Fresh Fig Sweet And Sour Meatballs

• Sauce
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 large vine-ripened tomato, chopped
• 5 or 6 fresh ripe figs, chopped
• Red wine
• Chicken or vegetable broth
• Balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Honey
• Meatballs (make 10)
• 1/2 pound hamburger, made into meatballs using your favorite technique. I used garbanzo bean flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Next time I would experiment with a 5 spice powder instead of oregano.
• Olive oil

1. For sauce, lightly saute the shallot in a sauce pan and then add tomato, fig, a splash of red wine, some broth (maybe halfway up the fig/tomato mixture, a 1/4 cup or so), a couple of teaspoons of salt, and the best pepper you have on hand. Mine came from Costco and I keep it fresh in the freezer, since it's pre-ground. Let this simmer while you prepare meatballs.
2. Heat a skillet (mine was non-stick) and add a touch of olive oil. Add your 10 meatballs to the skillet to brown.
3. Taste the sauce and add a touch of honey to balance it out, correct the seasonings. The figs will have varying amounts of sweetness, so add the honey to taste. Simmer the sauce really low and let it reduce.
4. Brown the meatballs on all sides and cook them until done.
5. I heated up pre-cooked brown rice and microwave-steamed some fresh brocolli.
6. Add 5 meatballs to a plate (on top of rice if you like) and then spoon half the sauce over.
7. I thought the taste was earthy, spicy and balanced with sweet and sour. Yummy!

sauce, shallot, tomato, fresh ripe figs, red wine, chicken, vinegar, salt, fresh ground pepper, honey, hamburger, olive oil

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/fresh-fig-sweet-and-sour-meatballs-50046107 (may not work)