Superbowl : Bloody Mary Cocktail Meatballs

These meatballs were a real superstar ... they were like the Tony Romo of football. Wait. Did I do that right?

Anyway, this was a surprisingly simple dish - plus who doesn't like to mix a brunch cocktail with a meatball? I tried a little bit of JUST the bloody mary... man does that sucker have a kick. But glazed on these half pork, half beef meatballs, they were so good.

I made the meatballs ahead of time - I should have refrigerated them so that when I fried them they wouldn't lose their shape but instead I left them on the counter and they ended up being some weird 3-D triangle instead. Here they are in their spherical form:














After cooking the meatballs through, I poured in some Bloody Mary and let it simmer and reduce down into the meatballs:

















This recipe makes about 32 meatballs which got devoured in like 15 minutes so I would probably make a double dose:


INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb lean ground pork
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 small celery rib with leaves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons horseradish
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 slice white sandwich bread, soaked in warm water, squeezed dry and crumbled into pieces
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (I used habanero)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon veggie oil
1/2 cup Three-Pepper Bloody Mary*

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine the beef and pork with the celery, horseradish, egg, bread, hot sauce, salt and pepper and knead well. Roll the meat into 1-inch balls.
2. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet until shimmering. Add the meatballs and cook over moderately high heat until browned all over, about 5 minutes. Add the Three-Pepper Bloody Mary and simmer over moderate heat until the liquid is reduced by half and the meatballs are glazed, about 2 minutes. Serve hot.

3 Pepper Bloody Mary INGREDIENTS

1 cup Vodka
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 small clove garlic, smashed
1 small jalapeno, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon hot sauce, preferably habanero
2 1/2 cups tomato juice
4 teaspoons horseradish
1 teaspoon celery salt (this confused me so I used regular salt)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a blender, combine the vodka with the onion, garlic, jalapeño, lemon juice and hot sauce and puree until smooth. Add the tomato juice, horseradish, celery salt and pepper and blend. Strain into tall glasses over ice and serve with lime wedges and celery ribs.