Italian Meatballs in a Basket

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photo by a food.com user photo by a food.com user
Ready In:
30mins
Ingredients:
11
Serves:
8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Lightly shape ground beef into 1 1/2-inch balls.
  • Lightly brown balls in margarine in large frying-pan, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the green pepper and onion to meatballs; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Drain tomatoes, reserving liquid.
  • Add tomatoes, all but 1/4 c tomato liquid, basil and thyme to meat balls.
  • Cover tightly and cook slowly 5 minutes.
  • Combine reserved tomato liquid with flour, stirring until smooth.
  • Stir into meatballs, cover tightly and cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick.
  • Meanwhile prepare Italian Bread Basket and place on platter.
  • Spoon meatball mixture into and around bread.
  • Garnish with green pepper rings and cherry tomatoes, if desired.
  • Italian Bread Basket:

  • 1 Loaf (16 ozs) Italian Bread, Unsliced
  • 1/4 Cup Margarine, Melted
  • 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated
  • Cut a 3/4 slice from top of bread.
  • With fork, scoop out inside of bread to form basket, leaving 1-inch bread on all sides and bottom of loaf.
  • Place loaf on foil in shallow baking pan.
  • Brush top, sides and inside of bread with melted margarine.
  • Sprinkle loaf with Parmesan cheese, coating sides evenly.
  • Bake in hot oven (400 Degrees F.) for 10 minutes.

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Reviews

  1. The presentation is wonderful! But the meatballs are lacking flavor. If you add the green peper, onion & spices to the meat before forming the balls they would be more flavorful.
     
  2. I took the advice from Brenda Horn's review and added the red (I substituted red for green) pepper, onion & spices to the meatballs. I didn't have the steamed tomatoes on hand so I had to settle for Ragu. It was all very good. Although it's a nice presentation in the bread basket, I think next time I'll just slice the bread and cook it as directed. It was kind of awkward to serve from the "basket." Great recipe!
     
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