Easiest-Ever Meatball Stew

Yesterday, I blogged a great Meatball Stew. Here’s another, even quicker and simpler, Meatball Stew. I’ve modified it from my 1987 book, The Galley Gourmet, published in the US and Canada. The quantities below are a guideline to be increased or decreased as you like.  

Easiest-Ever Meatball Stew:

2 tbsp. (30 mL) canola oil

24 (give or take) frozen meatballs (or see recipe below)

1/4 c. (60 mL) flour

One 12 fl. oz. (341 mL) can niblet corn, liquid reserved

One 14 fl. oz. (398 mL) can peas and carrots, liquid reserved (see Can Quantities Note)

1-/1-4 c. (300 mL) water

1 tbsp. (15 mL) beef-flavored extract 

1 tbsp. (15 mL) beef-flavored gravy darkener

2 medium potatoes, peeled, diced in 1/2-in. (1.24 cm) pieces

Salt and pepper, to taste

In large skillet on medium-high heat, sear meatballs but do not cook through. Set meatballs aside, draining on paper toweling. Do not drain fat from skillet. Reduce heat to medium. Sprinkle flour over fat, stirring well. Allow to bubble 1 min. Add drained liquid from corn, peas and carrots (see Canned Liquids Note). 

Continue to cook until mixture thickens to become gravy. In a lidded jar, shake together water and beef-flavored extract and gravy darkener until well combined. Add to gravy in small batches ... You may not need it all. 

Add vegetables, potatoes, and additional water and beef extract and darkener, if needed. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, adding meatballs, cooking 12-to-15 min. or until meatballs are cooked through and potato is tender. Season to taste. Serves 4. 

Can Quantities Note: Can sizes (and other packaged foods) are smaller than they were, years ago.  While this is annoying, exact measurements aren’t crucial to this recipe. Using two cans of each may work even better for you. 

Canned Liquids Note: If you’d prefer to use fresh or frozen vegetables, by all means do. Dissolve a little more beef extract in additional water or stock and you should be fine, as long as you don’t use too much of either. Taste before you waste!

For other stews, see One Click: Stew.

Make your own Meatballs, if you prefer. Here’s how!

How to Make Meatballs:

1-1/2 lb. (700 g) ground beef

2 oz. (57 g) packet dry onion soup mix

1/2 c. (125 mL) soft bread crumbs, lightly compressed in measuring cup

2 eggs, whisked with fork

2 tbsp. (25 mL) fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tsp. (10 mL) oil

With clean hands, combine all ingredients except oil. Form into balls 1-in. (2.54 cm) in diameter. In large skillet, heat oil over medium setting. Add meatballs, turning constantly until evenly browned. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover skillet, simmering meatballs about 15 min., until cooked through. Drain on paper towels. Serve with Meatball Stew or choice of sauce. 

Stroganoff with Meatballs

My friend Barbara is one of the world’s great cooks. She makes this for Ernie, her husband of nearly 60 years. 

Dee-licious!

 

Stroganoff with Meatballs:    

To Prepare the Meatballs:

1 lb. lean ground beef    

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

2 tsp. bottled steak sauce

¼ c. fine, dry bread crumbs

1 egg

2 tbsp. butter or margarine

In a large bowl, lightly toss ground beef with salt, pepper, steak sauce, bread crumbs and egg until well combined.  Using hands, gently shape chuck mixture into 12 balls.  Melt butter or margarine in large skillet, browning beef well.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Here's what you need! Now shape them into balls.

Ready for baking, sautéing, or freezing until needed.

I prefer to make meatballs on the large side.

To Prepare the Sauce:

  

2 tbsp. (30 mL) butter or margarine

½ c. (125 mL) sliced onion

¼ lb. (125 g) mushrooms, sliced

2 tbsp. (30 mL) flour

1 tsp. (5 mL) ketchup

1 10-½ oz. can (284 mL) condensed beef broth, undiluted

1 c. (250 mL) dairy sour cream

Melt butter or margarine with drippings in skillet.  Sauté onion 5 min., or until translucent.  Add and sauté mushrooms until tender.  Remove from heat.  Stir in flour and ketchup, gradually adding broth. Continuing to stir, bring just to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, simmering in open skillet for 2 min. Add previously cooked meatballs, simmering gently 10 min. or until heated through. Stir in sour cream over low heat, just to warm through. Serve over broad noodles.

To Prepare the Noodles: 

8 oz. (250 g) fettucine or broad noodles

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add fettucine and cook 10 min. Drain, serving with meatballs and sauce. Serves 4.

For more Stroganoff recipes, see One Click: Stroganoff.

Sophia’s Slow-Simmered Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs

I dedicate this recipe to the eternally beautiful Sophia Loren, who once said: “Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti.” Sophia and I have something in common … she, too, has a criminal past. Sophia once went to jail for not paying her taxes to Italy; in my post of June 12, I landed in the clink for publishing a purloined recipe I swore I would never, ever reveal! I’m going to hell in a grocery cart, and I know it.

Good spaghetti - the whole-wheat kind, of course! - calls for good spaghetti sauce. No, no, let me correct that! It calls for great spaghetti sauce! I’ve been in cucinas where the mustachioed cook (typically named Rosa or Mama Louisa) waddled from a kitchen in which great, steaming vats of tomato sauce simmered and bubbled and left me drooling with anticipation! And when that sauce finally arrived … well, I’m sorry to say it wasn’t nearly as good as this one!

The secret of this fine tomato sauce lies in its slow simmering. This excellent recipe makes plenty; I often freeze it for “next time.” I’ve been using this recipe since 1976, when I was a babe in swaddling clothes. The author’s probably dead! The copyright has probably expired! I'm claiming it as my own! Well, it isn't mine. The recipe originates with an 800-page Betty Crocker Cookbook I’ve had since the year “dot.” It’s a paperback, but I can’t even call it dog-earred. There’s no cover, the pages are ripped, and the thing is held together by two rubber bands. The original recipe is unexcitingly called “Italian Spaghetti,” so I've given it a sexier name in honor of the lovely and talented Sophia Loren.

Betty Crocker’s meatball recipe is the best I’ve ever tasted, so I’m also printing it. And now, I must dash into the kitchen to start and stir the sauce! 

Sophia’s Slow-Simmered Spaghetti Sauce:

½ lb. extra-lean ground beef 

1 medium onion, finely chopped (about ½ c.) 

1 large green pepper, finely diced

2 whole garlic cloves, puréed

Two 15-oz. (443 mL each) cans tomato sauce (I used a large can; Ron recycled it before I could record its size!)

Two 12-oz. (354 mL each) cans tomato paste

One 7-½ oz. (221 mL) can pitted ripe olives, drained and sliced (see Note)

Two 1-½ oz. pkg. (43 g each) powdered Italian-style spaghetti sauce with mushrooms

3 c. water

1 tbsp. granulated sugar

1 tsp. leaf oregano

1 large bay leaf, crumbled

Spaghetti, as needed

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh basil (optional)

Scramble-fry ground beef, onion, green pepper, and garlic on medium-low heat until meat loses its pink color and onion becomes translucent. Stir in remaining ingredients except spaghetti and Parmesan cheese. Cover. Simmer on low heat 1-½ hr., stirring occasionally. Stir in Sophia’s Meatballs. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Serve with a generous grating of Parmesan and garnish with a sprig of basil.

Sophia’s Meatballs:

1-½ lb. ground beef 

1 medium onion, chopped (about ½ c.) 

¾ c. fine dry breadcrumbs

1 tbsp. snipped parsley (fresh is best, I think!)

1-½ tsp. salt

⅛ tsp. pepper

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 egg

½ c. milk

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Combine all ingredients except salad oil, mixing well. Shape into balls by the tablespoon. Bake 15 min. on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Drain well and add to spaghetti during the final few minutes of cooking.

Assemble and prepare ingredients.

Simmer sauce slowly, allowing it to thicken.

Add pasta to boiling, salted water. 

Add baked, drained meatballs just before done.

A little Parmesan cheese ...

A glass of wine ... and Thou!