Simple Student Snacks: Meatballs

Hello and welcome to the first of my recipe guides! For the first in my series of Simple Student Snacks I’m cooking meatballs.

When I first came to GCU four years ago, I had never even cooked anything that wasn’t a microwave meal.

The purpose of this series is to give simple, and fairly healthy, meal and snack ideas to my fellow students who are on just a tight budget as I am.

These recipes may have some leftover servings as shown in the recipe below. Make sure to get a hold of some Tupperware and cling film so that you can keep your food cost low.

There’s nothing to stop you from even freezing some of these meals to enjoy later!

I’ll be trying to keep these simple so that anyone can try them with lots of optional ingredients leaving room for experimentation.

Cooking for myself has been the best part of living away from home for me and there is a lot of satisfaction in trying out new things in the kitchen. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be writing the next Simple Student Snack…

Total Prep & Cooking Time: 30 minutes or less

Freezable: Yes

Fridge Life: 2-3 days

Ingredients:

250g beef mince

1 small onion

1 large egg

Salt & pepper to season

2 tablespoons olive oil

Optional:

100g chorizo sausage

3 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon basil

Method:

1. Finely chop the onion and chorizo. Crush and chop garlic cloves. (approx. 5 minutes)
2. Heat a large pan, non-stick and wok preferred, to a medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the onion and the garlic and cook until the onion has gone slightly golden, stirring occasionally. (approx. 5 minutes)
3. In a large bowl, crack and beat the egg. Add the mince, chorizo, garlic and onion. (approx. 2 minutes)
4. Season with salt and pepper. Also add the basil and paprika (why not try 2 tablespoons of paprika if you like it a bit spicy?).
5. Mix all the contents well with your hands, or a spoon if you prefer, until the texture is gooey. (approx. 5 minutes)
6. Separate the mixture into around 10-12 small chunks. Use either the palms of your hands or a spoon to round them off. (approx. 3 minutes)
7. Using the same pan, add the other tablespoon of olive oil. Cook your meatballs (3-5 per serving) on a medium to high heat for 8 minutes, make sure to turn at least 3 times. (approx. 8 minutes)

Meatballs are a really great addition to any kind of pasta. You can use almost any standard tomato-based sauce and they will turn out great.

A popular use of meatballs is with a tomato & basil sauce with spaghetti.

In my snack, I chopped up a pepper and added these slices to the pan at the same time as my meatballs. I then added a can of chopped tomatoes as well as another tablespoon of basil & paprika and stirred for a few minutes to heat and mix well.

I was feeling a bit adventurous so even added a little chilli powder for that extra kick! In all, this took me no more than an extra five minutes of cooking time.