Meatballs meet Jalapeno Cream Sauce

This is another blog post sponsored by the kitchen of Rebecca & Joel, our friends who have taken us in as our kitchen is in remodel phase. You don't realize how much you use your kitchen until its gone. Fridge, oven/stove, dishwasher all in our dining room, dust everywhere, crawling under a table to get to the milk, no fun. BUT the end result will be awesome!

                     

 

Tonight's dish was a real winner and is immediately being filed my arsenal for 'go to' comforting recipes. This one isn't on the healthy side, but its worth it. You will see Rebecca doing more of cooking this evening as we tag-teamed this dish, and its her kitchen. :)  This recipe was brand new to both of us so I did the shooting, taking notes, and I drank wine. Someone has to drink wine right?

The usual subjects who always appear in sweatpants are our husbands. You can see another 'outfit' in the cuban sandwich post. Fancy fellas we have here.

The meal tonight turned out SO good. I didn't know what to think about the ingredients, as jalapeño cream sauce just didn't seem right - but its delicious and really not too spicy. I promise. Its was a pretty mellow heat and just enough spice. The cream really balances it out. We agreed initially that we should only use half the ingredients at first to ensure it wasn't too spicy, but when we stopped to taste-test, the sauce wasn't spicy at ALL. So we ended up using the full list of ingredients you see here, and it was perfect. I was impressed with our performance. We served it with garlic bread and a spinach/walnut/raspberry vinaigrette. Bon Apetit!

INGREDIENTS: 

Meatballs:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs (or 2 slices of bread if you make your own)
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup all purpose white flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Sauce:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 jalapenos finely chopped (seeds removed)
• 1 carrot finely chopped 
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 medium onion chopped 
• 2 cups half/half
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• salt to taste
• fresh or dry pasta 

DIRECTIONS:

Meatballs:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. If making your own breadcrumbs, place two slices of bread in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, until toasted. Place bread in food processor and ground to fine bread crumbs. 
3. Combine all meatball ingredients except olive oil and flour in a large mixing bowl. 
4. Roll into small 1 inch balls. 
5. Dredge balls in flower and set aside.
6. Heat 1 tbsp OO in saute pan. 
7. Cook meatballs in pan until browned on all sides. 
8. Remove from saute pan and place meatballs on baking sheet lined w/ foil. 
9. Place meatballs in 350 degree oven for approx 15-20 minutes until cooked through. 
10. Pull from oven and set aside.

Sauce: 

1. Heat OO in a different pan from what you used for the meatballs. 
2. Once onions become soft, add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. 
3. Add white wine and cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Add chopped jalapeño and carrot and saute for about 5 minutes.
5. Add in cream, half/half & milk. 
6. Bring to very low simmer and stir often - you do not want the milk or cream to burn to the pan. Low heat and stir often. 
7. When they are finished cooking, add meatballs to the sauce.
8. Add pepper and salt to taste. 
9. Pour sauce and meatballs over pasta and serve!

Meatballs Step 2: Making own bread crumbs

Meatballs Step 4: After mixing, rolling mixture into small meatballs

Meatballs Step 5: Dredging in flour

Meatballs Step 7: Cooking meatballs until browned

Meatballs Step 8: Placing on baking sheet to place in oven

Sauce Step 2: Cooking onions and garlic in saute pan

Meatballs Step 10: Removing from oven and set aside 

Sauce Step 5: Adding cream to vegetable mixture

Sauce Step 7: Adding meatballs to sauce

Final meal! Sauce, Pasta, salad & bread!

Sheldon (our friends youngest dog) wanted a seat at the table.