Until recently, I rarely thought of meatballs without spaghetti and red sauce. They did not show up on my dinner table unless I had a lazy weekend to devote to preparing a full-blown traditional Italian American spread from scratch.
That narrow view has evolved. In the course of scrutinizing mountains of new cookbooks regularly for my weekly reviews in this Food section, it’s dawned on me how virtually every cuisine on the planet is represented by a meatball in some form, with flavor profiles and cooking methods as individualized as their cooks.
Meatballs go by other names depending on their origin, with histories that date back centuries: kofta in the Middle East, albondigas in Spain and Mexico, köttbullar in Sweden, lion’s head in China, boulettes in France and Cajun country. Polpettes, the original Italian meatballs, can be traced to the ancient Roman empire. They were as small as marbles, made with all kinds of animal protein from tripe to fish, and served plainly in broth. Even today, the meatballs you get in Italy are typically served as a stand-alone dish, without pasta.
Whatever you call them and however they’re cooked or served, all meatballs share a basic template: ground meat (or plant-based substitute), starchy filler, egg or some other binder, and flavorings that reflect a particular time, place or circumstance. They’re economical, easy to make and, while perfect for feeding a crowd, they freeze beautifully for multiple smaller meals.
Credit: Chloe Clark
Credit: Chloe Clark
RECIPES
Making great meatballs requires no special skill. “Just use a light hand and don’t pack them too tightly, enough to hold them together,” advises Atlanta chef Nancy Waldeck, who has taught health-focused cooking classes around the world and counts her recipe for Chicken Meatballs with Red Pepper Jelly Sauce among her most well-received. “You don’t want to make mud pies.”
Meatballs freeze great, cooked or uncooked, for 3 to 4 months, she adds. Package them in meal-size servings, in double plastic bags or freezer bags, to accommodate the bumpy texture of the meatballs. Thaw them in the fridge the night before, or if you’re planning to bake them, they can go straight in the oven — just add an extra 5 or 10 minutes for baking.
Credit: Chloe Clark
Credit: Chloe Clark
Chicken Meatballs with Red Pepper Jelly Sauce
Atlanta chef Nancy Waldeck devised a lighter meatball using lean ground chicken, and gave it a Southern spin by pairing it with a simple tangy sauce of melted red pepper jelly and stone-ground mustard for a cocktail party. I served them over rice as an entree, and they were outstanding.
From “Taste and Savor Life!” by Nancy Waldeck (Taste and Savor, Callawind Book Publishing, $18.95).
Credit: Ty Mecham
Credit: Ty Mecham
Swedish Meatballs with Noodles and Chutney
Tara Bench, aka “Tara Teaspoon,” departs from the traditional Swedish meatball recipe, as popularized by Ikea, in several ways. She adds sour cream to the meat mixture rather than the sauce, making the meatballs extra-tender and flavorful. She browns one spare meatball to flavor the beefy translucent gravy. And instead of lingonberry jam, she adds a bright surprise at the end with a dollop of savory-sweet cranberry chutney — a great reason for keeping an extra bag of cranberries in the freezer while they’re in season.
Reprinted with permission from “Live Life Deliciously: Recipes for Busy Weekdays and Leisurely Weekends” by Tara Bench (Shadow Mountain, $32).
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Eggplant ‘Meatballs’
Roasted eggplant and lentils take the place of meat in these melt-in-your-mouth “meatballs,” which fry up crispy like a falafel, but with a lighter interior. Fresh basil, garlic and nutritional yeast — those nutrient-loaded flakes with a salty, funky taste that mimics Parmesan cheese — give it an Italian flavor that pairs well with your favorite marinara sauce. Raquel Pelzel, who shares the recipe in “Umami Bomb,” suggests adding the delicate “meatballs” to a pot of warm marinara (store-bought or your favorite homemade), allowing them to break up for a “Bolognese” effect, then serving them over pasta. Or you could stuff them in a pita with other roasted vegetables (or salad greens) and various condiments, such as pesto and mayonnaise, as depicted on the cover of her book.
Excerpted from “Umami Bomb: 75 Vegetarian Recipes That Explode With Flavor” by Raquel Pelzel (Workman Publishing, $19.95). Copyright 2019.
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