Monday, October 27, 2014

Recipe #7 and #8: Mashed Potatoes and Comfort Meatballs

Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 1 hr 50 min
Ease: 4
Taste: 7
Leftover Value:
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 1 hr 35 min
Ease: 4
Taste: 10
Leftover Value: No leftovers!
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

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In order to serve mashed potatoes with meatballs, I had to convince myself that these were not meatballs.

They are not meatballs.

They are not meatballs.

They are not meatballs.

I may or may not have had to recite this again and again.

I also may or may not have said the word meatloaf again and again to convince myself they were meatloaf meatballs rather than Italian meatballs.

I knew that if I allowed myself to be confused, I would want to make pasta instead of mashed potatoes to go along with these 'meatballs', not meatloaf meatballs.*

*Note: Though PW pictures the comfort meatballs being served with mashed potatoes, she also says you can serve them with egg noodles tossed with butter.  Yum!

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These recipes share a similar trait: they both take a lot of time to make.  The positive about the mashed potatoes is that you can make them ahead of time and save the final step of baking them for 30 minutes for later.  I haven't tried to do this yet, but Pioneer Woman says it can be done.  So I take a little comfort in that.

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Up to the baking point, these guys are a lot of work.  Mashed potatoes usually are.  All the peeling, the chopping, the time to boil...it's quite a process.

For these, she has you hand mash the potatoes.  Ugh.  I have been spoiled by using my immersion blender every time that I make mashed potatoes.  They are the smoothest, most delicious potatoes ever and whenever I serve them to friends they marvel at their consistency.

So, needless to say, mashing potatoes by hand was not something I wanted to do.

Especially considering it was five pounds of potatoes.

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But then when I put the butter and cream cheese in, everything was right in the world.

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It's a little over the top, I'll admit, but since PW said to do it, I did it.

I topped the potatoes with hunks of butter.

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This is decadence like none other.

I recommend serving these potatoes when you are feeding large crowds (think Thanksgiving), but not for an ordinary weeknight meal.

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The comfort meatballs were fantastic.  But just like the mashed potatoes, they required a lot of time and even more work.

After mixing all the ingredients, the meatballs are refrigerated for 30 to 45 minutes to set.  I like to do this sometimes with my Italian meatballs, but these meatballs were so moist that they needed it.  It was difficult to shape them perfectly because of how wet they were.  Next time I would either use a little more beef or use an ice cream scoop to shape them.

After the meatballs have set, they are to be dredged in flour, browned in a skillet, placed in a baking dish, covered in sauce*, and baked for 45 minutes.**

*The sauce was sweet, the sauce was delicious, and the sauce reminded me of meatloaf.  Perfect.

**Yes, this is real life.  I wanted to curse the day Pioneer Woman was born, but as soon as I tasted them I wanted to sing her praises.

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I did not make such a massive meal only for Hubby and myself.  

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Jon was the first to try it and, of course, loved it.  Then my brother, Justin, and his wife came over to help us eat the rest.

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These two recipes are perfect for each other.  I would recommend making the mashed potatoes ahead of time so that they can be thrown into the oven when the meatballs go in.  This way, when it is closer to dinner time you can focus solely on making the meatballs.

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