I was scrolling through one of those news aggregator sites and I came across an article where they tasted and compared frozen meatballs. I love articles like this because, sometimes the results are a surprise – like when Target’s canned pie filling came out way ahead of all the others tasted.
This winner was kinda obvious, we have long been huge fans of Trader Joe’s stuff, but I don’t think that I had ever thought to try the meatballs. So, I picked some up, and it was time to cook.
INGREDIENTS
•Olive or canola oil
•2 cups diced onion
•2 cups shredded cabbage
•8 oz sliced ‘shrooms
•1 cup diced celery
•2 cloves garlic
•4 cups beef stock
•2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•1 tbsp lingonberry preserves or applesauce
•1 (14 oz) bag frozen meatballs, thawed
•2 bay leaves
•1/4 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1/4 tsp thyme
•1/4 tsp Tsardust Memories
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1 cup sour cream
•Fresh parsley, chopped
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Warm the oil in a large pot over medium high heat, then add the onion, cabbage, celery, garlic and ‘shrooms and cook, stirring often for five minutes.
Note: I always keep a bag of shredded coleslaw mix in the fridge. It is my way of upping the veggie nutrition in most any sauce without anybody really noticing.
After five minutes, stir the Sherry Peppers Sauce into the veggies and continue to cook until any pan juices have been reduced and the veggies are slightly browned.
Add the beef stock and remaining seasonings, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for one hour.
Add the meatballs and continue to cook until heated through.
Give it a taste.
Yep. I added one tablespoon of my fave sherry vinegar, which totally perked up the flavor.
Reduce heat to low, stir in the sour cream, and warm through.
Sprinkle with parsley and serve over buttered noodles.
A new fave method, and, I did not know that applesauce was an acceptable substitute for lingonberry preserves.