Chimichurri Meatballs

The war with my kitchen continues apace.  Tonight, I kill off one of the worst offences I have committed by getting rid of the frozen meatballs I bought.  To do so, I pick this recipe.  I wanted to try this recipe, but I knew we were going to be unhappy.  We adore our chimichuri sauce and have never tasted it's equal.  But, I want to try every recipe, and in all fairness, we haven't looked too far beyond our chimichuri recipe.  Were we disappointed?  Yes, but not horribly so.  It wasn't the magical sauce we know and love, but it wasn't bad.  I personally found it too much oil and vinegar to herbs, and I pureed it rather than just mix the ingredients as originally called for.  I think I would like try this with my personal recipe, perhaps making it with all parsley versus the half parsley, half cilantro I normally do.  The boys liked them well enough too.  They liked them better than I did.  They would be happy to have them again as is.  Me, not so much.  Another "war" ingredient was the kasha we had it with.  My husband make a great side with dried porcini and a mushroom broth!



Chimichurri Meatballs

Chimichurri:
1 bn minced curly leaf parsley leaves and stems
1 c  extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c  red wine vinegar
2 T  minced fresh oregano leaves (or 1teaspoon dried)
2 t  sugar
1 t  crushed red pepper flakes
1 Clove garlic, minced
Minced zest and juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste

Meatballs:
25 oz cocktail meatballs
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Put (frozen) meatballs in a wide pan with 2 oz water and cover.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low while making chimichuri. Put the chimichuri  ingredients in to a blender and puree.  Taste for salt and heat.  Adjust with salt and hot sauce. (keep in mind the feta you add at the end will add salt)
Make sure the meatballs are heated through. Transfer meatballs to a platter that has some of the chimichurri spooned onto the bottom; top the meatballs with some of the sauce and
tent with foil to keep warm. Garnish with crumbled feta, which is not an Argentinean, but adds this

amazing salty bite to this dish.