Meatballs
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Cook Time: 12-15 min and up
Tonight for dinner we’re having leftover meatballs and tomato sauce served over some pasta. I like to make enough meatballs so that there will be plenty leftover for another day. Here’s what you’ll need:
appx 1 lb ground meat (you can use beef, turkey, or sometimes you can find combo packs that contain some beef and pork)
1/2 of a medium sized onion – dice this really finely
1 egg
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese (the kind that comes in the cylinder-shaped plastic container works best)
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
Note: This recipe usually yields around golf ball-sized 30-35 meatballs.
You’ll want to combine all of the above into some sort of mixing bowl. Unfortunately, your hands are the best tools to use to combine everything. You don’t want to mix and squeeze everything to death, but you do want to combine everything well. If you find that the mixture is a bit too wet (as I’ve found when I use turkey), add a little more of the breadcrumbs and/or the cheese.
After mixing, you’ll want to have a tin foil lined sheet pan handy or some other place to lay the meatballs out. Now comes the rolling part. I like to grab enough of the mixture to make a golf ball-sized meatball (I never was a fan of the huge meatball). Again, use your hands for this. As you complete the meatballs, arrange them in an orderly manner on the sheet pan. Try to put a little bit of space between each ball.
When it comes time to cook the meatballs, you have a few options. You can put the foil lined sheet pan into a preheated 350 degree oven for about 12-15 min and be done with it. If I have the time, I like to brown them over the stove top on medium to medium-high heat in a few tablespoons of olive oil. To do this, you’ll need a pan that does not have a non-stick cooking surface, otherwise they won’t brown. It’s also hard to brown all sides of a circular object because technically circles don’t have sides. What I usually do is rotate the balls a few times while I brown them. I also brown them in a few batches…it takes longer, but it’s easier to brown them when they aren’t all crowded together. The browning process shouldn’t take more than 8-10 minutes total. After they brown, I like to place them into a pot of my homemade tomato sauce and let them finish cooking with the sauce. You certainly can finish cooking on the stove without the sauce, just be careful not to burn the meatballs. You can always sacrifice one to see how cooked-through it is.
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of making pasta sauce, you can also add them to store-bought pasta sauce that comes in a jar. I personally am a Bertolli guy if I have to pick one. Read the list of ingredients in a jar of Bertolli sauce…it’s all good stuff. Somehow the sauce almost tastes home-made and it comes in many different varieties. Speaking of home-made pasta sauce, that’s next on the list.
