Mahogany Meatballs

By jenknoll

Ingredients

• Meatballs:
• 2 lbs. ground meat (feel free to mix and match ground beef and pork)
• 2 eggs
• 1 pepper, seeded and minced (anaheim, bell, or any other semi sweet pepper works well)
• 1 cup heavy cream (eh?……trust me)
• 2 large potatoes (double eh?)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
• vegetable oil
• Gravy:
• 3 tablespoons pan drippings (from cooking meatballs)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 can beef broth
• 3/4 – 1 cup water
• 4 tablespoons red wine
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• pinch of black pepper
• egg noodles or pasta of choice

Preparation

Step 1

Start off by peeling and cubing the potatoes. Place in a small pot of water seasoned with salt and boil until soft. Drain potatoes and mash with a fork until all the pieces have been mashed. Set aside.

Place the ground meat into a large bowl.


Remove the seeds from the pepper and mince very finely. Place the pepper into the bowl with the ground meat.

Next add the eggs into the bowl….no need to stir until everything has been dumped in. Pour the heavy cream over top.

Now for my secret weapon….mashed potatoes! You read right….those taters are going INSIDE the meatballs. Measure out a cup of the mashed potatoes and throw em’ in.

Measure out the kosher salt, pepper, dry mustard, and granulated garlic and toss it in the bowl.

Now for the mixing…if you’re one of those people that mix with a spoon, well that works of course. ME….I’m a mix by hand kinda gal. Whichever way you do it, just make sure everything is FULLY incorporated.

Now, you’re probably looking at this conglomeration in the bowl thinking….It’s too liquidy, it’s never going to form a meatball. GOOD! That means you’ve done well. It will hold…..trust the process!

Line 2 baking sheets with foil and begin rolling your meatballs. These particular meatballs should be just slightly smaller than a golf ball. Ever so slightly smaller….

Continue to roll the meatballs until all of your meat mixture is gone.

Place the baking sheets into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

Into a large skillet, place just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium until the oil is hot.

Place some of the meatballs in the pan but DO NOT OVERCROWD! Give them room to roll around and get friendly. How many you put in depends on the size of your pan.



Continue cooking the meatballs over medium heat, shaking the pan gently as needed to brown all sides. The total cooking time is around 10-12 minutes per batch.

Gently flip the meatballs halfway through. Check to make sure they have browned on the bottom before flipping. Be careful not to apply too much pressure while flipping, we don’t want these little beauties to break.

After each batch has cooked through, I place the meatballs in a pan in a barely heated oven (170 degrees) while I cook the remaining batches.

Do not add more oil to your pan, just continue adding meatballs and cooking them.

After you have cooked all of the meatballs….DO NOT DISCARD YOUR PAN DRIPPINGS!!! See that crud in the pan, that’s called FLAVOR….we want it!

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta according to package directions. I always add a touch of butter after the noodles have drained to avoid a “sticky situation”.

Grab a medium saucepot and add 3 heaping tablespoons of the grease from the meatball pan. Set the pot over low heat and heat until the oil is hot again.

While it heats, dump out the remaining grease from the meatball pan but…LEAVE THE CRISPY DRIPPINGS IN THE PAN.

Open the can of beef broth and pour it into the meatball pan and stir around to remove all the crispy pieces from the bottom and sides of pan. Let the broth set in the pan while you continue on to the next step.

Add the 3 tablespoons of flour and quickly whisk to combine. Whisk and cook the flour mixture over low heat for 2 minutes. We want to cook the raw flour taste out….ICK! It will be a pale golden color when it is ready.

Now add in ALL the broth and drippings from your meatball pan and whisk thoroughly. After the sauce has been whisked together, pour in the water and wine. Continue to whisk over very low heat. We want a semi thin sauce that will drape over the meatballs and lightly coat the pasta that I serve it with.

This sauce develops an amazing nutty, earthy taste that is outta this world good. I bestowed the Mahogany name due to the color of the sauce and the rich earthy flavor.

To serve…..place a generous amount of pasta into a bowl. Top with a healthy amount of meatballs (by healthy I mean GENEROUS)! Ladle some of the sauce over the top and garnish with fresh herbs if desired