"Now thatsa spicy meat-a-ball!"

Hey it’s B.  Last weekend for JM’s b-day celebration, I decided to make up my own spicy meatball recipe.  I’ve included my creation below.  For those who tend to shy away from spicy foods, you may find the recipe below to be a little hot (but that’s just how I roll!).  If you like foods a little more mild, I’d suggest using a regular marinara sauce instead of the spicy marinara sauce and skipping the habanera pepper.  I’d also suggest taste testing as you cook this meal.  If it’s too tame, add more of the spices, and if during your tasting you feel the meal may be too spicy for your guests, continue adding additional amounts of sour cream, lemon juice, or sugar (all three will help to chill out the heat of the dish).  I also recommend including a cool dip for the meatballs.  I went simple and put out a bowl of sour cream, but you can try all kinds of creamy dips. 

Meatballs:
2 lbs. of beef
3 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tbs. salt
1 tbs. cumin
1 tbs. nutmeg
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 finely chopped habanera pepper
1 finely chopped jalapeño pepper
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 egg

Sauce:
2 jars of spicy marinara sauce
½ c. sour cream
2 tbs. lemon juice
¼ c. sugar
2 bay leaves

Toss all the meatball ingredients into a big bowl and use your hands to get in there and blend everything together.  Once the meat is evenly mixed, begin rolling bite –sized meatballs and set aside.  Get your olive oil out again and put 2 tbs. of olive oil in a big sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat.  Then begin placing 4-5 meatballs into the pan at a time, rolling the meatballs every 45-60 seconds so the outside is cooked evenly.  Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside.  Now that all the meatballs have been browned get out a crock-pot and, beginning with a layer of marinara sauce, alternate between putting a layer of meatballs and sauce into the crock-pot.  Set the crock-pot to low and let cook for about 6 hours.  After the meatballs have cooked for 6 hours, add the sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, and bay leaves and stir until the sour cream dissolves into the sauce.  Then cover and let cook for another 2 hours (just a side note, cooking time is flexible, that’s the best thing about crock-pots!).  Feel free to serve the meatballs directly out of the crock-pot or serve on individual plates with a scoop of sour cream for dipping.

Hope you enjoy!

 B.