Meatballs for the Summertime

     The other day, even though it was hot and muggy, I found myself craving meatballs.  I usually think of meatballs as a cold weather comfort type food, so I changed one of my favorite recipes up a bit to make it leaner, lighter, and more of a warm weather dish.  I used the Spanish style meatballs from an earlier blog post, grilled them, and served sauce and all on top of spaghetti squash instead of pasta. No wheat involved since the meatball mix doesn't contain bread crumbs but is held together with an egg and some Parmesan cheese.  I packed up the meatballs, sauce, and spaghetti squash and took it down to Allison's.  She is still teaching exercise classes for the university over the summer, and after being a participant in two of her classes - she and I were ready for those meatballs! They really hit the spot, her roommates loved them as well.

Ingredients for 16 Walnut Sized Meatballs and Fresh Tomato Sauce

Meatballs:

1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
3 green onions, little roots cut off and thinly sliced
1 egg
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
16 green pimento stuffed olives

Sauce:

3 to 4 large tomatoes

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped or 1 teaspoon dried

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 good sized spaghetti squash

A little extra fresh rosemary to garnish

Directions:

Since the squash takes 45 minutes to bake, start to prepare it first. Cut one large spaghetti squash lengthwise in half. Scoop out the sides and the darker stringy stuff.  Put a couple of inches of water into a baking dish and place the squash halves skin side up into the dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven.  With a fork, remove the strands of squash from the skin by running the fork from top to bottom of the squash.

While the squash is baking, dice the tomatoes. Heat the olive oil up in a pan over medium heat. Place the tomatoes, rosemary, wine, salt and pepper in the pan.  Turn the heat up and bring it up to a boil.  Turn the heat down to low and allow the mixture to simmer while you assemble and cook the meatballs - at least 15 minutes.

Now whisk the egg up in a large bowl. Add the meat, cheese, green onion, garlic powder, and thyme.  As you are forming the meat mixture into walnut sized balls, tuck an olive into the center of each one.  

Either bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or grill on medium low heat about 5 minutes per side. I use a nice little grill sheet that is meant for small foods so that the meatballs don't fall between the slats of the grill.  

Assemble by dividing up the spaghetti squash among four plates. Put four meatballs on each plate. Evenly portion out the sauce and spoon it over the meatballs on each serving. Garnish with a bit of rosemary.

Little Holiday Bites

Our family friend Dianne is great at entertaining.  After years of having a houseful full of boys, she has recently had the opportunities to host events for ladies.  I picked up this cute little idea from her that I think men would like as well.  She serves appetizers in small glassware such as vodka shot glasses and mini martini stemware.  I extended this concept to serving a couple of minature meatballs in some small juice glasses that I have. Great places to find interesting glass pieces are Goodwill or Walmart.  I initially got a dozen of the vodka shot glasses at a garage sale but just found some more at Target's dollar bin. 

Ranch dressing would work well with any vegetables you stick in to the shot glass.  However, I found that 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons country Dijon mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder all whisked together tastes great if you choose to use thin, young, tender asparagus as one of the veggies.

 

I added a bit of jazz to the shrimp cocktail by putting a white lemon dill sauce next to the traditional red.  Mix 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon dried dill together.  Pour or spoon about a tablespoon of the red sauce to one side of the glass, then spoon in the white.

Since the meat balls are resting on a "bed" of sauce, I figured it needed to be nice and thick to support them.  I combined 1 (15 oz). can of tomato sauce 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 tablespoon red wine (optional), 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a microwave safe bowl.  I microwave the sauce for 5 minutes and spooned it in the bottom of the small juice glass. I made the meat balls a little smaller than I usually do so I could fit two in the small juice glass. Then I sprinkled the top with a bit of chopped flat leaf parsley, but I think fresh basil would work even better.  There are three different types of meatballs in this post:  "Meatballs and Moving" (2011) or, they can be found  in the freezer section of the grocery.  When I made these, I assembled them ahead of time, and then just before serving I microwaved several of them for 20 seconds.  However, even at room temperature, they are yummy!



Meatballs and Moving - Three Recipes




Albondiagas con Salsa de Tomate

A couple of weeks ago I had a wild span of about four days that involved meatballs and moving.  Roy was  on a trip that he had planned months before, and both Jenn and Alli were scheduled to move out on the very days he was gone. Allison was headed back to college. Jenn, just graduated from college, landed her first job which required that she live in her work territory.  With an apartment to move into but nothing to put in it, Jenn got the idea of filling up the place with stuff from Ikea.  It sounded like a pretty good adventure, so Friday, as soon as I got home from school, Alli, Jenn, and I drove two and a half hours to the nearest Ikea store.  Before we even got to the store, we could see it from the highway.  It was massive!  Hanging on the building was a huge banner announcing a price reduction of delicious looking meatballs!  We parked the car and walked through the entrance at 7:22 pm.  We could now smell the meatballs and see crowds of people eating the meatballs! I could just imagine the conversation that the people there must of had earlier - "Honey, it's Friday night.  Let's go out to Ikea and eat meatballs for dinner."  Unfortunately, the store closed at 9:00, so there was no time for us eat the meatballs!  We were starving (bad planning) but perservered and wound up in the check out line at 8:50.  Two of the items Jenn purchased had to be brought out of the warehouse, so Alli waited on those while Jenn and I loaded up the car with the self serve boxes.  We had taken all the seats out of the mini van except the three we needed, and Jenn and I were feeling pretty smug about how efficiently we had packed the car as we walked back to where Alli was with the other two pieces.  Our hearts just went to our throat as we saw how big they were!  The three of us took them back to the car and struggled to fit them in.  No one said anything out loud, but it was evident that we weren't going to fit them in.  My mind raced as I thought about our options.  The store was now closed. Aunt Claire actually lives in the city where the Ikea is - but she was at the lake at that time.  Of course Roy was miles away.  Just then an angel walked up to help us.  He was a maintenance man and said he was sure he could find a way to make it all fit.  We unloaded everything out of the van and started over again.  He put the boxes in like pieces of a puzzle - sometimes putting them through the front seat and sometimes pushing them across over the middle.  We were just soaked with sweat from anxiety and the heat when it was all finally packed but we were all so thankful for that kind man's help. We got home at 12:15 a.m., got up at 7:00 a.m., moved and put together the furniture with Jenn all day until evening.  The next day was spent getting all of Alli's stuff together and packed.  When I asked Alli what she wanted for her last meal home, she answered without hestitating, "Meatballs!"

 

Below are three different recipes for meatballs that we love.  At the bottom is the website you can go to for the recipe for Ikea meatballs.  I've never had them, but I'm told they are very yummy!



Taking a Meatball Break with Leftovers



 

Three Steps for All Meatball Recipes




1.  Put together the meatball mix




2.  Shape into  balls and grill 5 min. a side or bake 350 degrees for 20 min.




 3.  While meatballs are cooking prepare the sauce

 



#1  Allison's favorite:  Mediterranean Style

(Inspiration from The Family Chef by Jewels & Jill Elmore)

Meatball Mix

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1 egg

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons tomato paste (Use the other 2 tablesp. in can for sauce)

2 tablespoons lemon juice (Use the other 2 tablesp. in lemon for sauce)

Combine the ingredients, shape into balls, bake at 350 degrees for 20 min. or grill 5 min. a side.

Sauce

Two 15 ounce cans of tomato sauce

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon chopped mint or 1/2 teaspoon dried

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

 

Combine the ingredients and simmer while the meat balls are cooking.

# 2 Albondigas con Salsa de tomate - Spanish Style Meatballs

( Adapted from Greatest Ever Spanish &Tapas Recipes by Pepita Aris)

Meatball Mix

1 pound ground beef or turkey

bunch of green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 egg

 

Combine the ingredients, shape into balls, bake at 350 degrees for 20 min. or grill 5 min. a side.

Sauce

3 or 4 large tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine (or 2 teapoons red wine vinegar added last 5 min. of cooking)

Scant 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary of 1 teaspoon dried

pinch of sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine the ingredients and simmer while the meat balls are cooking.

#3 Italian Style Meatballs - With Caroline's Favorite Sauce

Meatball Mix

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1/4 cup dried bread crumbs

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

Combine the ingredients, shape into balls, bake at 350 degrees for 20 min. or grill 5 min. a side.

Sauce

Saute:

2 tablepoons olive oil

1 large onion, sliced

1 1/2 sliced peppers of any color or combo: green, red, organge, yellow

 

Add and saute for 30 seconds:

2 cloves of garlic put through press

 

Add and continue to simmer while meatballs are cooking:

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cans of chopped tomatoes

1/2 teapoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Click for Ikea meatball recipe