Meatballs

I love meatballs, and these are my favorite.  Not only are they tender, flavorful and delicious, but they are versatile as well.  So far I have five different ways to serve them, but there will probably be more in the future.  The mix of meats is what makes these meatballs so delicious.  I find meatballs made only with beef to be a little dry and tough.  Adding ground pork and veal makes all the difference. I multiply this recipe by six, so I'll have plenty of meatballs for all these different applications

Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Simple Side
Column: EG & EH
Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen


Meatballs
Serves: 6

1/2 lb ground veal
1/2 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
1 1/4 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cups grated parmesan
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 egg

1. Combine all the ingredients together.

Now you have some decision to make. What size do you want?  Cooked or uncooked? Sauce?

I decided to make large meatballs to put in marinara sauce to serve with spaghetti, Roman gnocchi or as a sandwich.  I also made tiny meatballs with no sauce to use in soup.  I cooked both sizes in the oven before freezing to save time on cooking later, but you could freeze the meatballs raw and cook to serve.

The large meatballs were approximately 1.5 oz each baked at 400 degree for 22 minutes until they reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees. 

The small meatballs were approximately 0.5 oz each baked at 400 degree for 10 minutes until they reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Marinara Sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 cup red wine

1 - 14 oz can pureed tomatoes

1 - 14 oz can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and saute until translucent.  Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook for a minute longer.
2. Add the wine and cook over high heat, stirring regularly, until most of the liquid has evaporated.
3. Stir in the tomatoes including the juices from the diced tomatoes.  Simmer over low heat for 25 minutes.
4. Cool.

To freeze:

For meatballs with sauce divide the meatballs into the desired number of containers.  Divide the sauce between the containers as well and pour over the meatballs.  Freeze.

For meatballs without sauce place the meatballs on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Freeze until solid then transfer to a bag or container for storage.  This works for cooked or raw meatballs.

To serve:

For cooked meatballs thaw the meatballs in the refrigerator overnight, reheat in the microwave or on the stove and use as desired.

For uncooked meatballs take the raw meatballs straight from the freezer to the pan and cook them covered over medium low heat, turning occasionally, until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degree. Serve as desired.

Serving ideas:

Spaghetti and Meatballs

The classic of course.  Simply reheat the meatballs in the sauce or add a store bought sauce to plain meatballs and serve over spaghetti.  I recommend Barilla Protein+ pasta as it has more protein and fiber than regular pasta while still being delicious.  I'm not being compensated for endorsing this.  I just like the pasta.

Meatballs Sandwich

I love meatball sandwiches.  I used to live in Brooklyn where there are amazing meatballs heroes everywhere.  I've never found a good one anywhere else (much to my frustration) until I started make my own meatballs.

Reheat meatballs and sauce, hollow out a crusty loaf of bread like a boat and place the meatballs in the bread, top with shredded cheese and broil to melt.

Roman Gnocchi

I saw this recipe on Youtube and had to try it.  It's delicious!  It's some work to make, but one batch made so much I ended up freezing some because we couldn't eat them all.  Turns out they freeze really well, so that's something that will be added to my freezer meals roster in the future.

The recipe is available at Food Network, although I used minced garlic instead of sliced.  

To Freeze: Cut out the gnocchi, but do not sear.  Place the gnocchi on a sheet tray lined with parchment and freeze.  Once frozen, transfer to a bag or container for storage.

To Serve: Lightly coat a frying pan with oil and heat over medium heat.  Place the frozen gnocchi in the pan and cover.  Flip them over once the first side is golden brown and cook until golden on the outside and heated through. Heat the sauce and meatballs and serve together.

Italian Wedding Soup

I love this soup!

Rigatoni and Meatball Soup

Follow the recipe above.  Skip the meatball part and just make the soup.  Once the soup is blended, add frozen, tiny meatballs to the soup and heat through. 

This recipe calls for you to cook your pasta separately, which seemed like a lot of  extra work.  I simply added the raw pasta to the soup along the with meatballs and simmered until the pasta was cooked.