Meatballs ala Dharm - Not Swedish Meatballs!

My son loves meatballs. Specifically, he likes the Swedish Meatballs served at Ikea. However, he's not too fond of the sauce, the lingonberry jelly nor the
potatoes. He just wants his meatballs.

I've often made meatballs in Bolognese sauce to go with a Spaghetti Bolognese and have also made meatballs in a spicy tomato based sauce. I've also made meatloaf but
to my son's rather advanced palate, sometimes he just wants plain old meatballs.

Who am I to refuse? I also had to prove that my meatballs were just as good, if not better, than those blasted Ikea Swedish Meatballs didn't I?? After all, meatballs don't have to come from Sweden!!

And so I seasoned the meat, I left it to marinate a while and then I pinched and rolled lovely little meatballs. I placed them on a tray and baked them so that they held their shape and then I lightly fried them with very, very little oil and a little tomato sauce - just to give the meatballs a little extra bite and crunch.

This is the recipe:

500g Minced Beef
1 large Onion - finely chopped
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
2 tbsp Tomato Sauce
Salt
Black Pepper

Method
Mix all the ingredients together and leave to marinate for about 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Roll the mixture into tight balls and place on baking tray.
Bake for about 30 mins or till lightly browned. Pour the juices together with the meatballs into a pan and stir fry the balls until nicely browned.





That's it. Very easy, very quick and really quite, quite delicious. Both my son and daughter enjoyed the meatballs immensely.

Just to make sure, the next day as we were on the way out, I decided to 'test' out the success of my meatballs.

Me:"Mike, would you like to go to Ikea?"
Michael: "Errm. No thanks Daddy."
Me: "We can have lunch there if you like....you can have their Meatballs"
Michael: "No need Daddy! You're meatballs are much nicer!"

Personally, I thought they were a lot nicer too - not to mention cheaper!!