Flavorful meatballs fit for holiday party

Sometimes failure can end up tasting pretty good. It certainly was the case with these meatballs.

I had been aiming to create a solidly delicious, all-purpose meatball suitable for tossing with marinara over spaghetti — except it didn’t quite work out that way. The meatballs, while certainly delicious, were too tangy and too sweet to pair with your basic pasta sauce, and they certainly didn’t agree with the mandatory Parmesan that spaghetti calls for.

So I tried them in a curry sauce. Indian food is particularly welcoming to that play of sweet and heat, tangy and savory. But that wasn’t quite right, either.

I was resistant to changing the meatballs themselves. Although they didn’t partner well with anything I had tried, I still thought they were good and they certainly were worth salvaging. Then it hit me. Embrace the tangy, sweet-and-savory side of these meatballs. Turn them into party food.

So I ended up with these cocktail meatballs, perfect for setting out with toothpicks for a holiday gathering. It also turned out that the sauce couldn’t have been simpler — tomatoes and cranberry sauce.

COCKTAIL MEATBALLS WITH CRANBERRY MARINARA

Start to finish: 30 minutes

Makes 50 meatballs

3 eggs, beaten

¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno slices

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon onion powder

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