I Like Big Balls

One of my all-time favorite meals is spaghetti and meatballs, and with meatballs bigger is always better.  They usually end up somewhere around racquetball size, or midway between that and a tennis ball.  What can I say? I like my meat big. But tender too.

I start with a butt-ton of onions.  This is about three medium onions, diced.  It takes me about four minutes to dice all these onions.  You just need to know the trick – and I’ll show you in another post.  Once you know how, you will never buy chopping gadgets again because it takes more time to get them out than it does to actually chop the onions.  Side benefit? You rarely cry because you don’t spend enough time messing with the onions.  Only half of these onions are destined for the meatballs, the other half is going in the sauce.

Next comes another butt-ton of garlic, because half of this is also going in the sauce.  I used about half of a regular sized head of garlic.  Peeling garlic is easy peasy if you cut off the root end and them smash the cloves with a heavy glass, the side of your knife, or something else a little weighty.  The paper slides right off.  Mince the garlic.  With a knife, please, not one of those squisher things if you can help it.  That sucks the life right out of the garlic if you ask me.  I’ll show you how to do this in no time too.

I add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a medium-hot pan and toss in the onions.  I toss in a little kosher salt because it not only seasons them, it helps them to sweat.  I cook the onions until they’re soft and starting to caramelize a little, then I toss in the garlic.  The garlic only needs to be heated up until it gets fragrant, not too long or it starts to scorch and it will be bitter.

At this point I take half of the garlic/onion stuff out for the meatballs and the rest stay in this pan for the sauce.

To the garlic and onions in the pan I add my already measured sugar, kosher salt, dried herbs (parsley, basil, thyme), crushed fennel seeds, and pepper.  Then I add a splash of balsmic vinegar, three cans of crushed tomatoes and 2 cups of broth.  You can use any broth you like, but I think beef broth gives it a nice rubust flavor.  If my veg friends are coming over I’ll use vegetable broth and it’s good that way too.

Let it simmer for about an hour. Stir it sometimes.  It will make your house smell like heaven.

Now it’s time to get ready for the meatballs.

I use a mixture that’s about one part ground pork to two parts ground beef.  Add the reserved onion garlic mixture.

I add a couple of eggs, about a cup of bread crumbs, a cup of Parmesan cheese, a handful of chopped fresh parsley, and some kosher salt and pepper.  Look how nice and orange those eggs are.  It’s worth it to have those beyotches clucking under my bedroom window to get eggs like that.

Get your hands in there and mix it up.  I add some water or milk, or a combination of both, until the mixture is kind of loose.  You want it to be softer than it would be for a meat loaf.  Don’t over mix it, though.  The point of adding the liquid is to have tender meat balls and over mixing makes them tougher.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and brown them on all sides.  After they’re brown you have to make a choice.  You can either finish cooking them in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, or you can simmer them in sauce for about 30 to 40 minutes.  Since I’ve usually made enough sauce to freeze a couple of batches I usually cook them in the oven and then toss them in the sauce while it’s re-heating.

Toss the cooked pasta with sauce before plating and you’ll get nicely coated noodles.  Add two or three meatballs and some cheesey goodness and you’re all set!  I cannot tell you how tender and flavorful these meatballs are.  You’re just going to have to try them yourself!

And remember – bigger is always better!

Man, now I’m hungry.