cooking - slow cooker meatballs

Well, whatever minor medical conflagration I went through yesterday, it has completely passed with no detrimental effect. A good thing. Today is opening day of "potluck-season".

With all the Christmas and holiday parties and potlucks likely for many this month, I thought I would share my new fallback for such occasions: meatballs in a slow cooker.

I used to make very elaborate-ish, time consuming dishes: cabbage rolls, pierogi, complex many ingrediented salads, and the like.

Then, one year, I had been extremely busy and did not have time to do the pain-in-the-ass dish I had planned for a potluck. Hell, I did not even have a good portion of the ingredients. Then, it was a small epiphany moment. I had a bunch of ground beef in the freezer. I made meatballs from scratch. Very tasty.

Then, I had another potluck. Out of ground beef in the freezer, I grabbed a couple of boxes of meatballs at the grocers. Then, I thought, but how do I prepare them for this occasion? The last ones were from scratch, pan-fried, and roasted in the oven, blah, blah, blah. It was a minor pain in the ass actually.

The wife looks at me and says something to the effect: You dolt. How many potlucks have you been to where there are meatballs in slow cookers. You have a slow cooker, use it!

Well, duh.

Yet, me being me, I angsted over how to do it. I had a couple of days yet to make it. I researched online like crazy, went through all my cookbooks. (Well, not all. That would have taken more time than I had for sure.) Then I found something online: meatballs, Catalina dressing (from a bottle), and a slow cooker. Voilà. It was awesome.

I had yet another potluck the very next week. No Catalina dressing in the larder, but I had French dressing, I think, and used it. Not as good, but nothing was left in the crock, it was practically wiped clean. Big groups make so-so dishes tastier. It helps that, to be perfectly honest, most people really do not know good food until the have the opportunity to sample from creations by people who actually make something as opposed to buying something pre-done that is filled with way too much salt and sugar.

So, I have used various sauces and such as a base. It is such a small part of the recipe, but key to flavour and moistness. Yet, I find, due to the small quantity needed, I do not make the sauce from scratch. Plus, the whole point is to save time.

This year, I am branching out to the more common. I was in a shop a few weeks back, and there was a guy running through the aisles frantically. He was looking for a bottled sauce that was on sale. He was making meatballs for a dinner as I would soon be as well. The problem, we both were having actually, is that they just rearranged the whole store. It was no longer intuitive to shop in. A tad frustrating. He had given up, he set off to get his other items and then was going to another shop for the sauce.

About a half-minute later, I found the sauces he sought. I turned round and went searching for the fellow. It was the right thing to do frankly and it was no big-beans to me. Plus, I got to find out in the end how he did his meatballs. When I located him and told him I found his quarry, his face lit up. I led him like a shopping mall Sherpa to his Everest. He grabbed a sweet-and-sour and a plum sauce each. He said one was a back up as he may have a second meal to participate in yet.

I asked him how he made it? Easy. Slow cooker, dump a pack of meatballs, dump a jar of sauce, turn on slow cooker, wait a few hours and "Robert is your mother's brother". Wow! I asked about other sauces. Sure, any will do. Well, I grabbed what he grabbed, plus some various garlic ones too. I have three or four potlucks this year.

Fast forward.

I started my meatballs this morning at 7:30 AM. The potluck supper is at 6:30 PM tonight. However, we are running around in between. We will set off for our day out and drop the meatballs at my Club to stay warm and then they will be super juicy when we go to stuff ourselves.

However, me being me, I cannot just dump a jar on a bunch of meatballs. I have coarsely chopped two onions and julienned a dozen cloves of garlic. That is all I am doing except maybe tweaking the seasoning a bit. I may yet add a bit of jerk sauce to give it some zip and make it saucier. That is the key: making it saucy. Do not add loads at the start. Let it cook for a bit. Check on it now and again as you wander through the house. After a couple/few hours, your wet/dry status will stabilise. At that point you will definitely know if you need to add more sauce or not.

I am going to do just that and keep you updated.
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Three hours in and coming along nicely.
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Gone out and back down the road for a Christmas tree. The sauce level is about perfect, but thin. Added some flour to thicken it. I put a couple of heaping tablespoons in a measuring cup, then cold water, mixed it with a fork, and poured it in and stirred. I will monitor the thickness now and if it gets too thick, the jerk sauce goes in. Standby.
.....

Five hours from the start and she be ready. Perfection. Now, I will package the whole slow cooker and contents in to an insulated bag and we will stop by my Club and set it to warm and hit our annual run-a-round of small town shops and them back to the Club for the potluck.
.....

In the end here is what you do:


Slow Cooker Meatballs

Slow cooker, of course
2-4 lbs (approx. 1-2 kg) meatballs, any kind
1-2 jar/bottle of whatever sauce (cooking, bbq, what-have-you), dressing if you like
[You can even use a can or two of condensed soup: mushroom, chicken, celery, or even tomato.]
1-2 onion, coarsely chopped (optional)
6-12 cloves garlic, julienned (optional)
seasonings, whatever you like, if you like (optional)
other veggies, whatever you like, if you like (optional): peppers, carrots, parsnip, parsley root.....

Let cook for several hours. Check on it occasionally and stir it it around.
Add more sauce if needed after a couple/few hours. It should just cover your balls!
If thin, thicken with a bit of flour or cornstarch (see above in main body of post).
If it thickens too much, add a bit of water or broth.
Cooking time: as long as you want/need, but at least a few hours. It should be just bubbling.
Have a serving spoon, non-slotted (for sauce to hit the plate) or slotted to grab less sauce.

Enjoy!

Se ya later, gator.


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