Porcupine Meatballs

Thanks to The Good Grandma, I was introduced to this strange dish a while back. It might look like a regular meatball, but no, this is a Porcupine Meatball. It is basically your basic meatball but with white rice added so that when the meatball cooks, the rice pokes out like a porcupine quill. Thank god for google too, since a quick search assured me that TGG was not, in fact, crazy and others had heard of this dish before.

Now, the recipe calls for tomato soup. We hate tomato soup in The Good Household so I never have any on hand. No problem, I thought, since we always have tomato sauce on hand. But always failing to check to make sure I have all the ingredients before I start to cook, I already had the meatballs formed and in the pan before I realized we had no tomato sauce. No problem, I thought again, since we had a can of Italian diced tomatoes and some tomato paste. I placed the diced tomatoes into the food processor and added 2 heaping tablespoons of tomato paste and blended. The sauce therefore, turned out a little chunkier but it still tasted the same.

You would think lesson learned - to always check for all the ingredients before you start cooking - but no, I am sure I will do this again in the future. Such is life.

Ingredients:
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup uncooked instant rice
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound ground beef
1 can condensed tomato soup, undiluted OR 1 can tomato sauce (see note above)
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
~In a bowl, combine the egg, rice, onion, parsley, salt and pepper. Add beef and mix. Using your hands, shape into 1-1/2-in. balls.

~In a large skillet over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil (I use canola) and drop the meatballs in the hot oil. Brown for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

~Add the tomato soup or the tomato sauce, water and Worcestershire sauce to the skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover and cook for 30 minutes until the rice is tender and the beef is cooked through.

recipe by: The Good Wife