Meatballs in Romesco Sauce

My husband choose this throwback Thursday dish.  I followed the sauce recipe, but the meatballs I played around with a little bit.  Mostly, I just made my life easy by getting the meatloaf package of ground beef/pork rather than get a package of both meats and most likely have odd bits I didn't need for tonight's dinner.  As always, if you don't eat beef or pork, you can switch out the meat for other ones, but the beef & pork combo is traditional and I think the tastiest.  I totally am loving the greens in the meatballs.  I don't know where I first saw this idea (and it was most like spinach that was in the original recipe), but I have used collards and now bok choy with fantastic results.  (my next experiment will involve the leavings from my juicing, but that is for another time:)  I also love coating the meatballs in bread crumbs. This coating absorbs the juices (and fat) cooking out of the meatball and adds a lot of flavor and a nice crisp exterior to the meatball. The dish was as tasty as we remembered it.  I love romesco sauce.  This time, since I used the actual smoked almonds, I didn't want to use all smoked paprika.  I also didn't want to use the hot Hungarian stuff either so I used half smoked and half of  the Piment d'Espelette that I got for the fancy Salmon with Pea-Wasabi Purée and Yuzu.   It was really good. I think I may make it that way from now on. 


Meatballs With Romesco Sauce

For The Meatballs:
2 Tbl Olive Oil
1/2  Large Onion Chopped
3 baby bock choy, finely Chopped
3 Clove Garlic Minced
1.75 lbs Meatloaf Mix Ground Mead (1/3 pork 2/3 beef)
1 Tbl Fresh Oregano (or one tsp dry)
1 Egg beaten
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Panko Bread Crumbs (or more as needed)
Salt and Pepper

For the Sauce:
1/4 Cup plus 2 tablespoons smoked almonds
1 Three inch piece of baguette cubed
1 garlic clove
1 Cup canned diced tomatoes (oh heck I used the whole 15 oz can)
2 roasted red bell peppers from a jar drained (or make your own)
2 Tbl sherry vinegar
1/4 Tsp pimentón de la Vera
1/2 Cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Pre heat oven to 400

 Saute the onion in the olive oil for about 3 minutes over medium heat,
add the greens to the onions and cook 3 more minutes.  Add the garlic
and cook 1 more minute.  Remove from heat and cool.
Chop the bacon and cook until crispy
In a large bowl, combine the onion mixture with the egg, parm, oregano,
salt and pepper to taste, and bacon.  Mix together.  Add the meats and
combine by hand, taking care to only mix enough to evenly distribute the
ingredients.
Weigh out 1.5 oz portions of the meat.  Roll the portions in to balls.
Put the panko in a bowl.  Roll each meatball in the panko until coated.
Put each meatball in the cup of a mini muffin tin. (or on a baking sheet
if you don't have some)
Bake 20 minutes or until done
 Meanwhile, for the sauce:
 In a food processor, coarsely chop the almonds, bread cubes and garlic. Add the tomatoes, roasted red peppers, sherry vinegar and  pimentn and puree until smooth. With the machine on, gradually add the  oil. Season with salt and pepper.