Tuesday night I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs. David and I had talked about having them for a while. Since it was a weeknight, I didn’t get to make my own fresh pasta. It saddens me that I haven’t used my Kitchen Aid pasta attachments is quite some time (I will rectify that this weekend with homemade lasagna!!)
Meatballs are a great compromise for having meat in the sauce. I usually prefer my sauce meatless, but my David insists on having meat in the sauce. I can leave the meatballs off my plate if I don’t want to eat them. I intended on doing just that this time, until I tasted one of the meatballs I made. They were delicious!!
I found a recipe by Michael Symon online for meatballs. I didn’t plan well and really didn’t have all I needed to make them exactly as his recipe calls for, but they came out pretty darn good. Next time I am trying his recipe and making some homemade ricotta cheese for it.
These meatballs are tender rich and juicy, wrapped in ricotta cheese, milk-soaked bread and flavored with garlic and shallots. If you don’t think you like meatballs, you need to try these! If you want to try my version, here is what I did:
Soak the bread in the milk in a medium bowl.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots; saute until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow them to cool.
Combine the beef with the cheese, salt, egg, and the cooled shallots and garlic. Remove the soaked bread from the bowl and squeeze the bread in your hand to ring out the remaining milk, then mix the bread into the meat mixture. Make sure it disperses well into the meat mixture, but try not to overwork the meat.
Next, roll the meat mixture into 2-inch balls using about ¼ cup for each meatball. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large deep Dutch oven or skillet. Add the meatballs and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until golden on the outside.
Add them to your favorite prepared spaghetti sauce and simmer them while you prepare your pasta.
Killer Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups bread day old
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 shallot minced
- ½ pounds ground beef (chuck)
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil divided
Instructions
- Soak the bread in the milk in a medium bowl.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots; saute until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow them to cool.
- Combine the beef with the cheese, salt, egg, and the cooled shallots and garlic. Remove the soaked bread from the bowl and squeeze the bread in your hand to ring out the remaining milk, then mix the bread into the meat mixture. Make sure it disperses well into the meat mixture, but try not to overwork the meat.
- Next, roll the meat mixture into 2-inch balls using about ¼ cup for each meatball. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large deep Dutch oven or skillet. Add the meatballs and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until golden on the outside.
- Add them to your favorite prepared spaghetti sauce and simmer them while you prepare your pasta.
david spivey says
Lasagna ooooo boooooy
Pauline McNaught says
I’m making my second batch of meatballs with this recipe (in 2 weeks); they are as promised, tender, juicy and delicious. I found this recipe using the term ‘killer’ meatballs because that is my husband’s nickname for me :). I find a lot of great recipes this way. I had not made meatballs in over a year because they weren’t great…no one got excited about them. THESE have my family excited, and they’ve highly encouraged me to NOT lose the details. The ingredients are simple and the method easy (though mine probably take a bit longer for me to finish because I let the bread/milk mixture come to roomish temperature as well as the meat after adding the egg, cheese and cooled shallots/garlic. Note: I use 2 lb. of ‘meatloaf’ mix (ground veal, pork, beef). Not sure if this is readily available where you live but is a common ‘find’ in Rhode Island from the Italian influences here.
The Mountain Kitchen says
Hi Pauline! Yes, the meatloaf mix is awesome. We’ve used it before. I’m so glad you and your family loved this recipe. Thanks for taking the time to leave us a review!