Marinated Meatballs

How to prepare marinated meatballs

1. Meatballs: mix the meat with chopped parsley, crushed garlic, beaten egg, squeezed and crumbled bread, salt and pepper to taste. With wet hands, shape small meatballs (walnut-sized). In a pan, heat about 1 finger of oil and fry the meatballs on both sides until golden. Fry them in several batches, don't crowd them in the pan. Remove the meatballs to a plate with paper towels to absorb the fat.
2. Sauce: in a small pot, melt the butter with the oil. When hot, add the finely chopped onion and crushed garlic. Sauté until the onion softens.
3. Add the flour and stir well until the flour is absorbed in the fat. Deglaze with the tomato paste and broth, stirring with a whisk. Cook on low heat, stirring often with the whisk, until the sauce thickens. If the sauce gets too thick (it should flow off the spoon; how much it thickens depends on the consistency of your tomato paste), add a little more broth.
4. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, pressing on the onion to extract all the liquid.
6. Add the seasonings (bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper), sugar and vinegar. Stir and cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and depending on how sour your tomato paste was, see if you need to add more sugar or vinegar.
7. Place the meatballs in the sauce and simmer together for a few minutes. Put the lid on the pot and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
   * I only put about 15 meatballs in the sauce, the rest we eat with mustard while they're hot
8. Serve with mashed potatoes, sprinkled with parsley and if desired, add a tablespoon of sour cream on the side.

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