Classic Italian Meatballs

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Remember I told you guys that every Italian girl has their "favorite marinara" recipe? Well, the same can be said for meatballs.  Everyone has their favorite. Chances are, you all think your mom's or your grandma's is the best.  Well, I'm no different.  I, of course, think my Classic Italian Meatballs are the best.

My meatball recipe is the second most asked about recipe by friends (the first being Chicken Broccoli Ziti).  I have held off on sharing my recipe because I have never measured any of the ingredients before.  To some of you this is a totally normal statement, you get it, a pinch of this, a palmful of that.  But to some others, you're probably like "what the hell do you mean you don't measure".  Let me explain.

Normally when friends ask me how to make meatballs I give something like this as their measurements and instructions:

"Add a healthy palmful of breadcrumbs, then add half that amount in cheese, toss in one or two eggs depending on how it looks and crush up a bit of garlic and if you feel like it, add a handful of grated onion.  Salt, um, you know, the normal amount. Then dump them in your sauce.  Or you can fry them then dump.  Oh, you can bake them and dump too.  Whatever, just mix them up and cook them."

Well a few weeks ago a friend of mine decided she was going to attempt homemade meatballs (I know, she's never made a decent meatball, can you believe it?  Don't hold it against her).  She sent me a text asking me what ingredients she needed.  Then she sent me a text asking for some "basic instructions".  She knows I have a hard time with measuring my classic recipes.  After a little back and forth with the amounts and instructions, we came to the conclusion that I really have to come up with a solid meatball recipe, with actual measurements and no "eyeballing" and "palmfuls". Sigh.

Now that I'm talking about helping my friend with these meatballs, I've got to tell you the rest of the story and hope she doesn't get angry with me for telling it:

We go back and forth a bit via text about the meatballs and her homemade sauce (surprise, surprise, who knew she had it in her) and then the phone rings......

"Hello?"

"Hi, so on the parsley, how much do you think you add?"

"Ummm, I usually just chop a handful and whatever looks right, maybe 2 T, maybe 3, I tend to go heavy because that's my preference"

"Well, how much dried parsley"

"WHAT????  DRIED?? You didn't get fresh parsley?? Oh my God, don't even tell me your not using real garlic?"

Nope, she wasn't using real garlic.  Sigh. I tell her I'm going to hang up on her and she tells me it wouldn't be nice.  She's right, it wouldn't, but I think about it. 

Okay, deep breath.

I walk her through a little bit more and I poke fun at her a little bit more and I'm happy to report she made meatballs that pleased her entire family (except her teenager, but he's a teenager and there is no pleasing teenagers, especially those who don't even like sauce)! Yay!  She tells me "you really should do a couple of recipes for your blog for idiots like me".  Her words, not mine.

Fast forward one week.  I can't get stupid meatballs off the brain.  So I decide to make a batch of my Classic Italian Meatballs and per my friend's brilliant idea, I decide I'm going to measure! I even used real measuring cups and spoons, not just my hand and eye!

I felt so much pressure to get the measurements right on this one that I made my favorite marinara and forgot to use the immersion blender, so I had very chunky sauce, which was fine but not what I was going for. 

Now, on to  the big debate - how to cook them.  I have always been a simmer in the sauce girl.  I plop the formed meatballs right in. I know a lot of people don't like this method, but it's the way I grew up and I'm sticking with it.  I dare you to tell my Nana that it's not right!

What cooking method do you use for Classic Italian Meatballs?

Classic Italian Meatballs

foodyschmoody

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Print Recipe

Ingredients

  

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 2 eggs
• 2 T parsley freshly chopped
• ¼ C grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• ½ C breadcrumbs dry, seasoned
• 2 T milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper freshly cracked
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• optional: ½ sweet onion, grated
• 2 jars prepared marinara sauce or use recipe for My Favorite Marinara

Instructions

 

• Before mixing meatballs, bring marinara up to a simmer in a large pot.
• To a large bowl add breadcrumbs and milk. Stir together with a fork so that the breadcrumbs become moistened. Add in the eggs, parsley, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, black pepper and red pepper (if using onion, add it now too). Mix all together with a fork.
• Add beef and pork to bowl and use your hands to combine the breadcrumb mixture into the meat.
• Form meat mixture into balls. I used a ¼ C measuring cup to portion out the meatballs for even sizing.
• Drop meatballs into simmering sauce. Allow to simmer in sauce at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

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