Barbeque Meatballs

This is the first time I have cooked in my Jerusalem kitchen, we ate out the last two nights because we were so exhausted from doing grandparent things and trying to get organised here all at the same time. We thought we were mummy and baby sitting tonight while Josh was out but he stayed in and he, Bas and the baby are having some quiet time.

So I decided to cook dinner, well I had to start sometime. I don't have any recipe books here, yet and fruit and veg are very seasonal here , which is good because you get some kind of annual rhythm to food here which you don't get in the UK because we can get anything.

I bought rather a large quantity of minced meat in the market yesterday, it was all bagged in kilos so we lugged home 6lbs of mince along with 3 chickens, a kilo of something for stew but I'm not sure what and various wings and giblets for soup.

There was only one choice for tonight, meatballs in barbeque sauce. I have a great recipe for them at home, the challenge was to remember it. I kind of did, with a few adaptations and they were pretty marvellous so here goes.

Meatballs
1kg minced steak
2 eggs
a large dollop tomato ketchup
bread crumbs or matzah meal
salt & pepper

Mix the above together so it forms a firm, bound mix that can be easily shaped into balls.

The sauce
1 cup black coffee (sounds weird but really is the magic ingredient)
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar ( really doesnt matter what type)
1 clove garlic finely chopped or crushed
juice of a lime, lemon or orange (whatever you've got in the kitchen)
1/4 cup oil or margarine
pinch of hot pepper

Bring all the sauce ingredients to a boil in a large wide necked pan
Make meatballs the size of small tomatoes and drop into the sauce.
Simmer for at least one hour on a low light, the longer the better it tastes.
Serve with pasta or rice and a salad. YUM!

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy