Tender meatballs smothered in a delicious brown gravy would be lovely served over a bed of mashed cauliflower or cooked zoodles. Definitely comfort food at its best - simple, satisfying and definitely flavorful! In the past we could have enjoyed this on a bed of mashed potatoes, but mashed cauliflower is just as tasty in my opinion. If you are a moderate low-carber, you can add one small cooked potato and mash it into the cauli mash. Try adding grated Mozzarella cheese to your cauliflower in a food processor along with a pat of butter and a little cream cheese, salt and pepper - it is delicious and Mozzarella gives the mashed cauliflower more body similar to mashed potatoes - well, not quite.
Cooking the meatballs couldn't be easier as the oven does all the work once the meatballs are assembled.
You can make these meatballs ahead of time and bake when you are ready to prepare the meal. So easy and convenient!
Even though the gravy uses 2 tbsp from a commercial packet gravy, you can see the carbs are very low indeed. I inserted the nutritional analysis on the packet into my Food Smart program. This opens up doors to use things like ranch seasoning mix in other recipes or taco seasoning mix, etc., although, to be honest, for the latter two I usually make my own homemade mixes, which I provide with my recipes. The trick when using such commercial products is to use it in small amounts - not the whole packet! For instance, one could use onion soup mix - but use 1 or 2 tbsp and not the whole packet. This works well to keep the meal low-carb, but still have the convenience of such commercial products.
The mixture for the meatballs is savory with garlic, onions, parsley and even a titch of nutmeg in it. I suggested serving over cauli mash (to copy mashed potatoes), but many people prefer serving meatballs over rice, so then substitute cauli-rice instead.
These are not tiny meatballs but instead medium. I used a 2 tablespoon measure (cookie scoop) to make things easier. This dish is pure comfort food. The flavors are so warming for a cold, wintry evening.
If
you don't have brown gravy mix, you could potentially use beef broth
instead of water and the scrapings from the meatballs after baking.
Leftovers should be kept in an airtight container in the fridge. There
is no flour in the sauce.
I used minced
garlic from a jar; however, you could use fresh garlic or garlic powder
instead. You can also use onion powder or dehydrated onion instead of
fresh, chopped onions.
If you like you could make two batches of these meatballs and freeze one batch for another day.
It is not necessary to use breadcrumbs to bind the meatballs. I would say between the prep time and total time, this recipe from start to finish should not take more than about 40 minutes. Homemade meatballs are the best!
This meal is not too unlike Salisbury steak, but differs sufficiently that this is a recipe in its own right.
Instead
of dried parsley, you could use chopped fresh parsley, to taste. These
meatballs can be customized a bit to what you have in your kitchen.
For instance - you don't have nutmeg, you could use a teaspoon of
Worcestershire sauce. I used a cookie sheet to cook these meatballs on
but any pan for the oven you have will do just fine.
INGREDIENTS:
11/2 lbs lean ground beef (0.68 kg)
(if desired, 1/2
lb can be ground pork)
1/2
cup finely diced onion (125 mL)
1 tbsp minced garlic (15 mL)
2 large eggs
1/2
cup heavy cream (125 mL)
2 tsp dried parsley (10 mL)
11/2 tsp salt (7 mL)
1/2
tsp black pepper (2 mL)
1/4
tsp nutmeg (1 mL)
Brown Gravy:
Scrapings from the meatballs after baking
2 tbsp any brown gravy mix (30 mL)
1 cup water (250 mL)
Garnish:
Finely chopped green onions
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment
paper. First spray the baking sheet with
cooking oil spray to help the parchment paper adhere nicely.
In large bowl, combine ground beef, onion and
garlic. In small bowl, beat eggs with
fork. Stir in heavy cream, parsley,
salt, black pepper and nutmeg. Using a 2
tbspful (30 mL) cookie scoop, form meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 14 minutes and broil 5 minutes to get a
nice brown color. Place meatballs on
serving plate and pour the brown gravy over them and scatter chopped green
onions over top.
Brown Gravy: In saucepan, place scrapings from the
meatballs after baking. Add brown gravy
mix and slowly whisk in water. Bring to
the boil and boil until as thick as desired.
You can lower the heat a bit to stop the sauce from splashing.
Yield: 28 meatballs
7
servings (4 meatballs each)
73.9
calories
9.1
g protein
5.4
g fat
0.1 g fiber
0.9
g net carbs
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