MEATBALLS 🧆🍝🧄

Not your grandmother's meatballs

I’ll be honest… growing up, meatballs were never really my thing. Maybe it was the old wives’ tales, maybe it was the way they were made—who knows? But wow, has my tune changed. I cannot get enough of these now.

Here’s one of my go-to versions—simple, cozy, and exactly what you want when you need to warm yourself from the inside out. And if you’re in the mood for the fancy version, leave a comment below and let me know 😉 .

WATCH FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO HERE!

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups stale bread, crusts removed and torn

½ cup whole milk (or substitute heavy cream)

3 cloves garlic

1 white onion, peeled and quartered

2 tablespoons, plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for cooking a tester (see below)

½ cup chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

1 pound ground beef*

1 pound ground pork*

2 tablespoons ground fennel

2 teaspoons ground chili flake

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste

½ cup grated parmigiano cheese

½ cup grated pecorino cheese

2 eggs**

METHOD

1. Soak the bread: Put the torn bread into a bowl. Cover the bread with the milk (or cream). Leave the bread to soak until completely softened, about 10 - 20 minutes.

2. Make the meat mixture: Grate the onion using the large holes of a box grater over a bowl. Be sure to keep the onion liquid. Grate the three cloves of garlic with a microplane into the bowl with the grated onion. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Alternatively, you can add the quartered onion to a food processor with the garlic and the olive oil. Process to a puree.

3. Squeeze the excess liquid from the soaked bread. Add to the bowl with the onion puree. Add the ½ cup of chopped parsley. Add the ground meats, spices, salt and pepper. Add the cheeses, eggs and the last tablespoon of olive oil.

4. Mix together with your hands. Keeping your palms open, fold the meat over itself so as not to overwork. Don’t squeeze or press the meat. Continue until everything is well-combined.

5. Test the seasoning: Make a little patty from the meat mixture. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add a little olive oil. Cook the patty for one minute on each side. Remove from the pan and cool for a minute. Taste to evaluate the seasoning. The patty should be flavorful and well-balanced. Adjust the seasoning as needed.

6. Form the meatballs: Take a piece of parchment paper, crumple it up, then straighten it out so that it lays flat. Lay the parchment on a sheet pan.

7. Be sure to keep the meat mixture cold while you form the meatballs. Use an ice cream scoop to portion the meat evenly. The size is up to your preference. Make sure that all the meatballs are equal in size so that they will cook evenly.

8. Roll each portion of the meat mixture in your palms to form a nice ball. Keep one palm still while the other one moves in a circle to round out the meat. Line up the rolled meatballs on the parchment-lined tray leaving some space between each meatball.

9. Once all the meatballs are formed, cover the tray and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or up to overnight. You want the meatballs to be very cold before you cook them so that they don’t lose their shape.

10. Cook the meatballs: Preheat your oven to 475F.

11. When the oven is ready, take the meatballs out of the refrigerator and put directly into the oven. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn the oven up to broil and cook for an additional two minutes.

12. Remove the meatballs from the oven and cool for a few minutes before serving.

* You can also use ground veal if you’d like, in any combination with the ground pork and / or ground beef. Make sure that you have two pounds of meat.

** As a rule of thumb, use one egg for every pound of meat.