Meatballs!

[megah0]

I was bored today and decided to cook, never tried making meatballs before so thought "why not"

I looked over some recipes on the 'net and cobbled something together from the most interesting ones.

For the balls I used:

500g of lean beef mince
500g of lean pork mince
20 jacobs cream crackers
2 eggs
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
hefty pinch of cracked black pepper
hefty pinch of salt
Tumeric
Paprika
Dried chilli seeds
Dried mixed herbs

For the sauce I used:

2 Onions
2 Peppers
couple of cloves of garlic
Dried Chilli seeds
4 tins of chopped tomatoes
Big squeeze of tomato purée
Black pepper

Method:

In a large bowl I mixed the pork and beef together with the eggs, pepper, salt and the smashed up crackers (wrap in a tea towel and beat mercilessly with a rolling pin).

Finely chop the onions and fry over a low heat in some olive oil, once they start to brown throw in the garlic, tumeric, herbs and chilli and fry it a bit more. Allow to cool. Tidy up.

Mix the onion spicy stuff into the meaty mush, fingers are good here. Make a mini ball and fry it in a little oil to see if you got the seasoning balance right. Eat. Adjust if required, on my first go I didn't add enough salt so had another go and the second one was just right.

Make the meaty mush into balls, I rolled them out by hand and floured the outsides to help keep them together, arrange artfully onto a baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bung in the oven at gas mark 6 for about 15 mins, give 'em a turn and another 10 mins or so. Perfect.

Whilst they are cooking do the sauce.

Chop the onions and peppers, toss into a saucepan with some oil and just lightly brown them, add garlic and chilli and the chopped tomatoes and purée. Simmer with the lid off until the meatballs are cooked.

Simple yet effective!

Nom with pasta. Or in a super spectacular sandwich of utter win.

[steve threlfall]

Mixed pork and beef? Isn't that a bit risky though (food poisoning)?

They do look delicious

[megah0]

Mixed pork and beef? Isn't that a bit risky though (food poisoning)?

They do look delicious

Nah, I tested them all with a cooking thermometer before I took them out of the oven.

They were well cooked

And they are delicious!

[Moby-Dick]

nice use of Jacobs cream crackers !

my favourite one is still just mince , soured cream and a packet of knoors french onion soup mix.

[megah0]

I think the crackers were from Jamie *spit* Oliver's *spit* recipe

Much more fun than making breadcrumbs.

[Zak33]

Mixed pork and beef? Isn't that a bit risky though (food poisoning)?

They do look delicious

I once heard that was risky too, but I'm sure it's rubbish. Lets face it... bacon in a burger is rockin'

Anyway.... very good recipe matey

More complex than my regular, which is shamelessly stolen from Ainsley Harriot's book, Meals in Minutes

Mince Beef 1lb
Chilli, one small chopped or sprinkle of dried chilli flakes
Parmesan, freshly grated, about 2 oz
Glass of red vino
Tin of chopped toms


Hand mix mince, chili and finely grated cheese together, and roll into balls size of a table tennis ball or smaller.

Fry them until brown all over in good pan, then pour in one glass of red wine. Stir this, as it de-glazes the pan and gets the juice from the pan into a sauce.

Then tip in a trin of chopped tomatoes for the rest of thre sauce, and cook with the lid off gently until the meat balls are done (15 mins) and the sauce is slightly reduced. If it takes more time (cos you get nbusy online ) add a few spashes of water to keep it a nice sauce.

Serve with spag

ROCK AND ROLL

[Philipp]

I was bored today and decided to cook, never tried making meatballs before so thought "why not"

I looked over some recipes on the 'net and cobbled something together from the most interesting ones.

For the balls I used:

500g of lean beef mince
500g of lean pork mince
20 jacobs cream crackers
2 eggs
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
hefty pinch of cracked black pepper
hefty pinch of salt
Tumeric
Paprika
Dried chilli seeds
Dried mixed herbs

For the sauce I used:

2 Onions
2 Peppers
couple of cloves of garlic
Dried Chilli seeds
4 tins of chopped tomatoes
Big squeeze of tomato purée
Black pepper

Method:

In a large bowl I mixed the pork and beef together with the eggs, pepper, salt and the smashed up crackers (wrap in a tea towel and beat mercilessly with a rolling pin).

Finely chop the onions and fry over a low heat in some olive oil, once they start to brown throw in the garlic, tumeric, herbs and chilli and fry it a bit more. Allow to cool. Tidy up.

Mix the onion spicy stuff into the meaty mush, fingers are good here. Make a mini ball and fry it in a little oil to see if you got the seasoning balance right. Eat. Adjust if required, on my first go I didn't add enough salt so had another go and the second one was just right.

Make the meaty mush into balls, I rolled them out by hand and floured the outsides to help keep them together, arrange artfully onto a baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bung in the oven at gas mark 6 for about 15 mins, give 'em a turn and another 10 mins or so. Perfect.

Whilst they are cooking do the sauce.

Chop the onions and peppers, toss into a saucepan with some oil and just lightly brown them, add garlic and chilli and the chopped tomatoes and purée. Simmer with the lid off until the meatballs are cooked.

Simple yet effective!

Nom with pasta. Or in a super spectacular sandwich of utter win.

Made these last night

Awesome stuff

Cheers for the recipe....

[megah0]

Glad to hear you enjoyed them, I made a second batch with more tumeric and a touch of curry paste and they were incredible.

[Ruggerbugger]

I like this I also like Zak's simple recipie, even if he did forget to mention that in true Floyd style, the wine goes into the cook

[Zak33]

I like this I also like Zak's simple recipie, even if he did forget to mention that in true Floyd style, the wine goes into the cook

ahh..... this is true. The ONE glass goes in the sauce,... the other 6 from the bottle go within the chef for lubricity

[megah0]

ahh..... this is true. The ONE glass goes in the sauce,... the other 6 from the bottle go within the chef for lubricity

You must have very small glasses.

[Funkstar]

Exactly what I was thinking!

[Zak33]

or magnums of vino

[scaryjim]

ahh..... This is true. The one glass goes in the sauce,... The other 6 from the box go within the chef for lubricity

ftfy

[Lucio]

One great thing about meatballs is if you're dieting you can make up a large batch, split them into portions of 6-8 and put them into the freezer to use whenever you fancy a spag bol. Saves a lot of hassle with weighing and measuing but still keeps you within a sensible portion size.

[Syllopsium]

interesting use of cream crackers, there. nicely done!