Mi Noni's Italiano Meatballs

Submitted by WilliamItaliano

"The meat I prefer to use in this recipe is ground pork but it can be substituted with either lean ground beef or ground turkey. For vegetarian meatballs I use *Morning Star Breakfast Sausage patties. *Prep for vegetarian meatballs is basically the same. However the measurements and cooking is a bit different. I will post if there is request for it."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Yields: 15-60 meatballs

ingredients

• 1 -3 1 -3 lb ground beef or 1 -3 lb turkey
• 3⁄4 cup seasoned bread crumbs, per lb meat
• 1⁄4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, per pound meat
• 1 large egg, per pound meat
• 1 large crushed fresh garlic clove, per pound meat
• 1⁄4 cup freshly chopped sweet basil, per pound meat
• 1⁄4 cup of freshly chopped oregano, per pound meat
• 1 teaspoon of granulated onion powder, per pound meat
• 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic powder, per pound meat
• 1⁄8 teaspoon ground black pepper, per pound meat
• extra virgin olive oil (for frying)

directions

1. Place your preferred meat into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl beat eggs until smooth. Add half measured seasoned bread crumbs and half of beaten eggs to meat and mix thoroughly. Add the remainder of all measured ingredients including the eggs and bread crumbs. You may need to mix everything with your hands to make sure that all ingredients are well incorporated into the meat. The consistency of the meat should be wet, not sticky or pasty. If the meat wants to stick to your hands while rolling a meatball then you should add another egg, one extra egg won't hurt the end result no matter the amount of meat being used.
2. Once you have a wet consistency of meat cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours(overnight is best).
3. To prepare meatballs have a small bowl of lukewarm water handy to keep the meatballs from sticking to your hands while rolling. Scoop meat with a tablespoon to keep size consistent and timing for frying. When rolled into a ball the meat should be about the size of a golf ball. Fry meatballs in a 12 inch skillet in olive oil. Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes per side or until browned on both sides. Please note that the fry time is one quarter the time of being fully cooked since these meatballs finish cooking in a 2 hour tomato sauce. When all meatballs fried drop into your tomato sauce.
4. Note: If you prefer you may bake the meatballs as well. Place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until nicely browned. Again the cook time is for meatballs that are halfway cooked since they again go into a tomato sauce for final cooking. Also ground turkey will cook faster than pork and or beef so be sure to test the doneness of the ground turkey. Any over cooking before dropping your meatballs into your sauce will result in dry over cooked meatballs.

Reviews

[m6246]

Liked the way this recipe was presented: so much of an ingredient per pound of meat, I started with 5 pounds of ground beef... I decided to bread the meatballs, saute them until well browned before putting them in a large cast iron dutch oven and putting them in the oven at 350 until I had the spaghetti cooked, sauce warmed and garlic toast toasted. I prepared these meatballs for my two teenage football playing sons and their friends. What a delicious meal. Thanks for the recipe

 

[Anonymous]

Good but not enough breadiness for me--read my Tweak. Thanks.

 

[JustJanS]

What wonderful meatballs these were. I used 300g (just under 3/4 lb) ground pork, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, a small egg and garlic clove and a couple of tablespoons grated parmesan etc etc. The meatballs were really moist and really tasty and we enjoyed them a lot. I served them alongside zucchini baked in tomato sauce, so we just mopped the sauce up with them rather than cooking them in a sauce. Thanks for posting.

 

[NOOBchef]

I'm not actually going to review thsi recipe .. just thought you might like to know that Nonni , as in grandparens , is spelt with two 'n's. :P avevi scordato ?