Zucchini and Meatballs

Preheat oven to 375F.

Combine ground beef, crushed up cracker crumbs, egg and tomato sauce. Sprinkle generously (to taste) with salt, pepper and garlic powder and shape into small meatballs. (Or just use your favorite meatball recipe.)

Spray a 13×9 pan with Pam. Place the meatballs in it and bake for 30 minutes or until done. Pour the consomme (undiluted) into a large saucepan and put the meatballs in it, then keep it warm at the lowest possible simmer.

While the meatballs are baking, slice up the zucchini and onions. Melt the butter and add the vegetable oil. You are going to need a LARGE frying pan for this! Add the zucchini and onion and saute over medium high heat, stirring frequently. You want the heat to be high enough to dry out all the liquid in the zucchini and then it will start to caramelize.

Sometime during the process, sprinkle with more salt, pepper and garlic powder (to taste). Cooking the zucchini and onions is going to take awhile, and the meatballs will be done before the zucchini is.

Once the zucchini and onions are nice and browned, add the meatballs and consomme and boil for a few minutes to reduce the liquid to a slightly thickened sauce.

Serve over egg noodles.

My husband (not a zucchini fan) loves this – we make it several times over the summer. One suggestion: if the skin on the zucchini is tough, peel it off. If not, it’s fine left on. If the zucchini is really big, I usually scoop out the seeds, too. We saw Emeril do something like this once on TV and this is what we remembered of the show. It’s yummy!