Beef and Corn Meatballs with Roasted Pepper Sauce

Growing up I was only aware of one type of meatball and that was the Italian kind that’s in red gravy poured over spaghetti.

I married the Armo where I learned there are a zillion types of meatballs yet I still struggled with the thought they are “the same thing”. Except they really aren’t. Think of meatballs as being a stew. Eat different ones and they’ll never be redundant.

These meatballs are special because they include charred corn and roasted red pepper sauce. They’re beautiful and look fancier than the amount of work it takes to make. You can make the sauce a couple of days ahead of time (or even a few months if you freeze it), shape the meatballs and refrigerate it and pop them into the oven when you begin the salad course and they’ll be perfectly cooked when it’s time to wow your guests with the main course or make them as an appetizer.

As a main course, pair them with a sturdy vegetable (rutabagas, kohlrabi, carrots, celery root, etc) and a hearty grain like barley.

This recipe is adapted from Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. The main change I made was to swap out turkey for beef. For one, I’m not a fan of the flavor of ground turkey, and beef is one of the most nutrient dense sources of protein around. Eat it in reasonable size portions and you have nothing to worry about.

Roasted Pepper Sauce Ingredients
4 large red bell peppers
olive oil
¾ tsp salt
1 Tbl (packed) cilantro
1 large clove garlic
1 small red chile
2 Tbl wine vinegar

Beef and Corn Meatballs Ingredients
2/3 cup corn (frozen or fresh)
1 lb ground beef
1 egg
4 green onions
2 Tbl parsley
1 tsp minced garlic
2.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
cilantro (garnish)

Roasted Pepper Sauce Directions
Heat oven to 425

Cut a 3” wedge out of the bell pepper. Cut around the stem and remove. Cut the remaining part into 3” sections. Slide the tip of the knife where the white vein meets the flesh and slide the knife along the seam. Remove the seeds.

Put the peppers cut side down on a sheet pan. Lightly oil the exterior of the peppers. I put a little oil on my fingers and swipe the peppers. A pastry brush will also work.

Bake them for about 35 minutes. You should have some black spots. Immediately transfer the peppers to a glass on stainless steel bowl and cover with Saran wrap. The steam will loosen the pepper skin.

Remove the stem and seeds from the chile and put it in the blender with the remaining ingredients and add 3 Tbl olive oil.

When the peppers are cool enough to touch, remove the skins with your fingers. Skins should easily slide off. If a little skin remains, it’s ok. Add the bell peppers and their juice in the bowl to the blender and puree. Taste. Add more salt if needed.

Beef and Corn Meatballs Directions
Heat oven to 350. Put a cooling rack in a sheet pan.

Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat. Add the corn. Stir occasionally until you have some charred spots. Put the corn in a bowl. Add the beef and egg to the same bowl.

Hold the root side of the green onion with your non-dominant hand and slice the onion thinly beginning at the green end. Discard the roots (or put them in water to grow new ones!). Chop parsley leaves and thin stems finely. Mince the garlic. Add the green onions, parsley, and garlic to the meat.

Use your hands and gently mix the ingredients until the ingredients are well incorporated. Form the meat into golf ball size shapes. Place them on top of the cooling rack and bake about 35 minutes or until dark brown.

To Serve
Add a generous amount of sauce to the bottom of the plate and top with meatballs. Garnish with cilantro.

Notes
You can substitute parsley for cilantro.

You can make the meatballs a little smaller, but not much. The meatballs will shrink when they cook. I don’t recommend going bigger in size because you won’t have as much of the good browned meat per bite.

If you don’t have a rimmed baking sheet, use a pyrex.

If you don’t have a cooling rack, a broiler will do the trick. If you don’t have that either, make an accordian fold with aluminum foil and put that in the bottom of the pan. We’re trying to raise the meatballs above the grease that will leak out of them during cooking.