The Best Italian Meatballs And Winter Storm

We sure dodged the bullet with the winter storm impact here especially compared to Nashville.  We had a trace of snow on Saturday then rain which continued thru Sunday (while we made the meal below) then about a quarter inch of snow on ice fell overnight Sunday which made our road too dangerous to drive on so our Monday plans were cancelled.  And most importantly, we didn't lose power which I feel very fortunate about since I need it to keep the RV warm.

You know you are a serious Italian cook when you name your blog La Belle Vita Cucina (My Beautiful Life Kitchen), go to Italy to visit and cook with family members, and you attend the famous Mama Agata Cooking Class on Italy’s Amalfi Coast.  And so it is with Roz who takes us on her cooking journey via her blog and who recently published a post titled “Secrets For The Best Italian Meatballs.”  Since Bev and I had just discussed wanting spaghetti and meatballs, Roz’s recipe immediately moved to the top of the list.

I made a few changes to the ingredients to match what I can get here – country ham in lieu of prosciutto and regular bacon rather than pancetta.  I cut them into smaller pieces, froze overnight, then chopped in a food processor.  You can see Roz's original recipe by clicking on the above link.

The Best Italian Meatballs – Slightly adapted from La Belle Vita Cucina

Ingredients: 

2 cups cubed stale bread (Larry used a several day old baguette)

2 cups whole milk

2 cups water

1½ cups freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, (plus a wedge for garnish). . . do NOT use the pre-grated version from a can

1 small onion, (grated using a standard box grater in a large bowl, minced to make 1 cup and also keep the juices of the grated onion) (Larry used the food processor)

⅔ cup finely minced Italian parsley

3 jumbo eggs

7 Tbsp 00 fine Italian flour or white pastry flour – See note

4 large garlic cloves, minced

⅛ cup chopped fresh basil

2 Tbsp. dried Italian seasonings

1 tsp Kosher salt

½ tsp. black pepper

1 lb. ground pork

1 lb. 80/20 ground beef

1 lb. ground mild Italian sausage

1 slice pancetta, cut 1/4" thick (Larry used 3 thick bacon slices)

1 slice prosciutto, cut ¼" thick (Larry used country ham)

2 cups all-purpose flour for dredging meatballs, for your hands to be somewhat dryer

Note – We weren’t sure where the 00 fine flour went so we added 4 tbsp to the egg and cheese mixture.

Instructions:

Remove the crust from the very old, dry, hard-as-a-rock bread and discard it. Cut into slices and then cubes — allow bread to set until it is rock hard. (Larry’s were like croutons after sitting out overnight)

Cut the bacon and country ham into inch squares and freeze for an hour then chop them up in a food processor.

In a large mixing bowl, soak the bread in milk and water for 30 minutes to soften the bread, before mixing it in the ground meat mixture.

Take the bread that has been soaking in the milk & water and squeeze out all of the milk and water. Add to the large mixing bowl. (Larry used a small colander to press out the liquid). Discard the milk water.

Combine the softened, moist breadcrumbs with the ground meats, prosciutto, and pancetta in a large bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, onion & juice, Italian parsley, eggs, garlic, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Now combine the meat/breadcrumb mixture to the cheese, egg, and herb mixture.

IMPORTANT: Use only the tips of your fingers to combine the ingredients so that you do NOT overwork the mixture, which causes the meatballs to be heavy and hard.

Place some flour on a clean plate for dredging the meatballs.

After combining all of the meatball ingredients, take a small amount of the mixture and in the flour roll it into 2" round ball shapes. Use a scoop if you prefer for consistency in size, but Mama Agata did not use a scoop. (Larry made 3 oz meatballs)

Roll the meatballs in the flour. Shake off any excess. Repeat this process until all of the meat mixture is made into meatballs.

Place the floured meatballs onto a baking sheet pan and cover with plastic cling wrap. Refrigerate the meatballs for at least 1 hour or overnight (Three hours for ours).  This allows the fat in the meats to solidify so the meatballs keep their shape when cooked.

We got 26 three-ounce meatballs.  Some folks prefer them smaller but I actually like them even bigger so these were a compromise with Bev.

Baking the Meatballs

Preheat oven to 425F (I cooked them hotter in hopes of a little crust on them and got a little).  I really preferred them seared but didn’t want to deal with the mess.

Place meatballs on a large baking sheet pan at least ½" apart.

Bake to an internal temp of 165F (30-35 minutes)

For the sauce, we used our usual Rao’s Marinara and reheated the meatballs in the sauce for serving.

The Verdict:

The meatballs were very good plain out of the oven and they were delicious with sauce on them.  I was concerned they might need more salt but with the country ham and the parmesan plus the added tsp, there was plenty.  They were moist and tender but still held together so just the way I like them.  They were as good as I ever had and I’ll definitely make them again but will make the effort to fry and get a nice crust on them. Thanks Roz for a great supper.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/25/25 event date