Last night was one of those nights I wanted to make a nice dinner but couldn't stomach the thought of going to the grocery store. (I have an aversion, OK?) I did have some nice organic ground beef, so I thought I would try my hand at some meatballs. But, with only 1 lb. of meat, I thought I should supplement the ground beef with something else.

I quickly dismissed the chicken breasts in the fridge and moved on to the pound of bacon staring at me. I swear I heard it say, "Grind me," but I wasn't sure that was a good idea. The bacon persisted, "How could anything go wrong by grinding me up and mixing me with your beef?" So I thought, you know, that bacon has a point. So out came the handy-dandy Kitchen-Aid meat grinder attachment, and voila!

       

You stuff the bacon slices down the hatch, you get ground bacon out the front. (During the grinding, my thoughts flip-flopped between "I wish I hadn't seen Sweeney Todd" and "mmmm... bacon.")

And the meatballs? Well, what do you expect? It's frickin' bacon, ground up and added to something! Of course, DELICIOUS. It actually gave the meatballs much more bacon for the buck than I expected, although I only used a 2:1 meat:bacon ratio. The meatballs were much smokier than I would have predicted. A quick tomato-spinach sauce, finish them in the oven, make some spaghetti, and bada bing, you've got yourself a pretty fabulous little double-meat dinner.



And never, ever, EVER, doubt bacon's ultimate delicousness.


Smoky Bacon Beef Meatballs with Quick Tomato Sauce
This will serve 4-6. If you don't have a meat grinder, ask the butcher to grind the bacon for you.

Ingredients:

for the meatballs:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 lb. ground bacon
• 1 slice bread, toasted with crusts removed
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 2 Tblsp chopped parsley
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 shallot or 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• salt and pepper
• panko bread crumbs
• vegetable oil or light olive oil for frying
  

for the sauce:

• 1/2 onion, sliced thinly
• about 4 cups spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1 can tomato sauce (about 1 3/4 cup)
  
• 1/2 cup red wine
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tblsp chopped fresh oregano
• chili flakes (optional)
  
• 1/2 cup grated parmigiano or pecorino

Method:

• Pour milk into a small bowl. Submerge toasted bread in milk and set aside.
• In a bowl, combine meats, herbs, garlic, shallot, eggs, almonds, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Squeeze milk from toast and rip into little pieces. Add to meat mixture and combine.
• Heat about 3 Tblsp oil in a skillet. Form large patties (about 8-10) and roll lightly in panko. Fry to crisp and brown the outsides, then transfer to a 9x13 glass pan.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Remove all but about 1 Tblsp oil from pan. Turn heat to low. Add onions and cook about 10 minutes, until beginning to caramelize.
• Raise heat to medium and add spinach and toss to wilt, about 3 minutes.
• Add wine and tomato sauce plus salt and pepper, oregano, and chili flakes. Cook on medium high heat about 10 minutes, until sauce reduces and thickens a little.
• Pour sauce over meatballs and spread over. Put pan in oven and cook about 25 minutes.
• Serve over pasta or polenta.