When I was a child I knew that I was luckier than other children. I knew that every day my mom would have something good to eat for dinner. One of my absolute favorites was her meatball stew. I have made some modifications to make it a little easier and faster to prepare. Try it, your family and your palate will thank you!
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup dry roux *
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 cups of water
Addresses:
1. In a large bowl, add the beef, 1/4 of the onion, salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Mix well.
2. Add vegetable oil to skillet and heat over medium heat.
3. Shape meatballs from meat mixture. You should be able to make about 8-10 meatballs. Add the meatballs to the skillet and brown. Stir meatballs frequently to prevent sticking. Cooking time should be about 3-5 minutes.
4. Remove the meatballs from the skillet and reserve in a clean container.
5. Add bell pepper and remaining onion to skillet. Reduce heat to low and sauté until onions turn translucent. Move the vegetables to one side of the pan and add the dry roux. Add water to pan and mix well with dry roux to remove any lumps. Mix the roux with the vegetables and increase the heat to high and bring to a boil for one minute.
6. Reduce heat to low and return meatballs to skillet. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
7. Remove lid and cook an additional 5 minutes if sauce is too thin.
8. Serve over steamed white rice with whole grain corn as a side dish.
*Note that you can make your own roux or use ‘wet’ roux if you have it on hand. I prefer to use the dry roux as it is extremely quick to go from powder to ready to use.