Meat-a-balls!

I have to admit, I was a little wary of making my own meatballs, mostly because my mom… ok, wait a minute. Can we take notice of the alliteration that has just occurred? So many M’s! Anyway…

My mom usually bought the frozen kind, because she said they were easier than making your own. Naturally, I then had it in my head that making meatballs involved some kind of sorcery, or complex ingredients. However, when I attempted them last night, I realized that they are very similar to meatloaf… if you are nervous about getting your hands into some raw hamburger, this is probably not for you. However, if you’re looking for a great way to get rid of a half pound of hamburger (yes — you heard me — you don’t even need sausage to make tasty meatballs!), this is a great way to do it. So, on to the ingredients:

- 1/2 lb. hamburger

- 1 egg

- 1/3 cup bread crumbs (or eyeball it)

- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated (or eyeball it)

- 1 small onion, minced

- 1 heaping teaspoon of minced garlic (or a few cloves, minced)

- oregano, salt, and pepper to taste — basil’s good too

Ok, so here comes the difficult part: Mix ‘em. Yep. Get your hands in the bowl with all the ingredients plopped in there and mix with your hands really well. You want it to be moist and consistent, a good enough texture to roll into meatballs. The rest is eyeballing — too dry and crumbly? Add a couple of tablespoons of water. Too sticky and gross? Add a little bit of breadcrumb. Ta-da! Meat paste. Looks amazing, I know.

Now you want to roll them into meatballs — take a little at a time and roll them in your hands, about 1 – 1 1/2 in. diameter. Space them on a foil-lined baking sheet or jelly roll pan, treated with a little non-stick spray (I skipped that part and had a small issue getting them to turn on the pan, heh.) Place the pan 8 inches from the broiler and broil for about eight minutes — the recipe I adapted from said ten, but some of my meatballs were getting to be crispy critters by then. Turn them over and broil again, roughly 6 minutes. Take them out of the oven, and plop them into a simmering pot of pasta sauce (your own or Newman’s Own, like me… hey, I can take some shortcuts too!) and simmer covered for thirty minutes. Of course, you can cook them a bit longer if you like slow food, but I like dinner food — the kind that’s ready when I’m hungry for dinner. Like 20 minutes ago. Ok!

By the way, this will make about 25 meatballs. Good for your dinner crowd, good for just you and then future you’s enjoying leftovers. I am in the second group. Future me is doing a tasty meatball leftovers dance.

So, contrary to popular belief, meat-a-balls are quite easy to make, and sure are better than just slapping hamburger into the Foreman (sorry, George!) Which reminds me… leftovers for lunch. They call me!

Squash casserole

I found this recipe on Food Network’s website after I had found I had FOUR SQUASH in my fridge — 2 zucchini from Trader Joe’s, and 2 yellow summer squash from my grandma’s garden. In my opinion, squash on its own is pretty darn boring… but I did remember that my mom would always take it and make squash casserole — a tasty way to cook up squash.

RECIPE:

6 cups large diced yellow squash and zucchini
Vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon House seasoning, recipe follows
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup crushed butter crackers (recommended: Ritz)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Saute the squash in a little vegetable oil over medium-low heat until it has completely broken down, about 15 to 20 minutes. Line a colander with a clean tea towel. Place the cooked squash in the lined colander. Squeeze excess moisture from the squash. Set aside.

In a medium size skillet, saute the onion in butter for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and mix all ingredients together except cracker crumbs. Pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish and top with cracker crumbs. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

MODS:

- I used half an onion instead of a whole

- I cooked the squash enough that it was softer, but not so much that it was mush; wanted a little texture. Also didn’t drain it in a tea towel, but if you can let the squash cool and drain some of the liquid from the pan, it will definitely help the casserole hold together and not get as soggy. Squash holds a lot of water!

- Ignored house seasoning (salt, pepper, and garlic powder in specific amounts) and just salted & peppered it.