Mama Meatballs and Sauce

Back on track.  Happy cooking.

½ lb each ground veal, pork and beef (85% fat)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

2 slices sandwich bread

¾ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

2 large eggs

½ cup (approx) milk

Olive oil

15-20 ounces crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano

Handful of fresh basil leaves, whole

¼ (approx) of red wine- don’t overthink this

Salt, crushed red pepper flake

Preheat oven to 350

1.    In a large baking dish, add crushed tomatoes, wine and basil.  Set aside.

2.    Add all meat in a large bowl and break up to combine

3.    Add garlic, cheese, red pepper (optional) and with your hands, evenly mix into meat.

4.    Place slices of bread in a small, separate bowl and pour milk over until liquid is fully absorbed.  Break up bread into pea size pieces and add to meat.  Gently fold bread into meat.

5.    Lightly beat eggs and add to mixture, again, gently incorporating the liquid into the meat.  Do not over work your meat once you add the wet ingredients!

6.    Heat a large skillet on high and coat with olive oil.

7.    Always test your mixture before forming and cooking all the meatballs.  Place a tablespoon size of your meat into the pan and cook through.  Taste your food.  Add more garlic, cheese or salt if needed.  I don’t add salt in the beginning because of the saltiness of the cheese.  You can always add it at this point if you want.  

8.    Begin forming your meatballs and be gentle.  Do not compress the meat with your hands; carefully form the meat into the size somewhere between a golf ball and baseball.

9.    Add 8-10 meatballs at a time to the skillet and brown on all sides.  Continue in batches until meatballs are all browned, adding them to the sauced baking dish.  Finish cooking the meatballs in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes, checking after 15 minutes.

10.       Serve along side macaroni, on a hero with some fresh mozzarella or straight up.  Don't forget the sauce!

Variations: 

Add ground turkey instead of beef, which I actually prefer so long as you use dark meat ground turkey.  You need a bit of fat in these guys to make it nice.

Skip the skillet and place meatballs straight into the oven, cooking time will obviously be longer.

Enjoy!
MJM

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