Italian Week: Meatballs

C – Meatballs are my favorite.

I always try to make my meatballs differently each time. It’s one of those recipes where I know how to make the base, and then I just keep on adding things until I feel it’s right. For some reason it always turns out well.

So, I won’t be sharing my recipe for making meatballs. I wanted to share Luke’s recipe instead.

Of course, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

Luke’s meatballs are expensive! Three different types of ground meat and expensive prosciutto make his meatballs flavorful and delicious.

Of course, you can’t eat these every day. But, once in a while is really good.

The normal ingredients of milk, day old bread and eggs are included to make these meatballs light and not rock hard.

I really liked Luke’s meatballs. They are baked to perfection and can be eaten all by themselves or with pasta sauce and pasta.

I caution you to not go too fast in eating these delicious little morsels. They are good and really rich.

Italian Week: Meatballs

Recipe type: Mains

Author: Christina

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 60 meatballs

Ingredients

• ¾ pound ground veal
• ¾ pound ground pork
• ¾ pound ground beef
• ½ pound prosciutto, chopped; or country (salt cured) ham
• ½ loaf, day old sour baguette, crust removed, torn into small pieces
• ½ yellow onion, chopped
• ¾ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 4 tsp salt, more or less, depending on desired taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh sage, minced
• ⅔ cup heavy cream
• 2 eggs

Instructions

1. Place torn pieces of bread in a bowl and add cream. Mix well and set a side to absorb.
2. Place prosciutto in a saute pan and cook until crispy. Remove from pan. Leave any drippings in the pan.
3. Add onions to the same pan. Cook until soft.
4. Place prosciutto in a food processor and chopped until almost pureed.
5. Place veal, pork and beef into a large bowl.
6. Add cooked onions, eggs, bread and pureed prosciutto. Mix well.
7. Add Parmesan, 2 teaspoons of salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
8. Do a sample by cooking a small piece in a saute pan with some oil. If it tastes good, skip to the next step. If it doesn’t taste right add more salt and pepper. Then, do a retest. We added 2 more teaspoons of salt.
9. Once the taste is perfected, using a one inch ice cream scoop to make small balls. Place meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cooked.
11. After baking, if you want them crispy on the outside, place in a saute pan and cook until crisp.
12. Serve as an appetizer or with a tomato sauce and pasta.
13. Enjoy!

3.1.08

A food coma might happen if eaten too quickly. That’s what happened to Jim and I after our Italian cooking day with Luke.

Thanks, Luke, for showing me how to make your special meatballs. They were delicious.