Salisbury Steak Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes

I was in the neighborhood of a good butcher who grinds his own pork and beef so I bought some and decided to make Salisbury steak.  But then I realized I would be portioning this out to give away so I changed it to meatballs so I could divide them easier.

• ³⁄₄ cup onion, grated
• ¹⁄₄ cup half and half
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 lb ground beef and pork

Mix this thoroughly and form into meatballs.

 Brown them in a few tablespoons of butter and oil.  Remove from the pot and set aside.

 Saute a diced onion in the remaining butter/oil mix then add 4 cups of beef stock.  Add 2 cubes of beef bouillon, 1 tsp. of Kitchen Bouquet and salt and pepper. 

Make a slurry of 3 tablespoons of melted butter and 3 tablespoons of flour and whisk it into the broth.  As soon as it begins to thicken, add the meatballs back in.  Cook at a simmer while you make your mashed potatoes.

 I always bake my potatoes before mashing them.  I think they have better flavor than when you boil them.

 I add butter, milk, S&P and some sour cream.

 Put a big puddle of gravy in a bowl and scoop on some potatoes.

Place some meatballs on top and drizzle with more gravy.  It would look nice if it was sprinkled with some diced parsley but then I would have had to go outside to clip some and there are workers everywhere and Teddy is constantly looking for an open door.  Thus, no parsley.  Week 4 of the house redo from hell starts today and so far I haven't killed anyone. We shall see what happens this week.  The head carpenter just told me he leaves for vacation Wednesday night!  Really? Since when does someone go on vacation right in the middle of a project?