Meatballs with Cream Sauce

This was really good. My friend Jessica's birthday was on Monday and she was working so we couldn't get together so instead we packed up all the ingredients and went to her house last night (As well as our friends' two children! :-D). Jessica paired up the dish nicely with some garlic bread and a salad.

I did a couple of things different and then Emi did something typical of him that probably made the dish taste a bit different. First of all, I put cheddar cheese in the meatball mixture and I also used all dried ingredients. Not on purpose, but because Walmart was slacking (as usual) in the produce department. The dried ingredients are a little more potent so I think that was part of the reason the meatballs were SOOOO flavorful. If you use fresh, use more than recommended.

Now on to Emi.... haha. Jessica was feeding the baby, and I was watching the sauce, so I asked Emi to take care of the noodles. He asked us if he should put salt in the water and we said yes. Well come time to taste the noodles to find out if they were done, we realized just how much salt Emi put in the water. Emi LOVES salt. It worked out though, because the sauce wasn't salty at all so what we got in the end was a perfect dish. Only next time I think that I will put the salt in the sauce instead.

If you're going to make this dish, I recommend tasting the sauce every once in a while and adding things to it if you think it is not so flavorful. I think some parmesan cheese would have gone perfectly inside the sauce. As for the thickness, of the sauce, I thought it had a pretty good thickness, but Emi would have perferred it a bit thicker. Also, I would use and did use equal portions butter and flour when making the sauce because I tried it the other way and it didn't work out for me.

I WILL MAKE THIS AGAIN! :-D

I got this here.

Meatballs with Cream Sauce

MEATBALLS:
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 T. ketchup
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
3 T. flour

CREAM SAUCE:
2 T. butter
3 1/2 T. flour
1/4 t. dried thyme
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
14 oz. can chicken broth (If you want your sauce thicker, cut down the chicken broth to 1 cup)
2/3 cup milk
2 T. minced fresh parsley

In a bowl, combine all of the meatball ingredients EXCEPT the beef and flour. Add beef and mix well. Shape into balls. Roll in flour, shaking off excess. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet and bake, uncovered, at 400 for 10 minutes.
Turn meatballs, bake 8-10 minutes longer or until no longer pink.
Meanwhile, for the sauce, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, thyme, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add broth and milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes, until slightly thickened.
If using the full can of chicken broth, the sauce doesn't thicken overly much, but it is delicious that way. If you want it slightly thicker, cut down the chicken broth to 1 cup.
Drain meatballs on paper towels; transfer to a serving dish. Top with sauce and parsley. Serve over rice or egg noodles.