Here's a recipe I've been working on for a few years. It's a meatball recipe that is perfect for spaghetti, or bbq sauce over rice.
2 lbs ground beef. (I like to use costco beef, it's the best)
3 slices of white bread dehydrated in an oven at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes diced into very small crumbs. Or 1 cup dried bread crumbs.
1 Tbsp Italian herbs mix
2 tsp dried parsley, or 2 Tbsp fresh
1 Tbsp garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp dried minced onion or about 1/2 cup fresh grated onion.
1/2 cup ketchup
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cajun seasoning, or a couple pinches cayenne pepper or red pepper and a couple pinches paprika.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. You can use your hands to mush it all together, or use a spoon to combine it together.
After you have a nice mixture, take heaping tablespoons full of the mixture and roll it into a ball. This should make quite a few meatballs-- 30 or 40. Don't make them too big. They should be just a little smaller than a golf ball.
There are a couple of ways to cook the meatballs when they're done. The first, and easiest, is to brown the meatballs in a frying pan and then cook them in the sauce you're going to be using. For example, if you are making spaghetti sauce, brown the meatballs, then pour the sauce over them and then cook for about 10 minutes. Then put the sauce over spaghetti.
Another way to cook them is to boil them in a pot for about 10 minutes. You can then freeze them or use them right away.
The last way is to bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, depending on how big the balls are.
1 comment:
Ashely,
I thought that you might enjoy a different take, from an Abruzzi point of view. My meatballs are a bit different than even what my Grandfather would make, and Abruzzo Polpettine are smaller than those which with you may be familiar - some say about the size of the fingernail on your little finger, others go a bit larger and say the first joint of your little finger. I make them about half-way between those two gauges.
I use a pesto in my meatballs, one of parsley (one bunch, leaves only), walnuts (12, shelled and toasted), garlic (3 cloves peeled), olive oil (1-1/2 cups), sea salt, cracked rainbow peppercorns, and Parmigiana (8 ounces).
I also make my own breadcrumbs. I keep a bread collection of various crusty peasant breads and baguettes. Grab one of these, and slice it about 1/8-inch thick, until you have a cup or so of bits. Since they're stale, they'll crumble somewhat. :p
To make the meatballs (polpettine):
1. soak the breadcrumbs in cream - just enough to wet them
2. stir in 3 tablespoons of pesto
3. one whole egg per pound of meat plus an egg
4. mix in 3/4 pound very good quality ground beef [I like Creekstone Natural from Piazza, if you're nearby]
5. and then 1/2 pound each of ground pork and veal
6. one-quarter of a medium red onion, diced and sautéed
7. grate nutmeg and ground in salt and pepper to taste [though please don't taste raw eggs or pork
Mix the above really well, roll in your hands to form balls about 3/16-inch in diameter, and brown in olive oil, bacon fat or grease from browning diced pancetta.
You can read my whole take on spaghetti and meatballs in my blog post, "Abruzzo Polpettine".
Buono Appetitto.
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