CHEF JOHN'S ITALIAN MEATBALLS
Homemade meatballs are a very easy to make, and since we skip the very messy step of pan-frying these before they hit the sauce, it becomes downright simple. Here I use a standard half-beef/half-pork mixture. You can substitute water or beef broth for the milk, if preferred.
Provided by Chef John
Categories World Cuisine Recipes European Italian
Time 2h15m
Yield 30
Number Of Ingredients 14
Steps:
- Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
- Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onions in hot oil until translucent, about 20 minutes.
- Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl. Stir onions, bread crumb mixture, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and Parmesan cheese into meat mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
- Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Using wet hands, form meat mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Arrange onto prepared baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven until browned and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 81.9 calories, Carbohydrate 1.7 g, Cholesterol 32.3 mg, Fat 5.5 g, Fiber 0.2 g, Protein 6.2 g, SaturatedFat 1.9 g, Sodium 192.1 mg, Sugar 0.5 g
POLPETTINE - ITALIAN HOUSEWIFE'S MEATBALLS
Zia Tea, my Italian aunt, used to make meat balls when she had left over meat which did mot make another meal for the family. She stuffed it in her meat grinder, ground it and then added raw ground meat. She was not wealthy in terms of money, so she had plenty of fruit, veggies and herbs from her wildly growing garden, but could not afford to buy lots of meat and especially no costly cuts of meat. My mother, studying in Rome during the late 1950s and early 1960s, used to spend her holidays with zia Tea, whose husband worked as a fisher, and they were quite poor but shared everything they had with my mother. The meat they occasionally had was cheap horses' meat and the fish mostly salted codd which lay around in the kitchen cupboard. When I was a child, zia Tea and her husband run a pet store and had some more money, but not much. No more horse meat and salted codd, but some inexpensive beef or pork cuts, thinly sliced turkey or sometimes one of the rabbits from the pet store. Stocking up the left over meat which she ground for polpettine, she used whatever was on sale at the local butcher's, so it was never exactly the same polpettine. But they were the best I ever had in my life! You can use every kind of ground meat you like and adapt the amount of garlic to your taste. She didn't use a lot so that the lemony flavor and the sage and celery were not overwhelmed.
Provided by Mia in Germany
Categories Meat
Time 40m
Yield 6 , 6 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Chop garlic, celery leaves and potato.
- In a mixing bowl combine ground meat, bread crumbs, grated lemon peel, salt, chopped garlic, sage and celery leaves, potato, two tablespoons olive oil and the egg.
- Knead like bread dough and slowly add some milk to make a soft dough.
- The meat dough should be smooth and homogenous.
- Shape into 2 inch meatballs, flatten to about 1 1/2 inch thickness and fry in olive oil until golden brown.
- My aunt served them with a salad of cooked green beans and potatoes, seasoned with nothing but salt, pepper and savory and drizzled with olive oil.
ITALIAN MEATBALLS WITH CAPERS (POLPETTINE AI CAPPERI)
Provided by Frank J. Prial
Categories dinner, appetizer
Time 45m
Yield Fourteen meatballs
Number Of Ingredients 14
Steps:
- Put the meat in a mixing bowl.
- Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the onions. Cook, stirring, until the onions are wilted. Set aside and let cool briefly.
- Soak the bread crumbs in the milk and add this to the meat. Add the egg, cooked onions, salt and pepper. Add the marjoram and parsley and blend well.
- Divide the mixture into 14 portions and flatten each. Make a slight depression in the center of each meatball. Add an equal portion of the capers in the center of each. Bring up the edges and shape into balls, enclosing the capers in the center.
- Dredge each ball in flour and shake off excess.
- Heat the oil in a heavy, nonstick skillet and add the meatballs without crowding. Cook, turning carefully, until the meatballs are browned on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the wine and cover closely. Let simmer 12 minutes. Serve with a little of the hot pan liquid spooned over.
Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 79, UnsaturatedFat 2 grams, Carbohydrate 4 grams, Fat 3 grams, Fiber 0 grams, Protein 8 grams, SaturatedFat 1 gram, Sodium 126 milligrams, Sugar 0 grams, TransFat 0 grams
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