During my upbringing I thought of meatballs as homey, comfort food. I had always attributed them to Eastern Europe and my mother’s Ukrainian home cooking. Some believe that Italian immigrants invented meatballs along with spaghetti. Not so.
History shows that we actually have Arabs to thank for the marvelous meatball. Claudia Roden in her “The New Book of Middle Eastern Food” says, “It is the Arabs who brought meatballs to Sicily, and in the Arab world meatballs are highly regarded and considered refined and sophisticated.”
My mother wasn’t of Arabic descent, but in her hands meatballs were transformed into something magnificent. She made meatballs, which she learned from her mother, for more than 60 years, without a recipe. She started with equal parts lean ground pork, veal and beef.
“I buy lean stewing beef and have the butcher grind it for me,” said my meatball expert. She mixed the meat with bread or cracker crumbs, egg, sautéed finely chopped onion, garlic and a bit of red bell pepper. “You have to use your cook’s eye to decide how much bread or cracker crumbs. I know many people soak their bread in milk, but I like to soak mine in chicken broth or water. I never used to sauté the vegetables, but I found that it softens them so they melt into the meatball.”
Mom seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper and formed it into 1-inch to 1.5-inch balls.
“Be sure to brown the meatballs before baking them in gravy — you can bake them on a sheet pan or sauté them in oil to brown. Then make a gravy with flour, butter (roux), mushrooms (fresh and sautéed or re-hydrated dried) and chicken broth. Place your meatballs in a covered casserole with the gravy and bake for one hour at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Baking meatballs in gravy tenderizes them,” said my cooking authority.
I took my love of cooking from my mother, but our paths diverged. Frances’ meatballs were mouthwatering and meaty, floating in creamy mushroom gravy, reminiscent of grandmother-cooking. Frances never served them with pasta. Mashed potatoes or potato pierogies were her accompaniment of choice.
In contrast, my meatballs might contain extra-lean ground turkey seasoned with toasted curry powder, grated gingerroot and cilantro or diced chicken pulsed in a food processor and seasoned with ginger, soy sauce and sesame seeds. I might stuff venison meatballs with dried cherries, whole olives or a cube of cheese. I never make gravy and only occasionally will I simmer meatballs in tomato sauce. I love to mix meat with sautéed vegetables and soft cooked rice or quinoa instead of bread or crackers.
Meatballs are appealing and fun to eat. They have remained popular because they stretch to feed many people quickly, make tougher (but more flavorful), less expensive cuts of meat digestible and are a great place to use leftovers like day-old bread, cooked grains, herbs and stray vegetables.
Although making meatballs seems like a day-long affair, if you’re quick about it, a dinner of meatballs and spaghetti can be on the table in 30 minutes. Meatballs also make a delightful party hors d’oeuvres. Slide them onto skewers for a sort of meat lollipop. I guarantee that your friends and family will have no problem devouring your meatballs whether they come on a skewer, smashed inside a sub, tangled in a pile of pasta or swimming in your mother’s gravy.
Syrian Meatballs with Sour Cherry Sauce
Adapted from “The New Book of Middle Eastern Food” by Claudia Roden
Serves 6 to 8
1-1/2 C. dried pitted sour cherries or 2-1/2 to 3 cups frozen tarts
1-1/2 lb. lean ground lamb or veal
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
1 t. ground cinnamon
Olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
Juice of one lemon
Miniature pita rounds or cooked, hot rice
Soak dried cherries in 1 cup warm water for 30 minutes; set aside. If using frozen cherries, place in a bowl to thaw.
In another bowl, mix meat and seasonings. Pinch off fat marble-sized pieces and roll into balls.
Fry meatballs in batches briefly in a large skillet with olive oil. They should still be pink inside. Remove with a slotted spoon.
Fry onion in 2 tablespoons oil until soft and golden, add dried cherries and soaking water or thawed cherries, and simmer 10 minutes. Add lemon juice and meatballs and cook gently 5 to 10 minutes, turning meatballs until they are cooked through and absorb cherry juices.
Serve meatballs and sauce on pita round split in half and arranged on a platter or spooned onto cooked rice.
Italian Turkey Meatballs with Pasta and Sautéed Cherry Tomatoes
This is a meal that can be ready in 30 minutes or less.
4 servings
6 to 8 T. pine nuts
3/4 to 1 C. fine dry breadcrumbs
1 to 1-1/4 lb. extra lean ground turkey
1 t. salt
1 egg
2 or more T. fresh basil, finely torn or sliced
Olive oil for sautéing
1 lb. fresh spinach or other linguine pasta
For sautéed tomatoes:
1 pt. red cherry or grape tomatoes
1 pt. yellow cherry or grape tomatoes
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. coarsely chopped fresh oregano or marjoram
Grind pine nuts and 1/2 cup breadcrumbs together in a food processor or blender until very fine. Place meat, pine nut mixture, salt, egg and basil in a mixing bowl. Top with a few grinds of pepper. Mix thoroughly. Add enough more breadcrumbs so that the mixture isn’t too wet and holds together well.
With oiled hands, form meatballs into 30 or so 1-inch balls. When you are almost finished, heat a 12-inch sauté pan. Add 2 or more tablespoons olive oil to the hot pan. When he oil is hot, add the meatballs. Brown them on all sides, until cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes. While meatballs cook, prepare tomatoes and pasta.
Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt. Cook according to directions. Drain pasta and toss it in a mixing bowl with a little olive oil and salt.
Hull tomatoes and wash and drain them. If you can only find red tomatoes, just use two pints of the reds. Heat a 12-inch skillet until hot. Add olive oil, heat for a few seconds and add tomatoes. Cover and cook tomatoes, occasionally shaking pan so tomatoes cook evenly until they deflate, about 7 to 10 minutes. If most are cooked, simply pierce whole tomatoes with a knife tip and they’ll deflate.
Season tomatoes with salt, pepper and basil, and remove from the heat. Place pasta on the table. Pour hot tomatoes over the meatballs and heat through. Ladle mixture of meatballs and tomatoes over the pasta and serve.
Armenian Kofta with Mashed Potato, Pine Nuts and Raisins
In Turkey alone there are 80 types of “kofte” or meatballs. Take a cue from Turkish cooks and think of your meatballs as a canvas waiting to take on the flavors you most desire.
4 servings
12 oz. baking potato
1/4 C. toasted pine nuts
1 lb. lean ground lamb
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/4 C. golden raisins
Olive oil
Flour
Peel, dice and steam potato until tender, about 10 minutes. Mash potato; set aside to cool. Mix potato, pine nuts, ground meat, egg, raisins and salt and pepper.
With oiled hands shape mixture into walnut-sized balls and flatten slightly. Heat a sauté pan with a half inch of oil to medium hot. Dip meatballs into flour and shake off excess. When the oil shimmers, add the meatballs and fry, turning once, until crispy and brown.