Salisbury Steak Meatballs

After seeing this recipe on Facebook, I decided to give it a try.  I'm not a fan of mushrooms.  There's something about their texture that is unappealing to me so I decided to mince them up to avoid getting big slices in each bite.

Have you noticed how many recipes call for 1 - 2 tablespoons of tomato paste?  Really?  It comes in cans!  I dislike wasting food so I scooped out what was left over after this recipe onto waxed paper using a tablespoon and put it in the freezer.  Once it's solid, I'll store it in an airtight container to use later.

Because I wanted to use as many of the mushrooms I bought, I added extra to the meatballs as well as the sauce. 

The original recipe called for ground turkey.  I prefer ground chicken.

The meatballs were pretty soft because of the extra mushrooms and bread crumbs but held together well during browning and simmering in the sauce to finish.

SALISBURY STEAK MEATBALLS

2 tsp. olive oil, divided

½ c. minced onion---I used closer to 2/3 cup

½ lb. ground beef

½ lb. ground chicken

1/3 c. seasoned bread crumbs---I used about ½ cup

1 egg, beaten

2 T. tomato paste

1 T. flour

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. red wine vinegar

5 oz. mushrooms, finely minced

1 ¼ c. beef broth – I used my homemade bone broth

Finely chop 1-2 ounces of mushrooms and set aside.

Saute onion in 1 tsp. olive oil until golden.  About 5 minutes.

Divide onions in half.

Combine ½ of the onions with meats, chopped mushrooms bread crumbs, egg, 1 T. tomato paste, ¼ cup broth, salt and pepper to taste.  

Blend flour with 1 cup broth until smooth.  Mix in remaining onions, 1 T.

tomato paste, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard.

Form meat mixture into 20 meatballs.  Brown in 1 tsp. olive oil.

Pour sauce over top.  Add remaining minced mushrooms. 

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.