What could be more world-wide popular than meatballs? Cosmopolitan meatballs live under different names and have some variations, but essentially, they are ping-pong or golf size balls made of ground meat and herbs.

Meatballs have been in existence as long as humans started eating meat. Some parts of meat that were difficult for chewing, were chopped with a meat cleaver (or whatever they called it at the time) and shaped into balls. That practice was universal so meatballs can be found anywhere.

The American meatballs probably came from Italy where they are called “polpette” and are usually cooked in tomato sauce (al sugo) and served with pasta.

Any meat or meat combinations as well as poultry are used in numerous recipes. Chopped vegetables, such as zucchini, cilantro, parsley or turnips can be mixed with ground meat. Some cooks add rice or couscous. I like to add a little bit of grated Parmesan, basil and parsley .

There are also plenty of ways to cook meatballs: boiled in broth, braised in sauce, sautéed in oil, or baked in oven.

I tried them all. The most popular in my family are meatballs in sauce.

I have a special deep skillet pan with a lid, a gift from my dear son-in-law, that I use mainly for meatballs. The gift is an encouragement to cook meatballs more often.

Let’s start by preparing force-meat for which I use my meat grinder. What would I do without it?

I grind ⅔ of pork and ⅓ of beef, onion, garlic and parsley. I add salt, freshly ground pepper, some grated cheese, chopped cilantro and parsley for rustic look. I mix all the ingredients well and form meatballs with my wet hand.

I place them on a wooden board.

In the meantime I prepare the sauce. The sauce should have a sweet and sour taste.

I sauté chopped onion, tomatoes, celery, garlic, one sliced carrot, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar, then I add 2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth, a tbsp of sour cream or franchise, a cup of tomato sauce and two bay leaves.

I bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

The next step is dropping meatballs into sauce. This is the most challenging part because you don’t want to ruin perfectly round meatballs. The best strategy is to drop one at a time into simmering sauce and make sure they are almost covered with the sauce, and, simultaneously, not get stuck to the bottom. So I shake the pan every now and then.

I cover the pan with a lid and let the meatballs simmer, while intermittently shaking the pan and carefully turning over the balls with a wooden spoon. It takes 30 minutes to get them done. I add more broth during cooking because it partially evaporates.

I serve meatballs with pasta, rice, couscous, kasha, or just plain with tomato and cucumber salad. This “grandma” treat is always popular and in great demand.

Let’s eat!

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.