Belgian Meatballs in Brown Sauce

1. Soak the bread in the milk for a few minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine the meat with the shallot, parsley, soaked bread and egg. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch or 2 of nutmeg.

3. Mix well using your hands. Use your hands to make 8 meatballs, or more if you prefer them smaller in size.

4. Heat some butter in a large casserole pot over medium heat. Make sure to use a pot with a lid. Brown the meatballs on all sides. I recommend that you do this in 2 batches. Set the cooked meatballs aside while you do the second batch. Don’t discard any of the grease that’s left in the pan.

5. Add the sugar to the vinegar and pour it into the pot with the grease. Continue to heat the mixture and stir to deglaze the pot. Then add the onions and the herbs. You can add or substitute any herb that tickles your fancy here. My nan used to put in a bay leaf instead of the dried laurel. Stir around for a few minutes.

6. Bring back to low heat and carefully place the meatballs on top of the onions. Add water until the meatballs are halfway covered. Put the lid on and let simmer for at least 20 minutes or until the meat is cooked.

7. Take out the meatballs. Scoop out some of the onions as well if you like a bit of texture in the sauce. Or leave them in if you want it silky smooth. Set the meatballs and onions aside somewhere warm.

8. Add molasses to the remaining contents of the pot. In Belgium, we use Sirop de Liège, which is essentially a thick sort of molasses made with apple and pear juice. But any molasses will do really. It will add a bit of sweetness and depending on which type you’ve used, it will lend the sauce a lovely deep brown color.

If you’re not into molasses, you can just skip this step and add a little brown sugar or jam instead. Try apricot. Yum.

9. Mix everything up with one of those nifty immersion mixers. Blend until the sauce has a silky smooth texture. Or pour the lot into a blender and blend until smooth. Then return it to the pot over medium heat. Thicken the mixture with a little starch if desired (mix the starch with an equal amount of water first, to avoid lumps).

10. Return the meatballs (and onions) to the pot and let everything get nice and warm again before serving.

In my family, we traditionally serve this with French fries and lettuce. Then again, here in Belgium, we serve fries and lettuce with basically anything.