ma's meatballs & french onion gravy

(1 rating)
Recipe by
Carol Reams
Sarasota, FL

I came up with version of meatballs after reading several recipes and adapting my version of meatloaf. Same thing with the french onion gravy. We love mushrooms, black olives, garlic, onions, which are liberally used in this dish. No added salt besides what is already included in ingredients used. This makes a lot, I got 40 odd 1 1/2-2" meatballs. Good news: you can freeze any leftovers in a gallon freezer zip baggie for another meal should you be like we are, just the two of us now.

(1 rating)
yield 4 -5 easily
prep time 1 Hr
cook time 3 Hr

Ingredients For ma's meatballs & french onion gravy

  • ma's meatballs recipe
  • 1 lb
    lean ground beef
  • 1 lb
    ground pork [not sausage]
  • 3
    large or extra large eggs
  • 3/4 c
    milk [i use canned evaporated milk]
  • 1 lg
    garlic clove [size of a very small onion] or several small cloves, grated fine
  • 1 sm
    onion, grated
  • 2-3
    heaping tsp muffuletta [olive salad mix]
  • fresh or jarred parsley to suit taste
  • fresh ground or regular black pepper to suit taste
  • 1-2 c
    bread crumbs, seasoned
  • french onion gravy recipe
  • 1 stick
    butter
  • 1 lg
    onion, chopped
  • 1 lg
    garlic clove [size of a very small onion] or several small cloves coarsely minced
  • 1 8 oz
    package fresh mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 6 oz
    canned black olives, drained and sliced
  • 1 pkg
    french onion soup mix [use both pouches in the box]
  • 1/2 c
    flour
  • 5 1/2 c
    water or 4 c water and 1 12oz bottle cooking white wine
  • fresh ground or regular black pepper to suit taste

How To Make ma's meatballs & french onion gravy

  • 1
    Place both packages of ground meat in a large mixing bowl.
  • 2
    Break the eggs into the bowl, and add the milk. I use my metal 'squiggle' shaped potato masher to mix the meats and liquids together using a slight twisting motion as I mash. This method really blends the meats together much better than trying to hand mix or use a cooking spoon.
  • 3
    I used a flat grater that can be laid over the top of the bowl to grate the garlic clove[s] directly into the meat mixture using the fine grater section. Then used the bigger grater section to more coarsely grate the small onion into the meat mixture. This way both veggies juice goes right into the bowl, too.
  • 4
    Add the muffuletta, parsley & black pepper. Mix in using the potato masher.
  • 5
    Start adding the seasoned bread crumbs a bit at a time, and mix in with potato masher. Repeat the process unit the meat mixture is dry enough to hold a ball shape, but still has some moisture to it.
  • 6
    I don't have a meatball maker, so used a soup spoon to scoop out the meat mixture and then rolled the balls. Mine ranged from 1 1/2-2" roughly.
  • 7
    Brown the meatballs in a large non-stick skillet, I did this in stages so I could roll the meatballs around easier. Place browned meatballs in a large baking dish, you may need 2 smaller baking pans depending on the size of your meatballs.
  • 8
    Bake the browned meatballs at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to cook them the rest of the way. Spray the baking dish with pan pal.
  • 9
    While baking the meatballs, in a large pot, melt 1 stick of butter, add the onions and garlic and cook until onions are transparent. Add the sliced mushrooms and black olives. Let cook a few minutes, then sprinkle the flour over the veggies in the pan and stir to coat them well.
  • 10
    Add both pouches of onion soup mix, and 5 1/2 C water or 4C water & 1 12 oz bottle of cooking white wine. Cook on med/high heat until gravy starts to thicken a little, add the baked meatballs, cover & simmer another hour or so.

Categories & Tags for Ma's Meatballs & French Onion Gravy:

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