Meatballs
- 60 milliliters milk: dairy, soy, almond, oat (1/4c)
- 15 grams breadcrumbs: panko, wholewheat, sourdough, white (1/4c)
- 454 grams ground beef or pork or, preferably, a combination (1 lb)
- 1 large egg
- 1 medium sized onion, peeled and grated (about 1c)
- 1-3 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 28 grams good quality parmesan cheese, grated (1 oz)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2-1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed
- handful of chopped parsley
- salt & pepper
- some sort of sauce (traditionally a "red" sauce like a marinara but could be a creamy sauce instead)
Preheat oven to 175C/350F.
Start making or heating a sauce for your meatballs - marinara*, arrabbiata, pesto cream. You want your sauce to be mostly ready to go in about 35 minutes.
Mix the milk and breadcrumbs and let sit for a few minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to completely absorb the milk.
Mix meat, bread/milk, egg, parmesan, onion, garlic, thyme, chili flakes and fennel seed together in a bowl, until well mixed. Add some salt and pepper - err on the side of too little, you can always add more later.
Shape 16 balls out of the mixture and place them on an oven-safe pan. Bake for about 25 minutes until lightly browned. If the meatballs overcook they get dry and you don't want that!
Transfer the meatballs into your heated sauce and either scrape the pan or deglaze the pan using wine, stock or spirits so that you get the yummy brown fond from the meat that sticks to the pan and pour it into the sauce.
Let the meatballs simmer in the sauce for a minimum of 15 minutes, 30 might be better.
Serve over pasta, polenta, toast or rice and finish with parsley.
*This is a great place to use Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce.
If you have leftover meatballs after making this recipe, meatball sandwiches are an obvious - and yummy - choice. Another awesome way to use the leftovers is Stuffed Peppers: cook up some rice (we used short grain brown) mix with crumbled leftover meatballs and stuff the mixture into bell peppers. Blend some canned tomatoes with a touch of vinegar (to taste) for a sweet and sour vibe and pour over and around the stuffed peppers. Bake until the peppers are soft, maybe 45 minutes to an hour? Soooo good!
