Easy as meatballs

Easy as meatballs

Let's paint a picture: Friday afternoon, five hours until Shabbat. In less than twenty four hours, four -maybe five- guests had been added to the guest list for dinner. And since I prefer to have too much rather than too little, I was going to make another chicken dish. That, plus my roommates chicken, plus meatballs, plus soup, salad, and sides and chicken that Jack decided on his own to make as well should be enough.

But of course, this being me, I was pressed for time. Pressed like two hours till Shabbat pressed to make many different dishes. If I only I was like my roomie, who planned and executed her Shabbat meal plans successfully, starting on with Wednesday grocery shopping (I did mine before going to work Friday morning) and Thursday cooking, which brings us back to my Friday craziness.

Rushing, I threw together the soup first, then the animal meats. (Pardon the imagery, I was once a vegetarian and haven't fully recovered.) The saving grace, however, is how deceptively simple many of the recipes are. As illustration, see the meatball recipe below . To make what could be a detailed story short, I'll just say that everything went off without a hitch and I even managed to make candle lighting with a few minutes to spare!

In the end, there was too much at dinner, but that was fine since there's always lunch.

This recipe was given to me by my friend Rayna and is delicious and a time saver!

Mrs. Stern's Meatballs

One pound ground beef with breadcrumbs, an egg, spices to taste

One jar (pareve) tomato sauce eg marinare, basil, putanesca

In a medium bowl, mix the ground beef with breadcrumbs and egg. Add garlic powder, onion powder, oregano etc if so desired, half teaspoon of each. Shape into mini-meatballs, about a half an inch wide. Tip: moisten fingertips while rolling meatballs to help them stay together.

In a medium sauce pan, empty the contents of the sauce jar and add meatballs.

Cook over low flame for twenty minutes, stirring gingerly every seven minutes. Be sure to scrape the bottom to prevent burning. Meatballs are done when the inside is brown.