Meatball Madness

Let me start by saying, no, this is not a food blog.  However, my kids are gone this week and I can't get a good story on the cat... 

I’ve had an unexpected hankering for meatballs these days.  I can’t explain it other than I witnessed Maisie eat 11 meatballs at her cousins birthday party last weekend.  While the kids are vacationing in Long Grove this week,  I’ve been plotting my new frugal housewife lifestyle.  With that said, I dug out my trusty ol' meatball recipe.

It goes something like this:

2 lbs ground beef

¼ cup finely minced onion

2 minced garlic cloves

1 cup oats

1 cup milk

1-1/2 tsp salt

(if you want to add any herbs, now would be the time)

Black pepper, to taste

Flour and canola oil for dredging and browning

The original recipe calls for 1 ½ pounds beef.  Well Einstein, my ground beef comes in 1 pound packages so whoever decided to call for an odd poundage of ground beef obviously doesn’t get their beef from the same locker I get mine.  Moving on.

I mix up the beef, onion, garlic, oats, milk, salt and black pepper just to combine, then I start pulling out golf ball sized pieces of meat and gently shape into rounds.

 

 

I roll each meatball through flour to coat and set aside on a plate.  If you find the meatballs to mushy to work with, you can pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm those babies up before rolling in flour.

Meanwhile, I add oil to coat the bottom of my pan, don’t be shy with this step.  Once the oil is hot, I brown about 10 meatballs at a time, turning the balls occasionally to brown evenly.  It’s important to note; We are only browning the outside of the meatballs, not cooking them through.  They will still be pink under the surface.  Relax and turn on some music.  You’ll be fine.  I found myself browning this batch to a catchy tune of Big and Rich ‘Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy’.  It added to the ambiance of frying beef as well as reminded me of dancing with Mike at my sisters wedding reception...

 

 

I sprayed 3 pans with nonstick cooking spray.  2 loaf pans and 1 (8-by-8-inch) pan.  You think I’m crazy right?  3 Pans! Why not just put all the meatballs in 1 (9-by-13-inch) pan and get it over with?

Three reasons:

1.      My family won’t eat 2 pounds of meatballs at one sitting.  That would be insane and cause more cholesterol issues than we already have.

2.      I have a picky eater in the family who may not eat meatballs cooked in marinara or bbq sauce.  He would prefer his meatballs with a cream of mushroom soup/milk/garlic/black pepper mixture poured over his meatballs.  Separate meatball pans create options.  It’s like a meatloaf buffet.  Plus, I can cook up a batch of spaghetti noodles to serve with either the marinara meatballs (we call it spaghetti) or with the mushroom soup meatballs (we call it stroganoff).  Genius.

3.      Lastly, I only have matching lids for my 8-by-8-inch pan and my 2 loaf pans.  End of story.

I place one layer of meatballs in each pan, let the meatballs cool slightly, cover with lids and freeze.

From here it’s easy peasy pull out a frozen pan of meatballs, top with whatever sauce desired, cover loosely with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350, or until the internal temperature of the biggest meatball reads 160. 

 

 

At this point, I'm sure your wondering what's up with my cast iron skillet?  Is that a crocheted handle cover? Bingo.  Luckily for us, we have a crocheter in the family.  Mike's sister made us not 1, but 5 of these beauties.  Were spoiled like that.