Recipe: Italian Meatballs

These meatballs are best used in tomato sauce, but don't let that stop you from serving them as appetizers :)

This is written as a base unit.  A pound of meatballs is about right for a three quart batch of sauce.

Two important bits of info I am going to warn you about ahead of time:

1) These take awhile to make.   You might want to make these a day in advance of when you intend to use them.

2) This will make a mess.

Read on!

Yield:  One pound of meatballs

Ingredients:

1 Pound ground beef (80% lean is ideal, but not mandatory)
1/3 Cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/3 Cup shredded Romano cheese
1/3 Cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg, well scrambled
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Add everything to a large bowl, mix VERY well, cover tightly and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Remove from fridge, and roll pinches of mixture into balls no more than an inch in diameter.   For me, 1/2 inch is ideal.

In a heavy frying pan, add about 1/2 inch of olive oil and set to medium heat.  Watch the oil carefully and adjust heat as needed to prevent the oil from smoking.  Olive oil has a low flash-point and will smoke at lower temps than regular oil.

Cook meatballs in batches, turning once, until practically burned.   What will happen is the cheese will melt out of the meatball and brown on the outside.   When cooked, move to a dish with lots of paper towels and drain.

Enjoy!