Meatball Sliders

Why are the most delicious things the grossest to make?

Srsly. Smitten Kitchen's version of meatball sliders are super flavorful and delicious, but I seriously was almost gagging through the whole process.

What you see above is a mixture of ground beef, veal and pork, panko bread crumbs, an egg and a yolk, parsley and maybe something I'm forgetting now. It's distracting to look at that pile of gross, honestly.

I plunged my hands into the goopy mess, a potent and potentially dangerous mix of raw meat and eggs (WASH YOUR HANDS SO MUCH!!) and rolled the meat mush into meatballs, which really, scarily resembled Meatwad of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" fame.

I stacked them on a plate to the side and tried not to look at them too much.

I then fried them in batches in vegetable oil and PEOPLE this is where I have to tell you that I patted myself on the back for not ralphing all over my kitchen. It gets grosser. Scroll down if you dare.

DAAAAAAAAAAYYYY-UMMMMNNNN. That is some horrifying mess right there. And I found out the hard way that turning homemade mega meatballs is actually trickier than turning pancakes.

While I was trying to avert my eyes from my pile of meat, I instructed Sean to spread a mix of garlic powder and butter on mini potato roll buns and toast them. This is a crucial step; you need the structure the toasting provides to keep the mush in place.

I also had a saucepan full of marinara simmering on the stove while I assembled the sandwiches.

And voila! I topped mine with cheese, but I wish I'd had basil leaves because that would have been some kind of wonderful.

MMMMMMM meat.

So how were they? I'll be honest: they were awesome. They were more flavorful than any frozen meatball and the mini slider format is one I dearly love because I never feel like I'm eating too much even thought I am.

I think this would be a great dish to make for a party where people won't be super dressed up, but just like some home-cooked food for noshing. The only thing is you have to make sure it's all ready to go; you don't want your guests subjected to the horrors of a pan covered in meat muck.