Made the simplest meatballs ever, in the flash of a pan!
Imagine meatballs like this, but without the sauce, just pure spherical-shaped, seasoned meat:
I had some frozen finely ground beef (it was given to me stored in a white bag with red print all over it, I'd never seen it before -- it might not be something that is sold, but pre-packaged)
I thawed it in cold water in a bowl at room temperature -- once the meat was thawed but still a little cold and chilly, I washed my hands and set about making meatballs from scratch, improvising.
I added some sea salt and dried spices (I believe I used this "Pizza Seasoning" dried spice blend that smells heavenly, Oregano, Thyme), and formed little meatballs using my hands about the size of Swedish meatballs you find in IKEA.
I pre-heated my carbon steel pan by placing it over med-high to high heat open flame, and placed each meatball in, allowing each meatball to sear a beautiful brown crust on each bottom before turning them around -- the composition of the beef was around 80%-20% meat to fat, so the fat/tallow rendered out into the pan, helping create that beautiful Maillard crust -- it definitely didn't need any added oil to cook the meatball.
I like using cast iron / carbon steel pans to cook meat in, as the temperature can rise VERY quickly, and cook meat at a high temperature, helping lock flavor and juices in the meat, without overcooking it, and keeping the texture nice and tender.
I will say, due to the high fat composition (20%) -- some of the droplets of fat leapt out into the fire and created a tiny grease fire in the pan - a sort of self-induced flambé -- a grease flambé? without any alcohol. So, if you are making this recipe, please be careful, especially around children or those who need supervision! I had to open the patio door and create some ventilation, but the tiny fire actually did the work to thoroughly cook the balls in record time -- the beef was juicy and tender and perfect!
I will say that this simple meatball recipe uses practically only 3 main ingredients - finely ground beef, salt, and spice(s) of choice -- and is bound to charm a meat-lover purist, or someone who just wants that enhanced, beefy flavor in a meatball. What I love about this recipe is that it works without any added binding agent such as eggs, breadcrumbs/panko, or applesauce, so it's very simple and easy, and it cooked within 12-15 minutes (very fast!)
To serve, I left the meatballs in the pan (they look stylishly good that way) for self-serving, and made some additional dishes -- chicken broth soup, rice, spaghetti noodles, tomato-based sauce. What's great is that someone can enjoy the meatballs in a variety of ways -- in a soup, with rice, with noodles, with different sauces (dipped, or poured on top, or plated more fancily) -- it's a great base for anyone needing more protein in their diet, or needing to lean out their body composition, if they want to eat less carbs!
Ideally, I would use grass-fed ground beef, or beef from a butcher from the highest caliber, but for now, this worked just fine in terms of practicing how to make meatballs.
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