Monday Meatballs Recipes

Steps:

• Strain the plum tomatoes in a colander to extract the juice, breaking the tomatoes apart with your hands. Discard the pulp and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add 4 cloves garlic, the onion, red pepper and black pepper. Saute until the onion is soft and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add juiced tomatoes, red wine, Parmesan and salt. Add the tomato paste and the water and stir together over medium heat. *Cook's Note: Tomato paste should be added after making meatballs and ribs.
• Put the ground meat in a mixing bowl. Beat the eggs and add them to the meat along with 6 cloves garlic, the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, Parmesan and milk. Mix this all together with your hands. Wet your hands with water and continue to wet them as you pinch meat from the bowl and roll into 2-inch balls. Roll the balls in the flour.
• Heat 1/2-cup of oil in a large skillet. Add 3 cloves chopped garlic and saute until golden brown. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the meatballs and saute over medium-high heat, turning them until they are brown all over.
• *Cook's Note: As soon as you can pick them up with a fork, they are ready. You don't want them to be well done. If the meatball slides off the fork when you pick it up, it needs to cook a little longer.
• Cut the ribs apart and remove the membrane. Saute them in 1/2-cup oil until very brown and remove.
• Return the garlic to the oil and add tomato paste (for the sauce) to the pan; Cook, stirring, over medium heat for about 3 minutes until it softens. Remove from the heat and add to the sauce.
• Add the meatballs and spareribs to the sauce. Bring to an easy boil, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Add the basil and simmer for 15 minutes more. The spareribs should be very tender, falling off the bone and the meatballs should float in the sauce

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Oil 2 rimmed baking sheets with olive oil.
• In a large bowl, combine the pork, beef, bread crumbs, pork fat, prosciutto, parsley, 1 tablespoon of the salt, oregano, fennel seeds, and chili flakes and mix with your hands just until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the ricotta, eggs, and milk just enough to break up any large curds of ricotta. Add the ricotta mixture to the ground meat mixture and mix lightly with your hands just until incorporated. The mixture should feel wet and tacky. Pinch off a small nugget of the mixture, flatten it into a disk, and cook it in a small saute pan. Taste it and adjust the seasoning of the mixture with salt, if needed. Form the mixture into balls each weighing about 2 ounces and 1-inch in diameter, and place on the prepared baking sheets. You should have about 30 meatballs.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are browned. Remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
• Sprinkle the tomatoes with the remaining 2 teaspoons salt, and then pass the tomatoes and their juices through a food mill fitted with the medium plate. Alternatively, you put the entire can of tomatoes in a large bowl, don an apron, and then squeeze the tomatoes into small pieces with your hands. Pack the meatballs into 1 large roasting pan or 2 smaller roasting pans. Pour the tomato sauce over the meatballs, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and braise for 1 to 2 hours, or until the meatballs are tender and have absorbed some of the tomato sauce.
• Pull the pans out of the oven and uncover. Distribute the basil leaves throughout the sauce.
• For each serving, ladle meatballs with some of the sauce into a warmed bowl. Grate grana over the top, drizzle with olive oil to finish, and serve immediately.
• Pair with Aglianico-Campania

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, combine the beef, bread, onion, milk, salt and eggs. Shape into little meatballs, about 1 inch in size. Place the meatballs into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
• Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Pour barbecue sauce over the meatballs and bake for 35 more minutes.