Ingredients:

1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 1/4 lb lean ground beef
1 small onion, grated
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 onion, chopped
8 oz  crimini mushrooms, large dice/quartered
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups beef stock
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tablespoons superfine flour (like Wondra)
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

Directions:

In a medium bowl,  mix the breadcrumbs, spices, meat, grated onion, 2/3 of the garlic, salt, and pepper. Form into 3/4 inch meatballs. Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan. Cook the meatballs until quite browned on both sides and nearly cooked through.

Remove the meatballs to a plate and cover with foil. Add the chopped onion, remaining garlic and mushrooms to the pan and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper and whisk in the flour. Return the patties to the pan and cook until the sauce has reduced and the patties are fully cooked. Serve immediately.

My thoughts:

The other day someone mentioned they were going to make Salisbury Steak meatballs but when I looked at the recipe they were thinking of using, it looked…not good. Lots of ketchup, which really should never be in Salisbury Steak (it is not a tomato-y dish) and which is disgusting in general. Besides the ketchup, the recipe looked really bland.

I haven’t made Salisbury Steak in ages (last year when I made this hipster Salisbury Steak with kale)  so I thought I’d try my hand at creating a tastier, more Salisbury Steak-y recipe with proper brown gravy and mushrooms. It was a little more hands-on than making traditional “steaks” and I couldn’t use my mini-meatball technique because I didn’t want to coat them in breadcrumbs but it the time it took to form the meatballs was made up by the fact that tiny meatballs cook up a lot faster than patties the size of my palm. My husband said he felt like they were a little moister too but who knows?

The end result was well, Salisbury Steak but in meatball form. Very savory, it hits all the nostalgic “American” food notes and is a bit quicker to make and maybe even more fun to eat than the original. If you didn’t serve it over potatoes, it could even be an appetizer. I wanted it to be a full meal so I served it over a mash that was half potato and half cauliflower so I didn’t feel like I needed to make a second side dish. It would also be good over egg noodles, I suspect. Or even just mashed cauliflower if that is your thing.