If Meatless Monday is a thing, then I see no reason I can’t make Meatball Wednesday a thing as well. Because much as I am game to have a meatless meal once a week, I am extremely fond of meatballs.

I don’t know what it is. I mean, I know that cheeseburgers are probably my guilty pleasure favorite food of all time, but meatballs run a close second. Then they go and come up with the meatball slider, and I kind of died a little inside with the awesomeness.

The thing about meatballs, I think, is that they are not only tasty little balls of meat usually covered in sauce (another of my favorite things), but they also hold a lot of potential that the traditional hamburger patty just doesn’t. I can throw all manner of different flavors into a meatball. It’s a good place to get creative and get all the savory flavors I love all in one little bite.

Recently, I was foraging through the refrigerator for dinner components, as I am wont to do, and I pulled out a little chorizo sausage and a couple of pounds of hamburger, and a plan was born. I dumped the meat into a mixing bowl and got to thinking about what else might go into this magic meatball.

Magic, it was. Weird? A little, in concept. But in taste, it was divine.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/photos/2014/oct/09/280259/

Chorizo-Beef and Bleu Cheese Meatballs
2 pounds ground beef
10 ounces pork chorizo
1/2 cup bleu cheese
3 green onions
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs or pulverized crackers (I just ran some through the food processor)
Pinch of salt (you don’t need much with this)
Black pepper
2 1/2 cups (ish) marinara sauce (jarred or homemade, you pick)

In the food processor, run the green onions (I did the white parts and about 1/3 of the way up the green) and Parmesan cheese together.

If you don’t have bread crumbs, run a few handfuls of crackers through as well until they’re good and finely ground.

Dump those ingredients plus the bleu cheese in with the meat along with a small dash of salt and some cracked black pepper, and work it all in thoroughly so that it’s all evenly distributed.

I use a small scoop for the making of the balls, but you can just eyeball it as well. Each one should be about 2 tablespoons of meat mixture. Form into balls and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat up a non-stick skillet and begin browning the meatballs in batches. I try to turn them to get all the sides. They won’t be cooked through at this point.

As they come out of the skillet, move them to a casserole dish or Dutch oven. When they’re all ready, pour your sauce over the top. I keep my homemade Sunday Gravy portioned out in my freezer all the time, but jarred would work just fine too.

Bake at 350 F for about 15 or 20 minutes to cook in the sauce and make sure the meat is cooked through.

I served with asparagus and mashed potatoes. Mr. Meat and Potatoes ate about five meatballs before I told him there was bleu cheese in there, at which time he spat his meatball back on the plate and told me he wished I’d not told him that, because up until that moment he was loving them. Sigh. Men.