Meatballs

Last shabbos dinner on DST, creating the onset of shabbos at just before our usual dinnertime.  Its preparation has largely been my household task, largely because I like doing it.  During my working years when I would return home long after candle lighting, two chicken breasts would get seared in a skillet, then baked in an oven, then put in the refrigerator for reheating most weeks.  For others I would assemble vegetables and meat in the crock pot and let it slow cook for the day.  Other weeks, I would reheat what the crock pot supplied the week before.  Retirement has given me more leeway to prepare the meal during the day, just like the baalaboostas of old did.  Even so, with Standard Time starting shabbos before our customary dinner hour, whatever I make has to hold up for two hours either in a crock pot or a warm oven.

Poultry and beef cubes serve this purpose well.  Beef slabs and ground beef pose more of a challenge.  My poultry supply, usually a collection of chicken breasts or cut-up chickens divided into two portions as soon as they come home from Shop-Rite, has largely depleted to a single turkey breast half allocated for Thanksgiving and a very large space-consuming whole roaster chicken to await guests.  Beef obtained a package at a time when discounted has accumulated.  So this week I went for beef.  I pulled out a package of ground beef, which needs to defrost.

Meat loaf has been the usual dinner from this, but I thought I'd like to try meatballs instead.  Three classical options:  Klops, ablondigas, or Italian meatballs and spaghetti, none of which I have made in a very long time, each illustrating a certain ethnicity.  Recipes on the internet, particularly with Kosher adaptations, seemed few.  Ingredients are flexible:  mostly an egg, bread crumbs, and seasonings, much as meat loaf or hamburger would be made.  However, they are all made on a stove top with sauce, which means they need some attention as they cook.  Defrosting done.  Make a decision on how to best use this package of ground beef this evening so I'm ready to go tomorrow.