Guest Post: Tomato Glazed Meatballs With Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

This week I am so very excited to again be featuring my blogging pal and good friend Erica. Erica runs her own wedding + event design and production house.  She shares recipes, DIY’s and beautiful photos of her events. Check out her blog if you already haven’t!

Hello again, I'm Erica from Paper Hearts + Co. (www.paperheartsncoblog.com)!

Thank again, Courtney! today I will be sharing another one of my favorite recipes from one of my favorite bloggers.

So I am seriously obsessed with the Smitten Kitchen. It is one of my very favorite cooking blogs. The Husband bought me her new cookbook for christmas. Not that he could forget because I hinted about it nearly once a day the entire month of December. So over the last few months I have put the recipes to test. Surprise, surprise, everything I have made so far has been delicious.

The first recipe on the docket was her tomato-glazed meat loaves with brown butter mashed potatoes. I paired them with garlic sauteed asparagus and green beans. Now if you are hesitant don't be, my house is a strictly a no "MEATLOAF" house. I am not a big fan and the Husband hates it! However, I was a bit tricky when I made these I called them meatballs on the weekly menu. Yes I know that they are almost the same thing. However my experience with meatloaves has been huge chunks of soggy bread with large undercooked veggies yuck! These however are really great, REALLY! The recipes calls for many of the normal ingredients found in meatloaves but it is how it is all prepared and put together that makes all the difference. So meatloaf haters unite and give these a try!

I did make a few adjustments and I have included them in the recipe:

Glaze:
4 tsp. canola oil
1/3 cup. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
4 Tbsp. honey
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp. brown sugar

Combine glaze ingredients in a small saucepan, and simmer, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Set aside. I usually make a double batch because we like lots of sauce!

Meat Loaves:
2 slices of sandwich bread
1 medium onion, finely chopped,
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium stalk celery, chopped finely
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
Olive oil, for cooking
2 lbs. ground beef
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper for vegetables

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Tear the bread into chunks and then blend it, in a food processor, into breadcrumbs. or if you don't have a food processor store bought ones are fine just use 1 cup. Place breadcrumbs in a lard bowl. Add the vegetables to processor and finely chop or do it by hand.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, coat the bottom with olive oil; add the finely chopped vegetables. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add the vegetables to the large bowl with breadcrumbs, then add the remaining ingredients. Stir together with a for. With wet hands, form the mixture into twelve 3 inch meatballs.

Space the meatballs so that they are not touching, in a baking dish, Drizzle or bush each with a tsp. or so of the tomato glaze. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve on a bed of brown butter mashed potatoes.

Brown butter mashed potatoes:
2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes pealed
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter or 1 stick melted and browned
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp. Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over heigh heat, once it is boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes until tender. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pan.

Brown the butter in a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden, and then it will start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan. Don't wait too long the time in takes to brown vs burning is the difference of about a minute.

Add browned butter, buttermilk, salt and pepper to taste and smash them with a potato smasher until smooth or put them in your stand mixer and beat them till creamy. Serve and enjoy!