I have made these little beef and pork gems at gome successfully for many years without giving them much thought. Mainly because they are simple to make, require few ingredients and do not contain garlic or onions to disturb your "inner" happiness. Some of you gentle folk know what I am talking about (wink wink). My Brother-in-law shared with me that he wanted to begin cooking with his 7 year old son Nick as a new activity they can share together and eat more healthy. After a recent family lunch where I served these tasty spherical delights he asked for my recipe. So here it is for you to try and have the freedom to make changes and additions to create your own family recipe.
Makes 24 meatballs-1 1/2 wide, or slightly larger golf ball.
1 lb. lean ground beef , 93% lean
1 lb. pork
3 slices bread, shredded by hand
1 cup milk
1 heaping Tbl. Italian herbs
1 lb. lean ground beef , 93% lean
1 lb. pork
3 slices bread, shredded by hand
1 cup milk
1 heaping Tbl. Italian herbs
1/2 tea. salt
1/2 tea. black pepper
28 oz. jar red pasta sauce
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Fresh sweet basil leaves
1/2 tea. black pepper
28 oz. jar red pasta sauce
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Fresh sweet basil leaves
Shred by hand 3 slices of any regular bread into a bowl, add milk making sure every piece is moistened.
In a larger bowl add ground beef, ground pork, italian herbs, salt, pepper and milk soaked bread. Using your hands, thoroughly mix all ingredients until evenly distributed throughout.
In a wide flat skillet coat with olive oil (approx. 3 Tbls.). Begin taking a golf ball sized piece of the meatball mixture and rolling it into a ball and placing it on the skillet, in a single layer, no stacking. Do not spend time rolling a perfect sphere as the meat balls will slightly lose their shape during cooking.
When all the meat mixture is rolled into meatballs and placed in the skillet, cook on medium heat. If meatballs begin to cook too quickly reduce heat to medium/low. Allow to cook for about 10 to 12 minutes until the bottoms brown slightly. Check for browning by using a large tablespoon or serving spoon. If the meatball refuses to detach from the pan, it has not yet browned. After you determine the bottoms have browned, remove skillet from the heat. Using same serving spoon, very gently turnover each meatball so the uncooked tops are now resting on the skillet surface. Return skillet to heat for their second browning.
After approx.10 minutes when the second side is browned, pour the red sauce over all the meatballs, cover skillet and continue to cook for 10 minutes on medium/low heat. The sauce should gently bubble and finish cooking the meat thoroughly and the flavor of the sauce will be enhanced by the brown bits of meat resting on the bottom of the skillet called fond.
Pour over cooked pasta, or serve in a bowl sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan cheese and chopped fresh sweet basil leaves. Slices of toasted french bread are great to soak up any extra sauce.
