Meatballs – cooking in the time of corona
We are only four people in social isolation in our household: the Davinator plus younger son and his roommate from university. The Davinator is the middle of a big building project (redoing some of our hard landscaping) and is eating accordingly. University students are Olympic standard eaters. A fair amount of catering to do and I was looking for things that can be precooked and served in different ways. Meatballs are the answer.
Meatballs are easy for non-expert and ingredients are flexible. Kids seem to love them and there are many ways to serve them. The more expert a cook you are, the more confidence you’re likely to have with substitutions and changes. I go over each ingredient below to help you figure it out.
Meatballs are minced (ground) meat, usually mixed with bread crumbs, egg and seasonings. My recipe calls for Parmesan cheese but this is a lovely addition and not vital to the recipe. Remember google is your friend so just ask ‘substitutes for……’ and see what comes back.
Meat
Use any type of minced or ground meat. My favourite is 50/50 beef and pork. Lamb, chicken, turkey and even sausage meat bought in bulk or squeezed out of the casings. I’m guessing you could make duck meatballs if there’s such a thing as ground duck. Be aware of how much fat you’ve got in the meat, ultra lean meat like chicken or turkey won’t hold together as well and doesn’t have the same mouth feel on eating.
Vegetarians, I bet you could make meatballs with Quorn mince. It then ceases to be a meatball but let’s not worry about the ontology of naming things today.
Bread crumbs: I have a big supply of panko breadcrumbs, because I hate to run out so I buy in bulk from Amazon Subscribe & Save. So many possibles substitutes here. You can make some from bread. Here’s a video but essentially you oven dry them and then whizz them up in food processor. The video uses fresh whole wheat bread but bread type and freshness don’t really matter. Use wheat bread though.
The quantity might not substitute straight across, so keep mixing in until you have a good consistency.
Other substitutes, grind in a food processor or put in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin:
- plain water crackers or saltines, basically any kind of savoury biscuit,
- unsweetened cereal like corn flakes or weetabix,
- rolled oats or porridge oats
- pretzels, crisps, corn chips (be careful with weird flavours like prawn).
Even more creative:
- cooked rice or quinoa
- flaxseed
- potato flour
- cornstarch
Egg
The egg in this recipe is a binding ingredient – it helps the meatball hold together. Hopefully, you’ve got eggs but if not you can substitute yogurt (unsweetened and unflavoured) or try about half the same quantity of milk. Getting a little bit more unlikely: ground flax or chia – one tablespoon with 3 tablespoons of water = one egg. Tofu, if you have any, or melt some butter or vegetable shortening.
Seasonings: salt and pepper are enough and it may be all you want if you’re going to make a flavourful sauce or soup for your meatballs. But if chilli flakes, Italian seasoning, whatever takes your fancy from your spice cupboard.
Serving suggestions:
- make a simple clear soup with celery and carrots, add the meatballs at the end
- heat up a can or jar of prepared sauce and serve with pasta,
- make marinara sauce, (see this simple recipe) and serve with pasta
- serve warm with some barbecue sauce (put them on toothpicks – kids will eat anything on a toothpick),
- crush them into a sandwich with lots of ketchup or HP.
Once cooked, meatballs will keep in the fridge for 3 days or until a teenage boy finds them.
Let’s get cooking.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 450 grams of ground meat, can be mixed
- 1/4 cup (25 grams) of panko bread crumbs (very fine dry bread crumbs – you’re using a substitute be prepared to adjust to get a good firm consistency when you’re rolling the meat balls)
- 1/4 cup (25 grams) grated parmesan cheese (optional)
- 1/4 cup (40 grams) finely chopped onion (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg or substitute binding agent
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200C (180 fan). Line a baking sheet or a shallow pan with foil. Drizzle with the olive oil and spread the oil to cover the pan.
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Easiest to use your hands to smush it all together and combine well. Add any additional herbs as you go. You’ll be able to tell if the meatballs are going to bind together. If it’s too wet, add some more bread crumbs. If it’s too dry, try adding milk a tablespoon at a time.
- Scoop out a generous tablespoon and roll it into a ball. Place on the baking tray. They will brown better if not touch each other. This is a job that children love to ‘help’ with. And the meatballs are going in a hot oven, so its fine.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cut one in half and make sure they’re not pink in the middle. Consume your test meatball to hide the evident.
Enjoy. And happy cooking.