Lots of people think of juicy meatballs as one of ultimate comfort foods and my family is no different. On weekends especially, I like to indulge my family with comfort foods like this and go all out with extra large meatballs. My meatballs are filled with lemon and herbs, simmered in marinara sauce and served with juicy grilled mini tomatoes. There’s also a side dish of couscous with red bell peppers and Kalamata olives to complete the delicious meatball plate.
Tableware
I’m using my Asiatic Pheasant dinnerware from Burleigh to plate my comfort food. Some of you may think why aren’t you using Italian dinnerware? Yes I have Italian plates but I couldn’t resist using my Burleigh tableware. Vibrant colors of marinara sauce, pearl tomatoes and bell peppers really stand out against the beautiful pale blue pattern from Burleigh that’s been around since 1862.
To serve couscous, I decided on Italian pear shaped bowl from Williams-Sonoma. This is one of the bowls I got along with my leaf shaped bowls and cabbage shaped bowls and I just thought I need to use this beautiful bowl for once.
Juicy, Herby, Meatballs
My meatball mixture consists of one pound of lean ground beef with half a pound of lean ground pork. You can combine any ground meat like, beef, pork, veal, lamb or chicken and you may want to experiment to find your favorite combination. I find the beef and pork mixture results in meatballs that are not too lean with the right amount of fat. To further enhance the flavor of my meatballs, I always include plenty of ground nutmeg. In fact, I think nutmeg is essential in ground meat dishes because it really brings out the savory flavors of your meats.
I once had a pasta dish with meatballs at a very good Italian restaurant that had parsley and lemon zest in their meatballs. Unfortunately that restaurant closed several years ago but ever since I had those wonderful herby meatballs, I’ve always included ample amount of parsley and lemon zest in mine. Adding fresh herbs and lemon zest helps to balance the fattiness from the ground meat which is why despite their large size, these meat balls are not heavy.
To make sure I end up with juicy meatballs, I add ingredients like minced onions, egg, Worcester sauce, ketchup and milk. These ingredients not only add flavor, but also adds moisture to the ground meat mixture so it doesn’t dry out and harden when it’s cooked. There’s nothing worse than having to endure hard mass of ground meat; you want to enjoy bite after bite of soft, tender meatballs.
Marinara Sauce
You have to have savory sauce with your meatballs and marinara sauce is my favorite. I used good quality, simple marinara sauce to simmer my meatballs, but I like to balance out the sweetness of the sauce by adding some of the fat from the meatballs (about two tablespoons) which I kept in the skillet and also some chardonnay I had in the fridge. Once the sauce had chance to simmer for few minutes, I add the meatballs to the sauce and let it simmer in the skillet so they can absorb all the flavors from the sauce.
Blistered Cherry Tomatoes
There’s no side salad with this meal so I decided to include some plump, juicy cherry tomatoes to my dish. Just throwing some fresh tomatoes won’t be very tasty, so I cooked them with some olive oil in a small skillet. I usually cook them long enough for the skin bruise little bit, before all the nice juice from the tomatoes ooze out. These juicy grilled tomatoes add extra freshness to your meatballs and marinara sauce.
When everything is ready, pile your meat balls and grilled tomatoes in a serving bowl and finish it off with plenty of grated cheese and fresh basil leaves.
Side Couscous
For a side dish, I wanted to include something light for carbs and decided on couscous. I used whole wheat couscous from Trader Joe’s which only takes about five minutes to cook on stovetop. I find plain couscous boring and it can be bit dry, so I combined my whole wheat couscous with sautéed bell peppers and Kalamata olives. Sweetness of bell peppers combined with salty olives works really well with fluffy couscous and it was a perfect side dish with meatballs.
Lemon & Parsley Meat Balls
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ lb ground pork
- 1 bunch italian or regular parsley finely chopped
- ½ yellow or white onion minced
- 1 egg
- 1 lemon, zested
- 2 tbsp worcester sauce
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp grated nutmeg
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tbsp salt
- ½ tbsp ground pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup of grated parmesan or fontina
- 1-2 springs of fresh basil leaves (optional)
Marinara Sauce
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- ¼ cup chardonnay
Blistered Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients 1-13 for meatballs and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
- Form ground meat mixture into 3 inch balls. Heat large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Place meat balls in the pan and cook one side for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Turn over the meatballs and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Turn the heat to low, place cover and cook meatballs for another 5 minutes. When meatballs are done, take them out of the skillet and set it aside.
- Leave about 2 tbsp of fat in the skillet and discard the rest. Over medium heat, add marinara sauce, wine and stir well. Add back meatballs in the pan and simmer in sauce for 5-10 minutes.
- While meatballs are simmering, heat small skillet over medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Once olive oil starts to sizzle, add tomatoes to the skillet and let them sit for 3-4 minutes until tomato skin blisters. Turn over the tomatoes and let the other side blister.
- Transfer meatballs and sauce into a serving bowl, add tomatoes, grated cheese and basil leaves.
Couscous with Bell Peppers and Kalamata Olives
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry, whole wheat couscous
- 1 small bell peppers (red, yellow or orange) chopped
- 2 tbsp kalamata olives, cut cross wise
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Cook couscous on stovetop according to instructions on box. When couscous is done cooking, fluff with fork.
- Heat small skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Add chopped bell peppers and sauté for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Once bell peppers are soft, add Kalamata olives and mix well.
- Combine sautéed bell peppers and olives to the couscous in the pot, mix well and transfer in a serving bowl.
Pingback: Easy Thin Crust Pizzas With Lavash Bread – Cupboard Diaries
Pingback: Watercress and Pickled Beets Salad – Cupboard Diaries
Pingback: Teatime with Burleigh – Cupboard Diaries
Pingback: Tangy Carrot-Tuna Salad – Cupboard Diaries
Pingback: Hearty Fall Main Dish Salad – Cupboard Diaries