a stick (and therefore lukewarm!) or a platter as someone's dish at a potluck.  Don't know why, maybe I had a cold-meatball-related trauma as a kid.  Maybe one rolled off a table and bowled me over, thus causing me untold embarrassment and shame.  

Well, I'm over that trauma now, because these meatballs undid me that night.  Jonno made some mashed potaters to go with them, and I went back for seconds, even when I felt my running shorts getting a wee bit tight.  No amount of spandex-induced pain was going to stop me - off came the pants!!  Any peeping neighbours certainly would have gotten a strange show indeed.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm off to run a bagillion more times around the penninsula to work off these babies.

Comfort Meatballs

adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

The meatballs

• 500-700 grams of minced beef
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (PW calls for quick oats, but we didn't have any)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp finely diced onion
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• ground black pepper

The sauce

• 1 cup tomato puree
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp distilled white vinegar
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4-6 tbsp finely diced onion
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (my addition)

1. In a large bowl combine the mince and bread crumbs (or oats).  Add in diced onion and salt.
2. Add the egg and use the back of a large spoon to mash all the ingredients together, adding the milk in spurts to keep the mixture at a paste-like consistency.  It doesn't sound fabulous, but it's worth it!
3. Roll into balls of 4-5 cm in size.  If the mixture is too warm and the balls don't hold together well, stick them in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
5. Pour some flour onto a plate and heat up a decently-sized skillet or frying pan with some oil.
6. Dredge each meatball in the flour to coat, then gently lay them in the oil.  Turn to brown all over, continuing in batches, and once completely brown place them into a rectangular baking dish.
7. Mix together the sauce ingredients and pour over the meatballs.
8. Bake for about 45 minutes or until sufficiently bubbly and gorgeous.
9. Serve with some kind of potato side dish or bread so you can mop up the extra sauce.  You won't want to waste any of it!