Meat Balls

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Ms. Mofet's Italian Meatballs

3 lbs. Ground Beef
1 Egg
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs - or just enough to bind and hold shape
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Grated Romano cheese

ALL HERBS AND SPICES (dry and fresh) to personal taste)

Dry Herbs and spices:
Oregano
Granulated Garlic powder
Onion powder
Goya Adobo seasoning
Accent (or MSG) - optional
Ground Sea Salt
Ground peppercorn blend
Ground red pepper flakes
Cayenne
Hungarian Paprika (sweet, hot or both)
Rosemary
Thyme

Fresh herbs and spices:
Fresh garlic - minced fine or grated on microplane (I sometimes use Trader Joe's frozen garlic cubes)
Onion - minced fine
Fresh basil - chopped fine
Fresh oregano - chopped fine
Fresh parsley - chopped fine

Oil for frying

Place meat, egg, crumbs and cheeses in bowl.
Add all herbs and spices (dry and fresh) to taste.
Mix well.
Place a turn of oil in heavy pan (I use cast iron pan) and heat.
Form a small flat test meatball burger and fry. Taste and correct seasoning if needed.
I used a 1/3 cup disher to form the meatballs and flattened them slightly.
Place a thin coating of oil in cast iron pan and heat.
Fry meatballs on both sides (or cook in oven at 450°F. I use convection roast till nicely browned, about 10 minutes) and drain on paper.

Browned

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Simmered in homemade sauce with homemade Braciole and store bought Italian sweet sausage.

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Served with cavatelli and topped with fresh grated parmesan and romano chesses.

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Update.
Baked off the meat balls at 450f and had to turn them once to get two sides brown. Seams almost a wash vs frying. Less spatter, but a much larger pan to wash. Plus they stuck a little bit. Had to use a metal spatula to release them.
I could have used parchment, but was concerned it would retard browning?

They were great except they could have used a bit more salt. Once again I made meat balls and did not really taste the product before cooking them. Lesson once again learned. My mother always tasted the meat mixture raw. I don't like doing that and I don't like to dirty another pan to test one to see. But I will from now on.

Made garlic bread from crushed garlic cloves, softened butter, chopped flat leaf parsley and a splash of very good EVOO. A compound butter if you will.
Smeared on split Torta rolls.
Served the meatballs and sauce over linguine. Good dinner and was also my lunch for today.
Thanks everyone!

Whiskadoodle. Sounds very interesting with the addition of the Italian sausage.
I see you still add more fennel seeds.
I also am not sure about that much dried oregano? Seems a tablespoon would take over the dish?

My mom and now I always fry a test meatball "burger" to taste. This allows you to see how the fried meatball will taste and allows you to correct seasoning. I find that after simmering the meatballs are less spicy so I add a bit extra seasoning.
 
Thanks so much for your detailed report, RB. I hate it when we never hear an end to a story, as so often happens here.

MsM.....you did it again, I'm drooling over those pictures!
 
Thanks so much for your detailed report, RB. I hate it when we never hear an end to a story, as so often happens here.

MsM.....you did it again, I'm drooling over those pictures!
Thank you Kay.
 
Update.
Baked off the meat balls at 450f and had to turn them once to get two sides brown. Seams almost a wash vs frying. Less spatter, but a much larger pan to wash. Plus they stuck a little bit. Had to use a metal spatula to release them.
I could have used parchment, but was concerned it would retard browning?

I guess I should have mentioned that I line the sheet pans with foil :ermm: :) It makes cleanup much easier, but they still brown very well, especially on the bottom.
 
I guess I should have mentioned that I line the sheet pans with foil :ermm: :) It makes cleanup much easier, but they still brown very well, especially on the bottom.

When I oven cook my meatballs I also line my pan with foil or parchment (which ever I have on hand) or a silpat pad.
 
I have no chance of consistently getting this meatloaf mix. I just buy a package of each and mix my own. I usually have some pork and veal leftover and that goes into the freezer for another use. Sometimes I just use it to make a meat sauce.

I can usually get the mix at bj's club, it's a big enough package to make extra for the freezer. I've made them with ground turkey and they were surprisingly good.

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1 lb ground beef
1 lb. Italian Sausage (cudaghi sausage if you can get it)
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1 large egg, 3 tbs. milk
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped sweet pepper
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sweet basil
1/4 tbs. granulated garlic powder

Combine all ingredients, kneading with hands until everything is well mixed. Make into 1/2 inch balls, place into a hot sauce pan and add 1/2 cup water. Cover and simmer for ten minutes. Transfer the meat balls into a heavy skillet and brown on all sides. Add to the marinara sauce and simmer for ten more minutes.

Seeeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
I have used ground turkey or ground chicken instead of the veal, to keep the cost down, and nobody seems to notice.

I can never find just a small package of ground pork sausage in my supermarket. So I just remove the skin on Sweet Italian sausages. They already have seasoning in them, so I go light on the seasoning for the rest of the meat when I use them. I have also used a rack over a cookie sheet. When I do that, I find that the bottom browns slightly at the same time as the top of the meatballs.

Depending on how my hands feel or if I have an open cut, I will sometime mix them in my mixer. Just one more thing to have to wash in cleanup. :angel:
 
Yes, I know better to check out the mixture before forming and cooking them. But for some reason I always seem to overlook this step. Or I am to lazy to do it.

The meat balls I made would have been much better had I checked the seasoning. In particular, the salt. I had Pecorino (about a cup) plus the salt I did add, that I stupidly assumed they would be seasoned enough. That was not the case, though the family loved them, I knew they could have been much better.
And I am the guy always clamoring for more salt!

MsMofet. Those are some beautiful food pictures there. Beautiful!!!!
 
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Yes, I know better to check out the mixture before forming and cooking them. But for some reason I always seem to overlook this step. Or I am to lazy to do it.

The meat balls I made would have been much better had I checked the seasoning. In particular, the salt. I had Pecorino (about a cup) plus the salt I did add, that I stupidly assumed they would be seasoned enough. That was not the case, though the family loved them, I knew they could have been much better.
And I am the guy always clamoring for more salt!

MsMofet. Those are some beautiful food pictures there. Beautiful!!!!
Thank you RB
 
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