There is always that one meal that you reserve for when guests come over. That one thing that your kids request for their birthday meal over and over again. It's labour intensive (well minimally) but it's always so worth it. And you've found ways over time to make it less laboured. For our family that meal is Sweet and Sour Meatballs. This stuff almost tops dessert for us!

I got this recipe from another former roommate of mine in Montreal, Pat Lytle. I don't know where she is now - last I heard she was in the Ottawa area - and I'm sorry that we've gotten out of touch. However, this means that ultimately I have no clue where she got the recipe. It's a classic really. The recipe she used called for making the meatballs and then frying them all. Trust me, this is a time consuming and dirty endeavour. I've tweaked things a bit. I discovered that it's much easier if I make the meatballs and place them on a baking sheet,baking them until they are just cooked through. When I discovered how well this worked it was like the heavens opened. I no longer had to wait for a day when I had nothing else to do but stand over a stove and get greased... meatballs could now happen anytime! Awesome.

I love to have this with buttered egg noodles and some kind of steamed vegetable but my husband loves it with rice and my kids really don't care... they just like it. This stuff is ol' skool peeps - we use ketchup in this one and I'm not apologising for it. The ketchup makes the recipe, completes it ;-) I also use Crix. These are THE BEST crackers in the world bar none. They are made in Trinidad and nowhere else AND we've been known to bring back kilo's of them on the plane... that was before we realised that we could get them here!!! Now they are available even at regular old Loblaws! Awesome... try them, you won't be disappointed.


Sweet and Sour Meatballs
makes about 30 meatballs

Meat:
about 1.5 kilo's of ground beef -what's the conversion on that? just under 3 lbs?
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs or cracker crumbs (I used Crix)
1/2 an onion chopped fine
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 egg
1 or 2 packets of beef bouillion
1 tbsp dried parsley and oregano (or any mixture that you feel like that day - get crazy!)
1 tbsp pepper sauce (you know that I never miss an opportunity)
1 tsp salt

Sauce:

2 - 2 1/2 cups of ketchup
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup of white vinegar (yes, the plain old white vinegar kind - the same stuff you can clean your house with!)
2 tbsp mustard powder (to be honest, I've used regular dijon and it works just fine)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp pepper sauce or 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
2 cups of water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Get a large baking dish or even a cookie sheet ready for the meatballs. In a large bowl put all the meat ingredients. Get ready now and roll up those sleeves because you need to get your hands in there and mix it all together. - I guess that you could wear rubber gloves if you were totally grossed out, but please! It's actually fun, like getting caught in the rain. Sure, you get soaked but it's a lot of fun in the process - just lose yourself in the gooey moment. Once all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, start rolling them into little balls. I tend to do rather big ones but think about 1 1/2 tbsp size. Place each meatball in the baking dish. Once the dish is filled (if you need more than one dish, no worries) place it in the oven for about 30 min (might need less time if you've made small balls).

In the meantime, mix all the sauce ingredients (save the water) in a large mixing bowl. Be sure to taste this stuff to make sure things are to your liking. Also, remember that it is going to be watered down a little bit so if it's too strong adjust accordingly.

Once the meatballs are done, take them out of the oven (you could at this point cool the meatballs and freeze them for later use!) and place them in a baking dish large enough to hold them and also the sauce. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and then add enough of the water to cover everything. (I also save any leftover water just in case the sauce thickens too much the next day) Bake everything for another half hour or until everything is looking adequately bubbly.



As I said earlier, this works well with egg noodles, rice or even mashed potato. I also like to add some kind of green vegetable (nobody eats raw leaves here so the salad idea is out for me but would be great here on the side). As you can see from the pic, I've simply roasted some Aspargus (literally take the ends off the asparagus throw them onto a shallow baking dish, put about 2 tbsp of olive oil or butter - melted - over top and sprinkle with coarse salt. Roast for 10 min. at 350 degrees F) The dish also makes for great leftovers... Oh yeah... AND it will really impress your guests (provided they aren't vegetarian...then, maybe not so impressed! They'll like the asparagus though)