Italian Meatballs

The first official day of fall!  Although I am sad to see summer fading away, I am very excited for fall…one of the best times of the year.  Changing leaves, cooler temperatures, pumpkin spice lattes, and the return of football season.  With the cooler temps comes the urge to cook some classic comfort recipes and I decided to make an attempt at mastering the art of Italian meatballs.  From what I read, texture of the meatball is just as important as the taste.  I cannot even begin to describe how awesome they turned out! Even though I made quite a few, they were super easy to freeze and are just as good when reheated again (a great thing to come home to after a long week of traveling).  I paired them with spaghetti, but I could also see serving them with hoagie buns and parmesan cheese for a zesty meatball sub (great for watching football with friends on the weekend).  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, 1/4-inch diced

Salt

2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

2 Pinches crushed red pepper

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground veal

1/2 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

1 cup breadcrumbs (I would recommend getting Italian flavored ones)

1/2 cup water

Marinara Sauce

Directions:

Coat a large saute pan with olive oil, add the onions and bring to a medium-high heat. Season the onions generously with salt and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. The onions should be very soft and aromatic but have no color. Add the garlic and the crushed red pepper and saute for another 1 to 2 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl combine the meats, eggs, Parmigiano, parsley and bread crumbs. It works well to squish the mixture with your hands. Add the onion mixture and season generously with salt and squish some more. Add the water and do 1 final really good squish. The mixture should be quite wet. Test the seasoning of the mix by making a mini hamburger size patty and cooking it. The mixture should taste really good! If it doesn't it is probably missing salt. Add more. Add more anyway.

Shape the meat into desired size. Some people like 'em big some people like 'em small. I prefer meatballs slightly larger than a golf ball. Lay the meatballs on a cookies sheet and set in the freezer for 10 minutes – this will help keep the balls together when browning (Thanks PioneerWoman for this tip!)

 Coat a large saute pan with olive oil and bring to a medium heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides, but don’t cook them all the way through. 

This is where I deviated from the recipe and instead of putting them in the oven to bake, I decided to put in a large pot of marinara sauce to finish cooking.  This way the juices in the meatballs blends with the sauce.  I let it simmer on low heat for about an hour.  Just make sure the meatballs are fully cooked through when you serve. 

Feel free to freeze the meatballs or serve over pasta!

                                                     Right before popping in the freezer for a few minutes

Recipe Source: Food Network

Picture Source: Lindsay Klindt