Meatballs with Tangy Sauce

Meatballs with Tangy Sauce

I first made these meatballs with corn flakes and ground beef like the original Kellogg’s “Good and Spicy Meatballs” recipe (Google it – for some reason the link keeps timing out on me so I’ve removed it). It makes a very nice and light meatball. However, I had a whole whack of focaccia bread that was about to go stale, so I made this batch with breadcrumbs. I will say that 2 C breadcrumbs produced a tougher and slightly dryer meatball so I would reduce the bread crumbs to 1 cup next time or go back to the corn flakes version.

A note about breadcrumbs, they are much cheaper to make than to buy. I find it annoying that grocery stores charge $4+ for what is essentially stale bread. Got stale bread? Make breadcrumbs. See the instructions below. I promise, it’s not rocket science and if you are a student on a budget it’s an easy way to stretch a few bucks.

Ingredients

Meatballs

1 lb meatloaf mix (ground beef, pork, veal) or 1 lb ground beef
2 C bread crumbs (or crushed corn flakes).
N.B. If you are using corn flakes sticke with the 2 C if you are using bread crumbs use 1 C.
1 egg slightly beaten
2 Tbsp ketchup

Sauce

15 oz tomato sauce (any kind will do, I’ve used Ragu, Newman’s, Mutti strained tomatoes etc)
1 small onion (diced fine)
2 Tbsp dill pickle relish (not hotdog relish which is gross. If you don’t have dill pickle relish, skip it altogether)
1/2 C ketchup
1 Tbsp Worscestershire sauce
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Fresh ground pepper to your taste

Method

For the Meatballs

  • Preheat oven to 400° F.
  • In large mixing bowl, combine cornflakes or breadcrumbs, 2 Tbsps ketchup and slightly beaten egg.
  • Mix in meatloaf mix or ground beef. It’s easiest to just use your hands.
  • Shape into 1 1/4-inch meatballs. You should end up with about 20.
  • Place in single layer, in shallow baking pan, lined with parchment baking paper.

Meatballs oven ready

  • Bake at for 12 minutes or until browned.

For the Sauce

  • In a large frying pan with deep sides (4 quart works) and a lid, combine sauce ingredients.
  • Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer over low heat 15 minutes, stirring frequently. If the sauce gets too thick add 1/4 C water.
  • Add meatballs, cover and continue simmering 15 minutes. Serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes. If there are leftovers they are great on meatball subs.

How to make breadcrumbs:

Slice your bread (if it’s not already sliced) into 1/4 ” thick pieces. Preheat oven to 250 F, place bread in a single layer on cookie sheet and toast for 20 minutes, turn and toast another 20 minutes. You should end up with something dry like bruschetta toasts or rusks. Allow to cool and run the works through a food processor until you get the crumb you want. Store in an air tight container. If you don’t have a food processor, put the baked slices into a plastic bag and use a rolling pin (or a wine bottle) to crush the slices into crumbs.

 

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