Comfort Meatballs

These were a huge hit with my family and there were many requests to do this again. Served with simple boiled red potatoes with salt, pepper, and butter and french-style green beans, these are basically the ultimate comfort food. They heat up well for leftover suppers, and they also work really well on bread or a spare hamburger bun with a slice of provolone as a meatball sandwich. Just a great little staple recipe.

Full confession: I made these with only 1 lb of ground beef, and cut the rest of the ingredients for the meatballs themselves (oatmeal, milk, onion) accordingly. I used the same amount of sauce, and it worked fine for four people. Accordingly, if you do end up using the 1 1/2 lb of meat, you may want to do a 1 1/2 batch on the sauce to make sure all the meatballs get covered.


Comfort Meatballs

Meatballs:
1-1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cups oats
1 cup milk 
1/2 of a sweet onion, VERY finely minced
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper
Approx. 1 cup flour (for coating meatballs)
1 tbsp olive oil

Sauce:
1 cup ketchup (I used Hunts, but go for your favorite)
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp vinegar (cider vinegar works also)
3 tbsp Worchestershire
1/4 of a sweet onion, VERY finely minced (use what you've got left over from the onion you used for the meatballs)
Tobasco to taste (I used eight or ten shakes of the bottle, but to each his own on how much heat you like)
1 tbsp soy sauce (optional, I didn't use this and the sauce didn't need more salt)


Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine ground beef with next four ingredients, add pepper to taste. This will end up in a very soft, surprisingly light mixture. That's okay. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. VERY IMPORTANT, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP: Place sheet in freezer for at least ten minutes, to let the meatballs firm up and prepare them for cooking. (Mix the sauce while the meatballs are chilling.)

Mix all ingredients for sauce in small bowl, set aside.

In a nonstick pan, heat olive oil on medium-high until oil is hot. Remove meatballs from freezer. Immediately dredge in unseasoned flour, and brown in oil until the meatballs are just browned on either side. They don't have to be done through, the goal is just to get them started here. Place them in an oven-safe baking dish when they've had a chance to brown on each side.

Pour sauce over meatballs and bake for 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves: 4-6