Beer sauce meatballs, fast easy meals for students

My friend Nick always says beer makes everything better. I have to admit, it sometimes makes my weeks better. You'll wonder why. Well, on Friday, the chemistry department has a seminar from 3 to 4 and after that we get together, some of us, and go for a beer.

That beer is the time of the week when you get to relax, forget about stressful stuff, forget about science, students, classes, grades. It's the time to meet new people, to talk to those familiar faces that you see around walking down corridors but you haven't had the chance to have a chat with. It's quite honestly great.

These meatballs are great too. See, I don't have much time to cook during the week. Too many things to do to spend hours in the kitchen. So I just gather ingredients on the weekend and make enough food for a week of survival. My beer sauce meatballs are now a staple among my friends. They're juicy and tender, they're not too filling and they've got lots of great things in them.

The beer just makes them so much better! it adds a bit of a stronger flavor and pairs really well with any type of meat. These ones are chicken but I've made them with turkey, beef, pork... anything works! Even soy meat is great, so no excuse for vegetarians.

Chicken meatballs with beer sauce

Makes about 25-30 meatballs

1 lb of ground meat of your choice, chicken, turkey, beef, pork, soy...

1 egg

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, regular or italian seasoned

Herbs of your choice (if your bread crumbs have herbs you won't need them)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Olive oil

1/4 pound of mushrooms

1/2 onion

Chicken stock

Light cream or milk

Beer of your choice, preferably not too dark (Coronita, IPA, lagers work great)

Sautee your onion until tender, at low heat. Add the mushrooms and let them cook until they've released all the water and they look cooked. In the meantime, let your meat get to room temperature so ingredients mix better. Add the meat, egg, bread crumbs and seasoning in a bowl and mix well. You want your meat not to be sticky, if it is, just add more bread crumbs until you can work it without it sticking in your hands. Make balls the size of a ping-pong ball and once the onions and mushrooms are done, slightly fry your meatballs, just until they are seared. This prevents them from falling apart once you add the liquid.

Add about 1/2 cup of beer if it's a strongly flavored one (dark lagers) and about 3/4 cups if it's a lighter one (coronita). Add also a cup of water or of chicken broth and about 2 tablespoons of milk or light cream. Let the meatballs cook at low heat until tender. If the liquid evaporates too fast, just add more water or chicken broth.