Tangy Meatballs in Cranberry Sauce

This should not be confused with spaghetti and meatballs type of meatballs, but rather a tangy stand alone type of meatball. It is very delicious served over hot cooked rice (brown or white) but equally good served on its own with generous slices of challah to dip into the sauce. Or pita, or crusty bread.

This is a fairly simple recipe with very little added to the chopped meat mixture since the sauce is pronounced in flavor and it is unnecessary to gum up the works with a myriad number of add ins.

A word about mixing chopped meat into meatball readiness. Sometimes people get too enthusiastic and will mix and knead and pummel the mixture far far longer than needed. This is not only unnecessary it is actually bad for the mixture. You will create a dense and tough meatball and what we want is a luscious, saucy texture which is not heavy or dense. This is simply accomplished by lightly mixing with your hands which gives you much better control than a spoon (I put on my latex gloves for this) and incorporating the ingredients but if you see a bit of breadcrumb, that’s fine. Better than overdoing it. Also, don’t go crazy on the breadcrumbs. This too will make them tough. Nay nay, I say.

The sauce I frankly have no embarrassment in letting you know it is from a can and a bottle. I have been known to prepare a wonderful tomato sauce on occasion but the jarred good quality brands are excellent and I find it makes prep a snap. The other ingredient in the sauce is whole berry (or if unavailable) jellied cranberry sauce. It comes in a can and is readily available pretty much everywhere.

You might be permitted to think that these two sauces will not harmoniously meld but you would be wrong. The combination of the two gives you a heady, aromatic sauce with a lovely tang which perfectly compliments the meatballs and as the meatballs cook in the sauce, the juices of the meat add an amazing taste to it all. One more thing. DO NOT overcook your meatballs. For some odd reason, I’ve seen many recipes that cook the meatballs for 45 minutes to an hour! Why? This is chopped meat and it cooks fairly quickly. I find that if you cook the sauce ingredients together first for 5 minutes, you only need 20-25 minutes for the meatballs.

If you are concerned it’s not quite done, taste one. Otherwise, please, trust me and don’t cook them for longer. When everyone compliments you on how light and succulent they are, you will be vindicated. 🙂

One last note. This recipe can be made gluten free or kosher for Passover with a jar of sauce that’s for Passover (readily available even during the year. Certain brands are gluten free and kosher for Passover) and the cranberry sauce I have found is Kosher for Passover all year round. Just switch out the breadcrumbs for potato starch and/or matza meal and boom, there you go.

Tangy Meatballs in Cranberry Sauce

1 1/5 pounds (approximately) or 750 grams of chopped meat – a little fat is good if too lean it will be dry

1/2 cup of breadcrumbs – this should be sufficient, you don’t wanna overload the mixture with breadcrumbs or you will get a dense tough meatball (Gluten free or Passover, use 1/3 cup of potato starch instead of breadcrumbs)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon fresh garlic – you can substitute granulated garlic but I wish you wouldn’t, fresh adds a great deal here since there is no other spice added to the meat

For the sauce

1 26 ounce (737 gram) jar of pasta sauce (not plain tomato sauce)- I prefer this to pizza sauce since the oregano is not pronounced and you don’t want it to be for this sauce

1 can 16 ounces (454 grams) whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions:

Mix together chopped meat, breadcrumbs, eggs and garlic. Mix thoroughly but do not overdo it. Set aside for meat to absorb breadcrumbs etc.

In the meantime, mix together in a medium sized pot the pasta sauce and the cranberry sauce, mashing the cranberry with a fork so it will incorporate into the other sauce properly. Let cook for 5 minutes.

Take your meatball mixture and form into medium sized ball (too big, it’s unwieldy, too small is a pain in the neck)

Gently drop (from very close to the pot) into the simmering sauce (lower the heat so it doesn’t cook on too high a temp) and keep forming balls and dropping till all used up. Cook on medium low heat for approximately 25 minutes. Really, it’s all it needs.

Serve in a small pretty bowl either on a bed of rice or as is with plenty of challah or other bread for dipping into sauce. Yum…