Comfort Food: Meatballs
Meatballs are an ideal comfort food and ideal as a family meal when you do not want to spend more than 30mn in the kitchen. They might look cheap in the supermarket but they are even more economical to make yourself, let alone you can flavour them to taste.The kids will be delighted to help you to prepare them too so make a large batch this week-end and freeze the extra!
Ingredients:
- Herbs from the garden – rosemary, coriander, basil, thyme, Oregon depending on what you have at hand
- 12 cream crackers (or a toasted piece of bread) reduced to tiny pieces (just put them in the blender to save time)
- 500g good-quality minced beef
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- Olive oil
- 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic, finally chopped
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
For the meatballs:
- In a bowl, mix chopped herbs, the crushed crackers and the minced meat.
- Crack the egg in, add seasoning and mix again.
- With this you can make 24 medium balls.
- Keep in the fridge until needed.
For the extra-thick sauce:
- Fry the onion and garlic gently until soft
- Add herbs to taste, then the chopped tomatoes and balsamic vinegar
- Bring to the boil.
- In another frying pan, add a little olive oil and the meatball – stir until fully cooked.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for another five minutes.
Serve with spaghetti, risotto, mashed potato… and plenty of grated parmesan.
A few more ideas:
- Try other combinations: lamb and rosemary, chicken and cumin, duck and orange zests, pork and cooked apple…
- Vegetarians can replace the meat by bulgur wheat. Courgettes are a favourite.
- You can skip the sauce part and add them to a soup.
- Make mini-versions for nibbles and serve with a spicy salsa
- Be inventive with the sauce – sweet and sour or curry also work great.
- Why not make a baguette sandwich with the leftovers for your pack lunch?
What is your favourite comfort food?
Photography by: Jeff Cushner and StudioGabe // Gabriel Li
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