Fluffy meatballs in sweet and sour sauce with beer

Beer is an amazing ingredient to cook with. It can totally transform a plain recipe, add a kick to various sauces, give a richer taste in braised foods. It is so versatile since we can marinade meat like pork or beef with it, to cook sea food in, to use in a batter for fried vegetables and fish. It goes perfectly well in bread dough, in cakes, pastry, crepes, even in ice cream!!! It is better to cook with a type of beer that you normally like to drink! The taste of beer stays with us after cooking, so choose one depending on the flavour you'd prefer your food to have: a light,  fruity, strong or bitter flavour

Ingredients (for 4 people):
400-500gr. ground pork
4 slices of stale toast bread
1 ½ tea-cup of beer (of your choice)
6 tbsp of finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ tea-cup of grated Greek Kefalotyri cheese (or other hard/salty cheese)
4 tbsp of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp of mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped (thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage)
salt
pepper
1 tbsp of butter (or margarine)
2 tbsp of brown sugar
2 tbsp of plain vinegar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Soak the bread in ½ tea-cup of the beer.

In a large bowl put the ground pork, the cheese, the parsley, the fresh herbs, half the quantity of the onions and the garlic, the bread well drained, salt and pepper.

Knead the ingredients well with your hands and shape into medium size meatballs. Place them in a layer on a non-stick oven pan. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, in a deep non-stick frying pan, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the rest of the onions and the garlic and sauté until they get soft-stirring with a wooden spatula.

Pour over with the vinegar, add the brown sugar and the rest of the beer (1 tea-cup), season with salt and pepper, switch to medium-low heat and simmer the sauce for 10-15 minutes.

Add the meatballs in the beer sauce and keep simmering for another 10 minutes until they are fully cooked and the sauce is slightly thickened.

Serve while they are still hot with their sauce along with fried or mashed potatoes or rice pilaf.