A Recipe for Delicious Meatballs

My daughter is pretty adverse to meat, but when I offer spaghetti for dinner, she'll usually request meatballs. Rather than serve frozen, pre-cooked meatballs, I prefer to make them from scratch. It's pretty easy and you can make a big batch to freeze for later. This way, you pick the meats you like and can adjust the meat-to-bread ratio to taste.

First, gather your ingredients. I try to keep a few containers of chopped veggies in the fridge for moments like this, as a time-saver. If you are starting from whole vegetables, it may take about 10 minutes to prep. If you have pre-chopped vegetables available, you could probably have everything mixed in about 5 minutes if you work quickly.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground chuck (or 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb ground pork)
• 1 shallot or 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
• 1-2 carrots, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup spinach, chopped (optional)
• 1 slice of stale bread
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1-2 eggs, lightly whisked

The Process

1. In a bowl, mix the shallots, carrots, garlic, cilantro, and spinach.
2. Cut the bread into small pieces. In the photo above, I used pieces that were too big. You'll want at least half that size or some meatballs may fall apart while simmering.
3. Add the bread, meat, and egg, and mix everything together. You may need two eggs if you're using lean meat.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Form golf ball sized meatballs and set aside.
6. Heat a dutch oven or saucepan with a small amount of oil and brown the meatballs.
7. Drain excess fat, if you'd like, and add your favorite spaghetti sauce.
8. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked to at least 160 degrees.

This recipe makes approximately 4 servings.