Chef Rocco Dispirito's Mama's Meatballs

"While watching the cooking segment of the October 19th episode of The Tony Danza Show, Chef Rocco's Dispirito's mama prepared her infamous meatballs. I have not tried them, but I have a friend that did the following night and said she will never make another meatball recipe again."
 
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photo by ChefJohnnyChicago photo by ChefJohnnyChicago
photo by ChefJohnnyChicago
Ready In:
1hr 35mins
Ingredients:
14
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Place the chicken stock, onion, garlic, and parsley in a blender or food processor and puree.
  • In a large bowl, combine the pureed stock mix, meat, bread crumbs, egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, red pepper flakes, and salt.
  • Combine with hands until mixture is uniform, do not overmix.
  • Put a little olive oil on your hands and form mixture into balls a little larger than golf balls.
  • Pour about 1/2 inch of extra virgin olive oil in straight sided, 10-inch-wide saute pan and heat over medium-high flame.
  • Add the meatballs to the pan, working in batches if necessary, and brown meatballs, turning once.
  • This should take about 10-15 minutes.
  • While meatballs are browning, heat the marinara sauce in a large pot.
  • Transfer the meatballs to the pot with the marinara sauce and simmer for one hour.
  • Serve alone or over your favorite pasta.

Questions & Replies

  1. How many eggs should I use fur 2 lbs of ground beef
     
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Reviews

  1. I followed the recipe as shown ( many times....it's wonderful!) , but this time, I made it as a meatloaf! It was wonderful! I added some good red pasta sauce and a couple of strips of bacon across the top......baked it covered for 45 minutes at 350, uncovered it and baked it another 45 minutes. It was great as meatloaf, great sliced the next night and made into a "meatball" sandwich with Provolone and more gravy, and tonight it got diced and mixed with rice and stuffed into peppers and baked! Won't ever make regular meatloaf again!
     
  2. I loved these meatballs. I liked the idea of blending the garlic and onion with the broth. Be careful if you have a strong onion, use less, or the onion will overpower the meatball. I didn't like that my meatballs were GREEN with the blending of the parsley in the broth, and would just add the parsley, chopped very fine, with the other ingredients. I also used leftover stale Italian bread instead of the breadcrumbs, soaking the bread in the liquid for a while to break down the bread. I would also refrigerate the mixture for about an hour before forming into meatballs for ease in shaping. The spices are just right, make for a tasty but not overpowering meatball.
     
  3. Best meatballs EVER! The slurry is key! I’ll never use another recipe for meatballs, other than this, again! A BIT mushy, so cut back the slurry by 1/4 or so. Otherwise, AMAZING!
     
  4. These meatballsl are light, not dense like most I've tried, and have more flavor than any others!! This is the only recipe I will ever use
     
  5. Super moist and I found that the broiler thing did not work for me so I threw the egg plant into the oven and mashed it up very well and you would never know it was in there!! Super meatballs and sauce!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I loved these meatballs. I liked the idea of blending the garlic and onion with the broth. Be careful if you have a strong onion, use less, or the onion will overpower the meatball. I didn't like that my meatballs were GREEN with the blending of the parsley in the broth, and would just add the parsley, chopped very fine, with the other ingredients. I also used leftover stale Italian bread instead of the breadcrumbs, soaking the bread in the liquid for a while to break down the bread. I would also refrigerate the mixture for about an hour before forming into meatballs for ease in shaping. The spices are just right, make for a tasty but not overpowering meatball.
     

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