My Family’s Meatballs

Buon appetito!

There are a million ways to make an Italian meatball and every family has their own recipe and their reasoning behind why their meatball truly is the best. I’m not here to tell you our family recipe is the best because I’m sure there’s a little grandmother living in the Italian countryside who deserves that title more than we do but I will say, the group pictured above knows about meatballs. We make them often, we talk about them even more often and in Bobby Flay fashion, we throw down and compete against each other for “best meatball” bragging rights. All that to say, with permission from my Mama, we’ve decided to share our family’s meatball recipe. from our family to yours, buon appetito!

Joanie’s Meatballs:

Level of Difficulty: EASY (Two steps: assembling the meatball and sautéing it). 

Prep Time: 25 – 30 minutes

Cook Time: 6-8 minutes sautéing and for as long as you like in your tomato sauce! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of ground beef chuck (or if you prefer you can do 1/3 ground beef chuck, 1/3 veal and 1/3 pork but it’s not necessary). 

1 cup of Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs (not plain)

1 egg, beaten 

1 cup of grated sweet onion 

½ cup of minced parsley (you should see the green flecks throughout the mixture)

1 clove minced fresh garlic

½ cup of Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

½ cup of whole milk

1 teaspoon of salt -OR- garlic salt and black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

In a large mixing bowl, add your meat, your breadcrumbs and so on. We add it in the order of the ingredient list. The most important thing is to make sure the ingredients are mixed together well.

Now, we’re ready to roll! We try to get 12 meatballs per pound. For reference, try to roll yours slightly smaller than a golf ball. Keep your meatballs compact and uniform. 

In a large skillet, heat 1 cup of olive oil on med-high. Once at the med-high heat, add one meatball. If the oil sizzles, you’re good to add the rest of the meatballs. Just make sure you’re not overcrowding the skillet as you will need room to turn them. Depending on the size of your  skillet, you should be able to fit 8-12 meatballs in one skillet or saute pan. 

In terms of doneness, our general gauge is 3 minutes per side. We want to make sure there’s a nice brown crust on your meatball. 

Once your meatballs have been turned you can add to your sauce or let them cool and freeze them for future meals.