Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Hand-rolled Meatballs

Store bought meatballs are easy and tasty, but have you looked at the ingredients? Yuck. So many additives and tons of fat. Most homemade meatballs are dense, greasy and tasteless because they are thrown together with ground chuck and a little seasoned salt. These meatballs are tender, flavorful and quite healthy. Be sure to grate the onion, even mincing finely upsets the texture.

Kids love to get their hands in the food, this is a great chance for them to "help" in the kitchen. Let them squish the meat and form the balls. Great with spaghetti (I prefer Gia Russa Whole Wheat Linguni from Sprouts) and on sandwiches. I love a good homemade marinara, but for quick prep check out Trader Joe's Tuscano Marinara, it's good stuff. You can freeze these after baking on a cookie sheet, once frozen place in a large Ziploc. They thaw quickly and reheat well.

What do your kids like to "help" with in the kitchen?


1 small onion, grated
1 large egg
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 ounces lean ground beef, bison or venison
1 cup cooked steel cut oats
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

Whisk the first 7 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Mix in the beef, oats and bread crumbs. Using about 2 tablespoons of meat for each, shape the meat mixture into 1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
links; WFMWWhole Foods for the Holidays

7 comments:

  1. Yuuuuuum. Made them tonight, subbed regular oats for steel cut and it was fine.

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  2. Interesting recipe! You made me hungry. I like the idea of the Irish oats in addition to the bread crumbs. I see a pasta night in the next couple! Good blog!

    Larry

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  3. what kind of liners do you have in your cookie sheet? where to get them? I use parchment paper, but the silicon sheets look like they work great....

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  4. I use the EXOPAT from Amazon, but the SILPAT from Bed Bath & Beyond are comparable.

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  5. okay...made the meatballs and not sure if I did something wrong or not...they smelled wonderful, came together fine, I formed them with my medium cookie scoop and rounded them off by hand, baked them, and when it came time to dish it up, the texture was odd...kind of just fell apart when you touched them with your fork. hmmmmm....is that the way they should be?

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  6. They ARE very tender meatballs. To firm them up to your preference you will need more meat and less grain.

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  7. i will try that next time...

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It's rude to eat and run. Humor me with conversation please!

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