Meatballs with Sundried Tomatoes

I wanted meatballs. And I had things on hand for meatballs. So I made some! I like sun-dried tomatoes. They're so nummy.

I was originally just going to make them and bake them and serve them with some kind of packaged noodle but then I added some parmesan cheese to them and it kept them from staying together as well as they could have. So I opted to instead make spaghetti and meatballs using a jar of sauce I had in the pantry.

Anyway here's what you need. Ground beef or turkey like the original recipe, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, bread crumbs, an egg, milk, salt and pepper. And parm if you want to. If you do, make sure it's grated really small.

Sun-dried tomatoes and garlic in the food processor.

Pulse it till it's nice and chopped and combined.

Add your breadcrumbs.

And combine those as well!

Then throw those and everything else into a bowl.

Then mix it all up nicely.

Then refrigerate until ready to use. Form into meatballs. This was when I realized some of my larger pieces of cheese were possibly going to cause problems.

Heat 2 or so tablespoons of oil in a skillet and brown your meatballs on all sides. Mine were a little soft but mostly they kept together.

Then I dumped out the majority of the grease, as there was a looot.

And I added in my jar of sauce, bringing it to a simmer. Boy, cold sauce that has start to simmer and is all thick still is dangerous, have a lid ready. SPLORT. SPLURT. Sauce everywhere. Once it gets hot and thins out a bit it's not gonna make as big a mess.

This is where you'd add your canned tomatoes and so on if you were following the original recipe and making your own tomato sauce. I just didn't have tomatoes on hand and I had a jar of yummy sauce.

Once your sauce is simmering, nestle your meat a balls into the sauce and cover with a lid. I added mine in just as I put the pasta in the water so they simmered for about 9 minutes.

Then I drained my pasta, stirred my sauce and meatballs, and served it on up.

Yummmmmmm.

I might try this recipe again without the cheese. The sun-dried tomatoes didn't really get to shine through with the tomato sauce, but they were still very very good. I used all the garlic accidently, not realized 2 of the cloves in the recipe was for the sauce. Oh well it was still great. Sean gave it rave reviews. He has such simple wants. And usually seems to prefer jarred sauce to homemade.

Here's the original recipe. I have several things from this blog lined up in the future. :)

Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs with Sundried Tomatoes (original recipe from What Did You Eat)

• 4 oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves, drained
• 2 garlic cloves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon fat-free milk
• One 14 1/2-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes with their juices
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

In a food processor, pulse the sun-dried tomatoes, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. Add the bread crumbs and pulse to combine. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the turkey, egg and milk. until well mixed (I use my hands).   Using lightly moistened hands, roll the mixture into 20 meatballs, about 1 1/2 tablespoons each. Wipe out the food processor and add the remaining garlic clove and  pulse until chopped. Add the tomatoes and their juices and the oregano and process until smooth.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the meatballs and cook over moderate heat, turning, until golden but not quite cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the tomato sauce to the skillet and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Return the meatballs to the skillet and simmer, turning, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

SERVE WITH Pasta or crusty bread.
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I don't know why I'm so in love with meatballs lately. I almost never ate them when I was young, but I found them so charming and delicious. Mom would have this thing now and then where her and a bunch of ladies would play this weird game called Bunko. And each time they played one of the ladies would host it. Whenever mom hosted it, she made all kinds of things. Mostly I remember the delicious punch she would make (that I'm currently trying to get her to find the recipe for), and a big box of frozen meatballs from M&M's Meat Shops meats with a big bottle of sweet and sour sauce. I loved those meatballs. I sure miss M&M's meats. They had the most awesome frozen foods.

Anyway that sure turned into one heck of a rant. I like meatballs! I hope you do too.

Nnnnnnnnnnnummmmmm.