Meatballs on a stick

Ease: 3/5     Kid-friendliness: 5/5     Taste: 4/5     Time: 3.5/5

Prep: 10 minutes (45 if you chill your meatballs, which I did not do)
Cooking time: 8 minutes

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Any recipe with "on a stick"in the title, has got to be good in my books. Especially in the summer. And doesn't meatballs on a stick just spell "festive" to you, on this, my country's birthday? (For my American friends, today celebrates the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North American Act (today called the Constitution Act, 1867), which united two British colonies and a province of the British Empire into a single country called Canada - our equivalent of the fourth of July). Must be some throw back to a childhood memory of corndogs at a fair or something. Speaking of which, the Calgary Stampede (the self-proclaimed "greatest outdoor show on earth") gets underway July 9th, so really, meatballs on a stick could not be more appropriate. And for no other reason, these meatballs are just plain fun and make a great appetizer.

What you'll need:

• 3/4 lb ground beef
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/3 C bread crumbs 
• 3 Tbsp whole milk 
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tsp dijon mustard (I didn't have any, so substituted 1 tsp of mustard powder)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt (I just used sea salt - maybe it's the same thing?)
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp tabasco sauce
• extra virgin olive oil

Sauce:

• 1/3 C ketchup
• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt (or sea salt if you're me)

In a medium bowl, combine the meatball ingredients. Using your hands (yay!), gently mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. 

Wet your hands with cold water and shape the meat into balls, ~1 inch in diameter. Try not to overwork the meat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 45 minutes or until very cold (anyone know why? I didn't do this step since I pick recipes last minute and they cooked fine and tasted great to me). 

To make the sauce, whisk together in a small bowl the sauce ingredients.

Lightly brush or spray the meatballs with oil. Grill over direct high heat until the meat is cooked but not dry (6 to 8 minutes), gently turning occasionally with tongs. Arrange the meatballs on a platter with toothpicks. Serve warm with the sauce. Makes 25 - 30 small meatballs.

Recipe from Weber's Real Grilling: Over 200 Original Recipes