I’ve been on a meatball binge all week, no idea why. Must be hormonal. Now, don’t give me that look… there are worse things to binge on! I’m Dutch… trust me, there are far worse things.

I just couldn’t resist this divine meatball recipe I saw in ‘Jamie’s America‘ cookbook. I tweaked the heck out of it, though.

The weather’s been fantastic here, finally it’s spring, so we fired up the pit and Christened the Big Green Egg Dutch oven after I managed to perfectly season it.

What’s the fuss about all about? Meatballs stuffed with cheddar and simmered in a wondrously pungent chili sauce. After eating these I have a far better understanding for Jamie’s need for a food revolution: this sure is no light cooking.

But, oh boy, this is it… soul food!

Meatballs:

2 pounds ground beef
4 oz cheddar
2 small red onions
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp salt (4 if you like it salty)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 large eggs
2 handfuls breadcrumbs

 
Chili sauce:

1 large red onion
2 bell peppers
2 chili peppers
3 plum tomatoes
5 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp brown sugar
5 tbsp cider vinegar
6 tbsp ketchup
5 garlic cloves
6 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp sweet smokey paprika powder
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 heaping tsp granulated coffee
1 beef bouillon cube
1 1/2 cup water flat-leaf
flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

There were things about the recipe that did not make sense to me. For instance, Jamie’s use of an oven: he cooked the onions in the oven and he browned the meatballs in the oven. Then he transferred everything to a Dutch oven to simmer it on the stove. It seemed unwieldy. I just used a dutch oven and browned my meatballs in there, on the hob. But well, I’m not a Chef.

Finely mince the red onions. You can sauté them first, or use the oven as Jamie did, I just seasoned them with salt and pepper, poured a tsp oil all over, covered the bowl with microwave-safe plastic wrap and nuked them for 4 minutes at full power. Let the onions cool off.

 
The original recipe called for 10 garlic cloves. I wimped out and used 5. I also couldn’t find big plum tomatoes, so I used small ones instead.
 

Remove the seeds from the peppers and give them a coarse chop. Do the same with the large onion. Grate the garlic and cut the tomatoes in fours.

Grate the cheddar. That’s a serious pile of cheese right there. Like I said, it’s by no means a low-fat recipe.

 
Huge storyboards alert. I managed to put all photos, and there were quite a few in this posting, in only a handful of storyboards. Not too shabby, if I say so myself.
 

Mix the ground beef with all the ingredients listed under meatballs.

Add the (cooled off) red onions, two handfuls of breadcrumbs and mix it all up. Form 8 big meatballs.

Use your thumb to push a hole into each meatball, fill them with the grated cheddar and close them up again.

Heat some butter and brown the meatballs over medium heat.

Give them a really nice tan all around. Transfer them to a plate and cover them with aluminum foil to keep them warm.

Sauté the red onion, bell peppers and chili peppers for 10 minutes before adding the garlic. Give it another 5 minutes.

In with the smokey paprika powder, molasses, worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, ketchup, Dijon mustard and cocoa.

 
Jamie finished his chili sauce with 1 1/2 cups of coffee. Great, but I never would’ve been able to get J-man to eat that, so I opted for beef bouillon and added a heaping tsp granulated coffee. It worked perfectly.
 

Pour in the water, add the bouillon cube, granulated coffee, brown sugar and tomatoes. Place the meatballs in the sauce and bring it to a boil.

 
I wanted to get that typically smokey BBQ flavor, so I used my darling Big Green Egg at 350F˚ (175C˚ ) to simmer the meatballs. You can just as easily do this on your stove-top, or even in your oven.
 

I didn’t put the lid on because the sauce needs to cook down. Give the meatballs 25 to 30 minutes. Garnish with finely chopped parsley.

These babies are so chockfull of flavor: meat, gooey cheese and chili sauce. Celestial harmony.