Salisbury Meatballs with Mushroom Sauce

By sherryl61

Ingredients

• For sauce (see note):
• 6 pounds lean ground beef
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups plain dry bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 quarts beef broth, chicken broth or water
• 1 quart half-and-half
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Details

Servings 144
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 60mins

Preparation

Step 1

1. Prepare meatballs. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Mix ground beef, garlic, eggs, bread crumbs, milk, parsley, onion, salt and 2 teaspoons pepper in a large bowl, using your hands to mix. Shape mixture into 1- to 1 1/2-inch meatballs; place close together on greased jellyroll pans. Bake 20 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball reads 160 degrees. Cool meatballs.

2. Prepare sauce: Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring until soft, about 7 minutes. Stir in flour; cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Gradually stir in broth and half-and-half; cook, stirring, until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Whisk to make a smooth sauce. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Cool sauce.

3. Divide cooled meatballs and sauce among 6 one-gallon freezer bags. Seal; freeze. To cook one entree, completely thaw one bag in the refrigerator. Heat meatballs and sauce to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat; reduce heat to low. Cook until meatballs are heated through; do not boil. Or bake thawed meatballs and sauce in an ungreased baking dish, uncovered, at 350 degrees until heated through, about 30 minutes.

Note: Meatballs can be prepared without the sauce and frozen. To serve, thaw meatballs and reheat in a favorite sauce (such as pasta sauce) and serve with pasta or on Italian bread as a sandwich.

Per serving (6 meatballs with sauce): 401 calories; 23g fat (52 percent calories from fat); 12g saturated fat; 140mg cholesterol; 29g protein; 19g carbohydrate; 1g fiber; 645mg sodium.

Adapted from "Fix, Freeze, Feast" by Kati Neville and Lindsay Tkacsik.