Chipotle Meatballs

These chipotle meatballs are so good. I would say they are a little more work than your average meatball, but only by a few ingredients and trust me - it's worth it. I found the recipe online, but unfortunately I don't know exactly who to contribute the recipe too since too much time has passes since I found and made these meaty chipotle bites.

Do you know why I'm going to make these again this weekend?

Because Jim gave me this beautiful FREEZER for Valentines Day. Woo Hoo!!! I've been wanting one of these for about six months and am just thrilled to have one now. When I make a pan of lasagna, I'm making TWO so one goes in the freezer for later. I can now take advantage of specials at the supermarket and freeze excess food.

THIS freezer is why I'm making another batch of chipotle meatballs to freeze for last minute hors d'oeuvres.

Here are the ingredients to gather:
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
6 bacon slices, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped seeded canned chipotles in adobo
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons water
3/4 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground veal
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
lime wedges (garnish)

Cook bacon in a heavy skillet until crisp, then remove to a papertowel to drain. When cool enough to handle, crumble and set asside. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease so we can cook the onions in it next.

When I photographed this recipe I was in Houston visiting my family. Isn't the natural light in my mother's kitchen beautiful?

The next step is to dice an onion and add to the skillet with a little of the bacon grease.

Chop up the chipotle peppers. These are HOT so be careful how much "heat" you add.

Next add the chopped garlic to the onion mixture.

Then throw in the chipotles, cumin, and oregano. Saute for about 3 minutes over medium heat. If/when the mixture gets too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl combine the bread crumbs and milk.

Ground pork. If I was really crazy, I would have bought the Jimmy Dean HOT sausage! But seriously that would be "burn your butt" hot.

I didn't find ground veal in my grocery store so I purchased ground sirloin instead.

1 large egg, lightly beaten.

A bunch of cilantro chopped.

Now dump everything together in your bowl with the milk and bread crumbs.

Add the onion mixture also.

Mix well with your hands.

Form your meatballs by hand. I made these about an inch in diameter. This is the point where I would form all the meatballs and then freeze on a baking sheet in my new freezer. Once the meatballs are frozen individually, I would plop them all into a freezer zip top bag and store for a quick and last minute appetizer.

To cook the chipotle meatballs, I used my greasy skillet to brown on all sides until a nice crust formed. If they aren't cooked through, then they will need to go in a 350 degree oven and cook for a little bit longer- just check them every 5 minutes so they don't overcook.

I served these hot from the oven in a shallow bowl along with some of the best bbq glaze.

This Raspberry Peach Chipotle Glaze is really good from Fredericksburg Farms.

I simply put a little bit on the bottom of the dish, then placed the meatballs on top.