Goulash ~ an Old Stand-by in a New (Old) Dish

Cheesy Baked Goulash in Vintage Enamel-Ware

This is not a new recipe but it gave me a chance to use one of my new (old) casserole dishes I picked up at a garage sale a few months ago. It is vintage enamel-ware from the 1980s made by Lincoware, in the Lauria design. It came in a nesting set of three for only $1 each. How cool is that?

Some nights just call for your stand-by comfort casserole, and last night was no exception. This is one of my daughter’s favorite meals I make, and she actually happened to be home for a Friday night, of all things. I had a half-pound of ground beef left in the freezer needing used up, so halved the recipe and in doing so the vintage casserole dish became a perfect vessel for cooking the smaller portion.

However, I do have a new recipe I’m working on using the sous-vide technique, and will take a whopping 24-hours to cook! And no, I’ll not be slaving over it that entire time, I’ll be off doing my usual housework and PT exercises (and sleeping for a portion of that) while the cooking device does the work for me!

I’m also copying the goulash recipe below for any newcomers hesitant to click on a linky to get it. This takes less than an hour to make, which is always a winner in my book! Enjoy!

Cheesy Baked Goulash

Cheesy Baked Goulash

1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup chopped onion
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup dry elbow macaroni pasta
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce (or 2 8-0unce cans)
1 jar homemade canned tomatoes diced, or 1 can low-sodium diced
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set a pot of water on to boil for the pasta.In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the burger and chopped onions, then grind a bunch of black pepper over it. Cook until beef is browned and onions are translucent. In the last minute or so, add the minced garlic. Drain any grease, if needed.

When the water is boiling for the pasta, add the macaroni and cook until just before al dente, then drain and set aside. It will cook more in the oven. Meanwhile, add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and herbs to the ground beef and stir to incorporate.

Next add the cheddar and mix until cheese is melted. Stir in the cooked macaroni until combined. Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish sprayed with oil. Top with the Mozzarella cheese and bake for 30 minutes. Let rest about 5 minutes, then serve with buttered bread, and a salad if you want.

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Cheesy Baked Goulash

Cheesy Baked Goulash

 

Cheesy Baked Goulash Just out of Oven

Howdy friends and family! This is a repost recipe from three years ago that never got much attention from my readers, minus the intro paragraphs. Unfortunately, we had a series of three medical events in the house recently that has prevented me from creating a new recipe for you this week. (One event was an excruciating back spasm that lasted an hour and a half before I felt I wasn’t going to die. After multiple trips to both my doctor and chiro, I now have the pain under control.)

The other event was too low of blood pressure, and I thought I would pass out so had to have my high blood pressure meds adjusted. The third event involved my daughter but she’s healing up nicely since an outpatient procedure. However, on the first day I felt well enough to cook, I dragged out my old stand-by recipe for this dish of Cheesy Baked Goulash. My daughter requests this often, and for my new readers, I am glad to share it with you. I am also fortunate to have a hubby that cooks and for takeout pizza, ha! Happy Spring!

Cheesy Baked Goulash

1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup chopped onion
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup dry elbow macaroni pasta
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce (or 2 8-0unce cans)
1 jar homemade canned tomatoes diced, or 1 can low-sodium diced
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the burger and chopped onions, then grind a bunch of black pepper over it. Cook until beef is browned and onions are translucent. In the last minute or so, add the minced garlic. Drain any grease, if needed.

Browned Burger and Onions

When the water is boiling for the pasta, add the macaroni and cook until just before al dente, then drain and set aside. It will cook more in the oven. Meanwhile, add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and herbs to the ground beef and stir to incorporate.

Cooked Macaroni and Tomato Beef Sauce

Or you can be like me and forget the parsley until later. Next add the cheddar cheese (or perhaps parsley if you forgot) and mix until cheese is melted. Stir in the cooked macaroni until combined.

Cheddar Cheese and Parsley Added

Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish sprayed with oil. Top with the Mozzarella cheese and bake for 30 minutes.

Cheesy Baked Goulash

Let rest about 5 minutes, then serve with buttered bread, and a salad if you want.

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Cheesy Baked Goulash

Wildcard Contest Winner ~ Toasty Roasted Chickpeas, Cajun Style

Wildcard Winner Toasty Roasted Chickpeas, Cajun Style

What better way to lead into the Mardis Gras celebrations than with a surprise Wildcard Contest Winner Cajun recipe over at Food52 website??? I’ve never been a finalist and contest winner with prizes, but at least with a Wildcard Win you get braggin’ rights, yes? I actually got awarded this three days ago, but have been so busy only just found out today. YAY! (With a wildcard win you get a nice note from the editors of the website on the recipe why they picked it.) 🙂

Linky to the recipe here ———–>  Cajun Roasted Chickpeas

We’ll see you again this weekend with a new recipe!

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Flavor bombs, I tell you, and it’s no joke when I say these are da’ bomb! These large puppies are not only packed with flavor, they are the size of small cannon balls. I was searching the interwebz for something to make with my half-priced pound of ground turkey I found in the Reduce for Immediate Sale bin at the grocery, and came across several recipes for ground turkey meatballs. The thing is, I didn’t have all the ingredients for any single one, so did was I always do. I printed them all out, and mish-mashed them together to come up with this.

BONUS: Earlier in the week I had made some homemade croutons from roasted garlic-infused olive oil and grated Parmesan. I used leftover bread I took home from our company party.

Making Homemade Croutons

Gosh aren’t they lovely?

Homemade Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Croutons

They ground up in my Ninja perfectly to use as a binder for the meatballs. Keeping the roasted garlic theme in mind, I did a quick roast of three large cloves of garlic in my toaster oven for 20 minutes.

SECOND BONUS: The night before I had made a huge batch of our favorite side dish to go with whatever the heck meat we had (See I love these so much that I can’t even remember what I ate with them as in my mind they are the star of any meal.) I had plenty of this rosemary bliss to serve with the meatballs, so of course I carried the rosemary theme through to the meatballs. Recipe here ——–> Rosemary and Butter Red Potatoes and Green Beans.

Buttered Rosemary Red Potatoes and Green Beans

UN-BONUS: Sometimes my math isn’t so good. I was trying to figure out how long to set the timer so I could take the meatballs out of the oven about 5 minutes before they were done to zest some Parmesan over the top of them. I usually cook meatloaf about an hour, but figured I would check them with an instant-read thermometer at 30 minutes. So. I set the timer for 40 minutes. Why? I have no clue. Slightly on the dry side, but the spinach did help a lot with keeping them from being a disaster. The pan juices in the casserole dish poured over was also a perfect remedy.

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

3 large cloves garlic, peels left on
1/4 cup bread crumbs (from flavored croutons if you have them, or make your own!)
1/4 cup finely minced onion (I used the same Ninja that I ground up the breadcrumbs in)
1 pound ground turkey
8 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon dried, crushed rosemary (I crush the dried leaves with a mortar and pestle)
Pinch of dried thyme
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Ground black pepper, to taste

Wrap the garlic cloves in foil and roast for 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven (toaster oven is more economical). Remove and let cool, then peel and mince.

Meanwhile, process the croutons into bread crumbs, remove, then process the onion into a fine mince. (Store-bought bread crumbs are fine, as well as mincing your own onion with a knife.)

Processing the Croutons into Bread Crumbs

Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and get ready to mess up your hands. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients using both hands.

Ground Turkey Meatball Ingredients

When completely combined, scoop out a large handful and roll around in your hands and shape into the size of a large golf ball or small tennis ball. (What is that size? A rubber squash ball?) Either way, you should end up with six fairly same-sized meatballs.

Turkey Meatballs Ready to Bake

Place the meatballs in a small oil-sprayed baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 25 minutes (not 40 please) or until an instant-read thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Remove foil then grate some fresh Parmesan cheese over top. Cook for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve immediately with any sides of choice.

Baked Spinach Garlic and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

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Pico de Gallo Baked Chicken

Pico de Gallo Baked Chicken

This was hands down my best new baked chicken dish — EVER! I was so absolutely nervous to feed this to my family but we all were shocked by how good this was. I was chagrined I took the time to reduce the sauce after it came out of the oven as I thought it came out too soupy, but then we were all clambering to add more sauce to our plates to sop up with the thick, crusty bread. Reducing the sauce is not necessary, so I skipped that step in the instructions. You won’t be disappointed.

Now, how to shock and amaze your taste buds:

Pico de Gallo Baked Chicken
Adapted from pico de gallo oven chicken @allyskitchen.com

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
Ground pepper and sea salt or Mrs. Dash, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup homemade or low sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup pico de gallo mild salsa (I used Trader Joe’s)
1/4 teaspoon dried red chile flakes
3 cloves garlic, peeled and whole
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 large lemon, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add the chicken breasts to a large bowl and sprinkle with the pepper, salt or Mrs. Dash, and flour. Toss to coat.

Browned Chicken Pieces

In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the oil and brown the chicken on each side. Transfer the chicken to an oven-proof lidded casserole dish.

Deglaze the skillet with the wine then pour over the chicken. Add the chicken broth, pico de gallo, chile flakes, garlic, and top with the lemon slices and capers.

Pico de Gallo Chicken Ready to Bake

Cover with foil then top with the lid. Bake for 50 minutes, then remove to the stove top and let sit for about 15 minutes without taking off the lid. When ready, remove lid and serve with thick, hot crusty bread for sopping up the juices.

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Baked Fish and Shrimp Poppers

Why not a quick post to share a quick and easy meal I made after returning from camping last week? I had a chunk of leftover ling cod from the night before and some shrimp in the freezer. Panko bread crumbs, Old Bay, seasonings, a little egg and BAM! Baked Fish and Shrimp Poppers. Served with some french fries and fresh cherry ‘maters from the garden. Seriously good.

(I took these photos from my new cell phone. Certainly not as good as my DSLR, but works in a pinch.)

Baked Fish and Shrimp Poppers

1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
Ground black pepper and salt, to taste
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1/2 pound of fish cut into 1-inch chunks and/or whole thawed shrimp
Oil spray
Lemon wedges, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl, then add the flour to one plate and the Panko and seasonings to another. (I used paper plates – quick clean up!)

Panko and Old Bay and Seasonings

One at a time, press each piece of fish and/or shrimp in the flour, then dip into the egg. Next press into the Panko mixture on all sides until fully-coated. Place each piece onto the baking sheet without touching. Spray generously with oil spray on one side, then gently flip each piece over and spray the other side.

Bake for about 3 minutes, turn each piece over with tongs and bake for about another 3 minutes until the fish and/or shrimp is cooked through and no longer translucent. Serve with lemon wedges and sauce of choice.

Baked Fish and Shrimp Poppers

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One-Pot Roasted Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes

One-Pot Roasted Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes

Well it’s about time I have a new recipe for you! I’ve been cooking all week, but cooked some of my regulars in rotation, including a nice big batch of Inside-Out Stuffed Cabbage Roll Soup and the family-favorite Garlicky Parmesan Chicken Tenders.

Today I bring you an easy one-pot meal loaded with some delicious roasted vegetables. The original recipe didn’t have any lemon or crushed red pepper flakes in it, but whenever I cook with spinach, those two ingredients sing to me! And lemon and artichoke? Why YES! I got a neutral rating from the family — but in my defense (and theirs) — when I plated dinner, both said they weren’t very hungry. They’ve both been fighting off the crud, it seems. But I found this very tasty!

One-Pot Roasted Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes
Adapted from Baked Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes at Diethood.com

1 pound chicken pieces, cut up if large
Fresh ground pepper and salt or Mrs. Dash, to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 large carrots, sliced into thin rounds
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 14-ounce can quartered artichokes, rinsed and drained
1 8-ounce bag spinach
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
2 large lemon wedges
3/4 cup chicken broth

Sliced Carrots and Onion

Preheat oven to 425. Meanwhile prep the chicken and veggies. Season chicken with pepper and salt or Mrs. Dash. The chicken can be boneless and/or skinless or not, but if the pieces are large be sure to cut them smaller.

Heat butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown the chicken in the Dutch oven on both sides, about 3 to 5 minutes each side, depending on thickness. Remove from the pot and set aside, leaving the oil in the skillet.

Browning the Chicken

Reduce heat to medium, and add the onions and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with more spices if needed. At this point, add the artichokes and cook about another 5 minutes until the vegetables are almost tender, again stirring occasionally.

Sauteing the Veggies

Add the minced garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and half the spinach. Squeeze one lemon wedge over the spinach and stir around until reduced a bit. Add the rest of the spinach and squeeze the other lemon wedge over it. Continue to cook until all the spinach wilts, stirring occasionally.

Spinach Wilted with Veggies

Remove from heat, add the broth, and nestle the chicken around the vegetables. Place in the oven uncovered and bake for 18 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. In the last 5 minutes, bump the heat to broil to finish the roasting. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles, if desired.

Chicken Ready to Finish in Oven

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Ham and Scalloped Au Gratin Potato Casserole

Ham and Scalloped Au Gratin Potato Casserole

I volunteered to make ham and scalloped potato casserole to bring to a Father’s Day BBQ last weekend. Actually, my husband had volunteered to bake a ham, but by the time he informed me of this the hostess had already bought ribs for the event AND my husband had already defrosted the ham we stuck in the freezer last month when it went on sale.

We had about 12 people to feed. Armed with all those factoids, I decided a scalloped potato casserole would work, and then I could add some of the leftover ham that we ended up baking the day before Father’s Day instead.

I found a great recipe for this on one of my favorite foodie cook’s site, The Pioneer Woman. Gosh, I don’t even know how many gajilion recipes I’ve made of hers. She makes it look sooo easy and her food photography is great! She calls it Scalloped Potatoes, but with all the cheese it’s really Au Gratin too, so I added that to the title.

However, last time I made a dish with a ton of sliced potatoes (mind you we are feeding a crowd), it took me over 45 minutes to slice the potatoes, and even then, they were haphazardly sliced, at best. I’m terrible at slicing thin potatoes.

I decided to risk life and limb and invest in a food slicer (also known as a mandoline, and no, not the instrument kind.) They now come with hand guards and decided I could make the plunge and invest in one. And heck, it was less than 10 bucks! What was I waiting for???? Those horror stories of old of trips to the emergency room to re-attach a fingertip are long gone with this device.

My new love:

Food Slicer and Potatoes

Story: I got the slicer all assembled and cut a potato in half (to have a flat surface to start with). I put it on the gadget and quickly ran it twice up and down to slice. Nothing. Nada. I was like… “Uggh, this thing doesn’t even work! And then I lifted it up, and two beautiful slices were laying underneath it on the cutting board. Really? I thought I would feel some resistance, something, anything! Nooop! That blade is so sharp it was like cutting through soft butter. I had 3 pounds of potatoes sliced perfect-thin in under 10-minutes! WOW! Happy me. 🙂

The below recipe is how I made it as I didn’t have all the ingredients, but you can find the original recipe link below. And just use whatever cheese you have on hand. I used all my cheddar for another recipe earlier in the week, so ended up used store-bought grated Colby-Jack combined with some fresh-grated Gruyere cheese. Either way it came out great! I didn’t have much to bring home from the BBQ. Now on to the recipe.

Ham and Scalloped Au Gratin Potato Casserole)
Adapted from Ree Drumond, The Pioneer Woman, Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

3 pounds Russet potatoes, washed and scrubbed
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
3 cups ham, diced
1/2 cup half-and-half (that is all I had, you can use more and reduce the milk for creamier potatoes)
2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
Black pepper, to taste
1 cup grated Colby Jack cheese (mixture of Colby and Monterey Jack)
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees then butter a large casserole dish. (Mine was 9 x 13 inches.) Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and cook for several minutes until they start to turn translucent. Add the ham and cook for another few minutes until heated through. Remove from heat and set aside.

Sauteing Ham and Onions

Combine the half-and-half and milk in a microwave-safe container and cook in the microwave for about a minute, until no longer cold. Whisk in flour and black pepper until combined. Set aside.

Using a vegetable slicer (or a knife if you don’t own one), slice potatoes into 1/8-inch slices. Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle 1/3 of the ham/onion mixture over that, then 1/3 of the cheese.

Scalloped Potatoes without Milk ~ Sometimes I don’t follow directions exactly

Here is where I went astray. I forgot to pour 1/3 of the milk mixture over it until the end, but if you want you can pour on 1/3 of the milk mixture now. It didn’t seem to make a difference.

Repeat this twice more, ending with a sprinkling of cheese and pouring on the rest of the milk mixture (or in my case, all at once). Then grind a bunch more of black pepper over it. Cover the pan with foil and bake for an hour.

Peeking at Casserole ~ Yes I peeked at the casserole at the hour mark

Remove the foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes at least, or until bubbly and hot and the potatoes are tender. Check with a fork periodically for doneness.

p.s. (You can make this ahead of time and cook later. I cooked mine to the one hour mark, then brought it to the BBQ. About a half hour before ready to eat, I uncovered it, popped it in a preheated oven and baked until ready, about a half hour more.)

Casserole in Oven ~ I had to check on that puppy! Baked beans underneath from other guest cooking

 

 

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Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

A quick disclaimer: These are not easy and do NOT take 10 minutes to make. So there, I said it. This is one of those appetizers that I see all the time on Pinterest being touted as “so easy!” and “takes just 10 minutes!” and other catchy LIES. 😉

Kidding aside, these do present well and were a big hit at our company potluck. There is really not much of a recipe, it is more of a “method” to get these puppies to turn out just right. I think one of the issues I had was I followed some advice to ask the deli to slice the prosciutto “as paper thin as they can.” In theory that’s good since prosciutto is very expensive, but the downside is that it makes it very difficult to work with.

But at the end of the day (a long one at that!) these did turn out beautiful and so very tasty. If you have patience, you will be rewarded. Start to end, this took me over an hour to make.

Trimmed Asparagus

Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

1 1/2 pounds thick asparagus spears (about 30 or so)
1/2 brick Neufchâtel cream cheese
1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
Ground black pepper
Lemon wedge and zest

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and spray with olive oil. Wash the asparagus and lop off the woody ends.

Next, lay out slices of prosciutto on a cutting board, then spread a thin layer of cream cheese over them. This is one thing I messed up from the get-go, as I cut my first batch into thin strips then tried to spread the cream cheese over. Do NOT do it that way.

What a disaster! Don’t do it this way.

Spread the cream cheese THEN cut it into strips. One by one, wrap the strips of prosciutto around each asparagus spear and place onto the baking sheet. This process takes a while.

Asparagus Ready to Bake

Grind black pepper over the spears, then spritz the naked ends with olive oil. Place in a preheated 400-degree oven and bake for 15 minutes. At that point, bump the oven to broil and broil for about 5 more minutes.

Remove from oven, and place in a serving dish using tongs. Squeeze the lemon wedge over the dish, then zest the lemon peel over it. At this point you can serve immediately or put in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, warm the dish in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

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Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta

Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta

I saw this recipe just a couple of days ago that Pioneer Woman posted, and just drooled. I said right then and there, “I am SO making this!” The other great thing is if you go to her website and pin her post on Pinterest, Land O’ Lakes will donate 9 meals to Feeding America®, up to 2.7 million meals! I’ll give you the link down below.

My hubs helped with some of the prep, which was nice, but really there is not a lot to this. I adapted the recipe by halving it for our smaller family, and by baking the meatballs after browning them, not only because I’m terrible meatball maker, apparently, but because they were falling apart in the skillet. So what I did was after they were mostly browned on the outside, I took them out of the skillet to cool a bit, preheated the oven to 400 degrees, compacted them back into sort of round, then baked them for 15 minutes.

Meatballs and Seasonings

The plus about doing it that way is that you won’t have all that extra grease in the pan. I also omitted the beef bouillon and salt. Believe me there is enough flavor and salt in the rest of the ingredients that you will not miss it at all!

Changes I will make next time: I would use 2 1/2 cups of beef broth total. Hubby said he would have liked more gravy with it. Second would be to use flour instead of corn starch. Even though the gravy was “glossy” like the original recipe said it would be, I think the flour would make it all stick to the noodles better.

Even so, the fam ate it up and I’m good with that. The hubs called it a “glorified hamburger over noodles.” LOL! He said he would eat it again with those additional changes, though. Although the Pioneer Woman called this Salisbury Steak Meatballs, I didn’t find it to taste anything like that. Yep, a glorified hamburger. But if you want a fairly simple recipe to feed the family with ground beef and pasta, this is a great change of pace. 🙂

Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman, Salisbury Steak Meatballs

SPECIAL NOTE: To help donate 9 meals to the hungry, click the following link and pin on Pinterest! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/04/salisbury-steak-meatballs. Thank You!

1 pound ground beef
3/8 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/8 cup spicy brown mustard
1/8 cup ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend (or salt)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon corn starch (or flour) mixed with 1/2 cup beef broth
1 1/2 to 2 cups homemade or low-sodium beef broth, divided
1/2 teaspoon additional Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons additional ketchup
1/4 teaspoon Liquid Smoke (I used Stubb’s)
8 ounces wide egg noodles
Dried minced parsley

In a medium bowl, combine the first seven ingredients and mix well with clean hands. Roll and compact into meatballs. I didn’t do such a great job of compacting them, maybe you are better. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to a large skillet, then sear over medium-high heat on all sides until browned. Remove to a plate to cool and meanwhile preheat your oven to 400 degrees. This is also a good time to put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta.

Seared Meatballs

Add one more tablespoon of butter to the skillet (with all the leftover browned burger bits) and add in the onions. Reduce heat to medium and saute them for about 10 minutes until fairly soft. While the onions are cooking, you can re-compact your meatballs up and place on a parchment or foil-lined pan in one layer and cook in oven for 15 minutes.

Baked Meatballs

Remove and set aside if your timing is off, like mine was. It’s choreography, I tell you!

Cooking the Onions with Browned Bits

Once the onions are softened, add the cornstarch or flour slurry to the skillet, scraping up all the yummy browned bits. Then add the rest of the beef broth, the additional Worcestershire and ketchup and the Liquid Smoke, then mix well, bringing up to a simmer (lower heat once it does).

Onions and Gravy

Now add your pasta to the boiling water. Cook pasta until al dente, drain, and pour onto a large plate or in bowl. The onions and  gravy should be nice and done now, so pour the mixture over the pasta, top with the meatballs, sprinkle some parsley over it, scoop into bowls, and chow down. Serve if you like with a side salad, French bread, and fruit.

Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta

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