Meatballs II (meatballs continued)

Last week I started talking "Meatballs" and gave a couple of recipes.  This week I want to continue on the meatball theme.

I have always considered any type of meatball to be comfort food.  But really they're more than just that. Besides just having them as part of your entree.  They can be much more diverse.  Meatballs make a great snack item or buffet dish.  The size can go from small to large and thus change their function.

Back in the 70's I lived in Colorado.  At that time there was a small town a few miles outside of Boulder called Louisville.  They had 5 (if I remember correctly) family Italian restaurants.  All made homemade pasta and incredible meatballs.  At my favorite, if you ordered the spaghetti and meatballs, you received only one. But it was the size of a baseball.  Maybe between a hardball and a softball in size.

I've been to and even catered parties that the meatballs were less than an inch in diameter.  Of course the guests going through the line never took just one.  And I've seen them in every size in between too.  That's part of the fun with meatballs.  You can do so many things with them.

One thing is to use different sauces to coat them.  Some ideas there are sweet & sour, sweet & spicy, teriyaki glazed, BBQ, oriental sesame, a Mexican type sauce, a cranberry holiday sauce and even different types of gravy.  You could even bread the meatballs if you wanted.  Last week, the "Ham Balls" came with a sauce and the "Turkey & Bleu Cheese Meatballs" did not.

Meatballs can be cooked several different ways too.  Most people either bake their meatballs in the oven or in a skillet on top of the stove.  But you can also deep fry meatballs.  You could even grill them outdoors over charcoal.

Different types of protein, various sizes, with or without sauces and a number of ways to cook them, who could ask for a more flexible food to eat?  And I've probably haven't even mentioned the half of it.

Thursday, the recipe is for "Swedish Meatballs" and they come in a gravy type sauce.  Tomorrow's recipe is for "Wild Rice Meatballs" and they don't have a sauce but could.

There are a few other recipes on this blog too. Here are links to them; Meatballs (with Potato) and Italian Meatball Burgers.

I hope you enjoy trying some of the meatball recipes and maybe even create one of your own.  Until next week "Happy Cooking."