[Ghoulish Delight]

This was a bit of decadance I whipped up a little while back under the theory that there are few greater phrases in the English languag than "bacon-wrapped". I played it by ear, so bear with the rambling, no particularly precise instructions.

Bacon-wrapped Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef, the leaner the better (def. no fattier than 85/15)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 large egg
dried basil
dried oregano
crushed garlic
bacon (at least 5 strips, I'll get to that)
1 Tblsp olive oil

Start by seasoning the beef. This is important, do NOT SKIMP ON SEASONING. Go nuts. I dumped at least 3 Tblsp of basil in, a couple Tblsp of oregano, and the equivalent of about 6 or 7 cloves of crushed garlic (in the form of jarred crushed garlic that I swear by). Go ahead and add anythng else you might think is good, maybe some chili powder for spice, but the key is, go big. The meat's gotta have flavor, and lots of it. Mix those in thoroughly. Add the egg and bread crumbs, mix in well. Form into balls. I made 4, but they ended up cooking a little too slowly. You have a couple options. Either make them more patty-like so they'll cook faster, but then you'll probably need more than one strip of bacon to wrap all the way around (nothing wrong with that). Or shape them into 5, or even 6 smaller balls. That's probably the best option.

Anyway, whichever you decide, wrap the balls with bacon. Sqeeze it on there so they stick. If I do this again, I might experiment with using a toothpick or something to hold it on, because that became an issue.

Heat a wide skillet or a large wok to medium high. Add the oil and let it heat up. Turn the heat down a to just above medium and add the meatballs with the bacon ring horizontal (so the beef should be what's in contact with the pan). Cook slowly for about 7 minutes on each side. Now the tricky part, making sure the bacon gets cooked all the way through. If you're lucky, you'll be able to roll the meatballs so the bacon sides are down and you can just keep rotating until it gets cooked. However, if you can't, or the bacon doesn't stay on, that's no big deal. Just take the bacon off and cook it in the pan. The beef will have gotten the flavor already and will continue to cook in the bacon fat. Cook until the bacon and the meatballs are done (you don't want the bacon very crispy).

Serve as desired. We had it with a brown gravy, egg noodles, and some steamed veggies.