ITALIAN STYLE MEATBALLS
I can't believe I am offering a recipe for meatballs.
There must be a jillion of them on the internet. Quite possibly, some even better. However, I thought my preparation warranted a trial. It is good and somewhat different than most; in both the ingredient
mixture and the cooking.
I am listing the ingredients necessary for one pound of ground beef, which should produce 25-1 1/4 ounce, 1-1/2 inch diameter meatballs. It will be very easy for you to increase or decrease the amount of ingredients depending on your ground beef weight.
Meatballs freeze very well, so by all means cook-up a
bunch. They are great with spaghetti, in a sub or
meatball sandwich and served as an entree with french
fries and a veggie or salad.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 LB. Ground beef chuck, I use 85% lean.
- 2 Medium size garlic cloves minced.
- 3/4 Cup Fine bread crumbs.
- 1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated.
- 2 Tbs. Heaping, finely chopped fresh parsley.
- 1/4 Medium onion, finely chopped.
- 1 Tsp. scant, Salt. Or to taste.
- 1/4 Tsp. Black pepper, ground. Or to taste.
- 2 Pinches dried basil, squshed.
PLUS: The juice from a 14-1/2 ounce can of whole
tomatoes. Should be about 3/4 cup. The balance of the
can of tomatoes can be added to your sauce or used for
some other purpose.
PREPARATION
I try to systematize all of my preparations. Here then,
is my system for manufacturing meatballs.
Pre-heat broiler.
- Place peeled garlic cloves in the bowl of a food
processor and whiz until finely minced. Add the
onion and whiz again to mince onion. Add parsley,
bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, basil, salt and pepper.
Whiz again until mixture looks moist.
- Dump your ground meat into a mixing bowl, add
contents from processor work bowl and the tomato juice.
MIx well to incorporate the ingredients. Try not to
compress the meat during the mixing process.
- Now lets make some meatballs. I use a 2 tablespoon
ice-cream scoop to measure the meatball mixture. Then I
round and firm them up a bit by hand. As each ball is
formed, I place them on a shallow baking sheet that I have
lightly oiled. Leave about a half inch of space between
the balls and rows.
- When all the balls have been formed, place baking pan
in broiler and broil until lightly browned, turning
once.
- There is no need to broil the meatballs until done. It
is best to place the browned, partially cooked meatballs in
your pot of simmering tomato sauce for final cooking.
- When cooked, meatballs should have a delicious flavor
and a moist and airy texture. Not hard and dry.
