My Mom has taught me many recipes; this is one of my favorites.
My husband swears my sweet and sour meatballs are the number one reason he married me. Ok, that isn’t entirely true, but he begs me to makes these all the time. Lucky for me, they are easy and delicious. Even if you don’t like meatballs, this sauce is a dead ringer for Chinese sweet & sour sauce. The only thing the sauce is missing is the scary orange color.
Divulging these family secrets could get me disowned, but these balls are too good to keep a secret any longer. I also like typing the world ‘balls’ and jumped at the chance to use it as much as possible.
There are three small secrets my Mom uses that make these balls tastier than your average ball:
1. Having a mix of one part ground beef to one part ground sausage.
2. Using Italian bread crumbs. Yes, these are Sweet & Sour meatballs. Yes, I told you to use Italian bread crumbs. No, I’m not crazy.
3. Use your oven’s broiling pan for cooking the balls. - This allows the fat to drain off and gives a nice crust to the meatball.
Sorry, Mom.
Ingredients
The Balls
1 lb(450g) ground beef
1 lb(450g) ground sausage – I use Jimmy Dean Original
1 teaspoon(3g) ground ginger – use grated fresh ginger if you want them to taste especially tropical, just don’t use as much.
1 egg
½ onion, minced – yellow/white onions tend to hold up the best
2/3cup(46g)-ish* Italian bread crumbs
Some fresh ground pepper
The Sauce
1 15oz(no clue what the canned pineapple situation is in the U.K.)can of chunk pineapple, drained – reserve the juice
2 tablespoons(15g) corn starch
½ cup(110g) packed brown sugar
1/3 cup(80ml) white vinegar
1 Tablespoon(15ml) soy sauce
½ Green bell pepper - chopped - I have been known to use whichever color pepper is the cheapest/freshest so break this rule freely.
Directions
Throw all the goods for the balls in a bowl, and then remove any rings or jewelry from your fingers. Brace yourself for what lies ahead.
At this point you will thrust your hands into a very cold mixture of meat, egg, onion, and bread crumbs. You may curse and begin to question if this is all worth it. It so is.
The mixture should be moist and easy to form a ball with but not super wet.* If your first addition of bread crumbs wasn’t enough, sprinkle a wee bit more on there. This is cooking with love which is more art than science, so you really have to feel it out.
Turn your oven’s broiler on high and place a rack in the top third of your oven.
Roll the mixture into 1”(2.5cm) balls and place on the broiling pan. Give them a little space if you can. Enjoy washing your hands in warm sudsy water to remove meat bits and bring feeling into your now numb fingers.
Stick the balls under the broiler for five to six minute or until browned. Then flip and brown the other side. Rather than take the pan out of the oven to flip the meatballs I slide the rack out, flip half the meatballs closest to me, rotate the pan 180°, then flip the others. Broil another five or six minutes until browned.
For the sauce, combine the cornstarch, brown sugar, white vinegar, soy sauce and pineapple juice in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Pour the liquid into a large skillet and cook over medium high heat stirring constantly until mixture begins to bubble. Simmer for 1 minute, still stirring, until mixture has thickened and darkened. Add the meatballs, pineapple, and bell peppers to the sauce, continue cooking over low until pineapple is warm enough to eat.
Serve on a bed of rice for dinner or take as is to your next potluck. Serves 5-6 for dinner, or an army as hors d'oeuvres on toothpicks.
NOM!
Image © Jenessa Hooper for BitchBuzz