Meatballs Bayonnaise W/ Spicy Tomato & Pepper Sauce

Total Time: 5 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 5 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons creole seasoning (more or less to taste. you can also use seasoned salt to avoid the added spiciness)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup crumbled french bread or 3/4 cup italian bread
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (the recommend flat-leaf parsley)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• fresh ground pepper
• cooked rice
• freshly grated parmesan cheese

Recipe

• 1 for the sauce, stir together tomato puree, peppers, onion, salt, red pepper and bay leaf.
• 2 pour half of the sauce into a slow cooker and reserve the rest.
• 3 for the meatballs, add milk and soak the bread for a few minutes. lightly squeeze the bread to remove excess milk and discard milk.
• 4 spread flour on a piece of wax paper.
• 5 in a large bowl, mix together soaked bread, ground beef, parsley, garlic, egg, cumin, marjoram, salt and pepper (to taste).
• 6 moisten your hands and shape mixture into 2" balls.
• 7 lightly roll meatballs in flour and transfer to the slow cooker that contains half of the sauce. top with remaining sauce.
• 8 cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until meatballs are cooked through.
• 9 discard bay leaf before serving over rice with freshly grated parmesan.