Friday, September 9, 2016

Opening Day Kickoff 2016: Spicy Orange Meatballs!!



Homegaters!

Happy Kickoff 2016! Football is back!!!

While the season is never really over on the internet, it still seems like forever since we watched Peyton raise the Lombardi. It seems like so much has happened since that night. Hey, even he's become a Homegater! But we are finally getting ready to start off another season with high expectations for our teams. Each team is starting out anew.

For the Gameday Gang, Opening Day is cause for a double celebration this year. First of all, we're celebrating the first week of the season, and we're also celebrating the grand opening of our new Homegating101 Headquarters at the Garage Bar (aka: Fan Cave). While it's still a work in progress, it's been all prepped with the essentials: TV, seating, fridge, kegerator and various other accoutrements. We're psyched. It's going to be a fun gathering place for the gang to eat, drink and watch the games. So to start the season off in our new location, we're presenting: Spicy Orange Meatballs!

I picked up some orange marmalade at a farm stand this summer and wanted to incorporate it into one of my gameday dishes. I figured it would make a nice sweet and spicy sauce. A combination of the marmalade along with some sambal sauce, rice wine vinegar and soy gives the sauce a nice sweet, savory and spicy tang. The sauce can work on any meat you might want to prepare, but I went with meatballs. You've got the deep savory flavor of the meatballs playing off the sweet and spicy orange sauce. It's a nice combination.


Spicy Orange Meatballs                    

(makes 32)

Meatballs:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp ground garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp brown mustard
2 tsp smoked paprika
salt & pepper to taste
Sauce:
16 oz jar orange marmalade
1 tbsp sambal sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
1 cup water (you may not need it all)

METHOD:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 400-degrees. Mix all the meatball ingredients well and roll into golf-ball size balls. Place on baking sheets and put in oven for 25-30 minutes, or until meatballs are browned. Remove from oven and let cool. (NOTE: meatballs can be made ahead).

2. In a heavy saucepan on medium heat, melt down the marmalade until it become soft and liquidy. Add remaining ingredients and heat through until almost boiling. If the sauce is too thick, thin out with a little water. Place meatballs in sauce and stir to make sure all the meatballs get covered in the sauce. Heat through and serve.

I have a small crock pot that I'll use to keep these meatballs warm. We have a table in the garage bar where we'll put all the food so that everyone can help themselves throughout the day - and I won't have to keep running back and forth to the kitchen to heat something up! That's the beauty of having warming trays and crock pots. Your hot food will stay hot all day. I have a football-shaped crock pot (of course I would!) that I use for hots dogs in water (who doesn't love a hot dog on gameday?).

So there you have it. This recipe is easy to prepare. You can make the meatballs ahead. You can even freeze them and then thaw them out when you're ready to make the sauce. Hope you decide to try these. Let me know if you do and how you like them!

Enjoy the games and good luck to your teams!

See you next week!




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