Hey guys! How was your weekend?
We took it easy this past weekend and didn’t really do much except for the usual work around the house and weekend errands like grocery shopping and all that jazz 🙂
So I was thinking about what recipe to share with you today for the Tasty Tuesday, and here’s what I came up with. When I moved to the US three years ago I was a little overwhelmed by how much the food was different from what I was used to growing up. So, thinking of this week’s Tasty Tuesday reminded me of one of the things that were different here in the US – meatballs.
Ok, think of how people serve meatballs in the US? Correct! Over spaghetti 🙂 And that’s about the only serving option, unless you’re at IKEA and ordering Swedish meatballs, but that’s a whole different territory 🙂
Wanna know how people eat meatballs in Russia? Read on! 🙂
In fact, there will be two variations of the meatballs recipe in this post – one is my variation on the American version (over spaghetti), and the other variation will be the Russian style meatballs.
Ready?
Russian Style Meatballs Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lb ground meat (I used beef for American-style and lean turkey for Russian-style meatballs)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup rice, cooked (for the Russian version only)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped (skip for the Russian Version)
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Cooking oil spray
- 2 cups tomato sauce of your choice (I used store bought pasta sauce for this).
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a backing sheet with foil and spray with cooking oil spray.
Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl.
Mix until well combined.
Shape meatballs:
For the Russian style – make them about 2-3 times as big as you would for American-style:
Bake for 15 minutes for smaller meatballs, and for 20-25 minutes for bigger Russian-style meatballs.
While the meatballs are cooking, pour tomato sauce into a deep cooking pan, place on top rack in the oven with the meatballs to heat up.
Remove meatballs from the oven and put them into the pan with heated tomato sauce.
If serving over spaghetti, toss some of the tomato sauce with pasta before adding meatballs.
For the Russian version, I served them with a side of buckwheat (boiled) with sautéed mushrooms and onions (pictured above). They also get served over mashed potatoes pretty often.
And your dinner is done! 🙂  Tell your friends how easy it was:
Now on to the fun part – Linkup Party!
Have a wonderful week and a Happy Thanksgiving if I don’t get to talk to you before then 🙂
Link ’em up, guys!
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These look delicious! My mom makes them in a really similar way – makes sense 😉 We also eat them with buckwheat often! I love that you put spinach in there!!! Mmmm!
Pinning!
Yuliya recently posted…Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes: Desserts
I found that spinach makes them juicier 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Yuliya 🙂
Mmmm these look so scrumptious!
Annmarie recently posted…Big Slice Apple Review + Giveaway!
Thanks, Annmarie 🙂
These meatballs looks awesome! I ate a few when I was in Russia (always served with potatoes) but mostly I associate them with Italian cooking and pasta. Delicious either way
Andrea recently posted…Absinthe in Jackson Square
Thanks, Andrea! I’d love to read about your trip to Russia! Do you have a link to share? 🙂
There are beyond millions of Russian restaurants in LA and I want to try them all, I am a tiny bit scared but I just need to DO IT 😉
GiGi Eats recently posted…Maria Menounos, Thank You!
Nothing to be scared of really 🙂 Safest cuisine in the world.
Hi Lena,
Happy Tasty Tuesday! Today I shared “Meatless Monday: Vegan Apple Crumble”.
Have a happy holiday! Deborah
dEBORAH dAVIS recently posted…5 Fun and Easy Ways to Fit in Fitness on a Cruise
Thanks for sharing, Deborah! Happy Thanksgiving!
Yum, those meatballs made me drool a little. They look absolutely delicious!
Love Keil (MunchkinTime) recently posted…Chocolate Nutella and Strawberry Cake
Thanks, Love 🙂
Russian Meatballs, how interesting the difference is just the size, I must always make mine russian style, I LOVE BIG MEAT BALLS 🙂 these look so easy and tasty!
Amber recently posted…B.Y.O.F. – A Gluten Free Thanksgiving for One
Russian version has rice in them, too