Meat Ball Stew
This recipe is from a cookbook titled Farm Journal's Country Cookbook, printed in 1972. With me being in Thailand, ready made meatballs are not a problem so the ingredients and instructions will reflect meatballs from scratch, Thai store bought, and US store bought. I made this on 31 May 2023 using Thai store bought meatballs.
Equipment
- Casserole (3 quart)
- Oven
Ingredients
For Meatballs from Scratch
- 750 grams ground beef, (1½ lb)
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon minced onion
- ½ cup soft breadcrumbs
For Thai store bought Meatballs
- 750 grams beef meatballs, (1½ lb)
For US store bought Meatballs
- 750 grams frozen beef meatballs, thawed, Walmart or Kroger brands would be perfect, (1½ lb)
Remaining Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained, (565 g / 20 oz)
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 4 small carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, sliced
Instructions
For Meatballs from Scratch
- In a mixing bowl, add the ground beef, salt, pepper, egg, onion, and breadcrumbs.
- Mix together then form into balls about 3 cm (1 inch) in diameter.
- Heat the oil in a large non stick pan, when hot, add meatballs, working in batches if needed, and brown the meatballs. Removed browned meatballs to a 3 quart casserole.
For Thai store bought Meatballs
- These are refrigerated and not cooked when bought, follow these steps for preparing these meatballs.
- Heat a saucepan of water to boiling, when boiling add the meatballs and cook until cooked through, about 8-10 minutes. Drain meatballs.
- To give the meatballs a little color, heat the oil in a large non stick pan, when hot, add the meatballs, and brown them. Removed browned meatballs to a 3 quart casserole.
For US store bought Meatballs
- Kroger and Walmart Great Value Brands would be perfect for this. These come fully cooked and frozen. Just thaw and heat through in a hot pan with a little oil then drain and place in a 3 quart casserole.
Rest of the Instructions
- While you are browning or cooking the meatballs, go ahead and prep the vegetables. I was out of celery so I just omitted that.
- Once all the meatballs are browned and removed, drain off all but 3 tablespoons of fat, if using the store bought meatballs, just melt in some butter to make the 3 tablespoons of fat. Stir in the flour.
- Add the rest of the Remaining Ingredients, bring mixture to a boil then lower heat to just a simmer and cook 10 minutes, adding additional water as needed. While mixture is simmering, preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F), place a sheet of foil or a foil lined baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch any spills.
- Carefully pour the mixture into the casserole with the meatballs. Carefully mix the meatballs into the mixture.
- Cover and place on the middle rack in the oven, bake for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Carefully remove the cover and give the stew a stir.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Fair cost per serving based on the use of beef.
Updated on 31 May 2023.