Weeknight · All year
Meatballs and Tomato Sauce
Beef, oats, and milk, simmered in tomatoes until the center of a meatball is 160°F.
50 minutes · Serves 6 · About 18 meatballs
“Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.”
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb ground beef
- 1 egg
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp olive oil or tallow
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp fine salt, for the sauce
Method
- 1
Stir the oats and milk and let them sit 5 minutes. Add the beef, egg, 1 teaspoon of salt, the pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Mix just until it holds. Roll 18 meatballs.
- 2
Heat the oil or tallow in a wide pot over medium. Brown the meatballs on two sides. They do not have to be cooked through yet. Lift them out if the pot is crowded.
- 3
Add the garlic to the pot for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and the remaining salt. Return the meatballs. The sauce should come most of the way up them.
- 4
Simmer gently, partly covered, 20 minutes, until a meatball in the center of the pot reads 160°F. Turn them once. Serve with buttered noodles or the sourdough breadsticks.
From the kitchen
- A hard boil breaks the meatballs. A shiver of a simmer is enough.
- Oats instead of dry breadcrumbs keep the inside moist. Do not grind them to dust unless that is all you have.
My note
Kept on this device, beside the recipe, for the next time you cook it.
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