Meatballs

[loops]

Re: Meatballs

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i think it's the oatmeal cauzing the ball breakage [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img]

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nah...she needs egg...it binds. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: Meatballs

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i think it's the oatmeal cauzing the ball breakage [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img]

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umm...yeah. di oatmeal.

[Pepper]

Re: Meatballs

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but of course, this depends on the size of your balls.



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It's a new year, so I will not take the bait. I will refrain from making inappropriate remarks on boardlane. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70388-shameonyou.gif[/img]

I wonder how long this resolution will last?
[img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img]

[rudemonk]

Re: Meatballs

well allright, you need a huge saucepot.

you pour a little olive oil in the pot and you fry a lot of spanish onion, which you dice up. let's say you have a big saucepot, you judge by that, how many onions. A couple, let's say. You see, she would make a whole pot of sauce no matter what, cuz it took all day sunday from early, and whatever was left would last through the week, cuz she would make pizza, or just have different pastas...you see they were real poor, so whatever they made had many uses, the sauce was a backbone, and even if you didn't get any meat you still could get the benefits cuz it would permeate the sauce.

you also fry in there some garlic. she would just take the cloves and smash them up, no bother to cut or dice them. now the relatives would start coming over. I don't know why, but I always think this is an ingredient too, and important. A lot of knowledge would drop around that sauce pot, some I still keep today.

now you can get cans of plum tomatoes or grow them. they got them in the supermarket though, already peeled. So she would get the cans if she had no fresh, and she would chop or mash up the tomatoes and then throw them in there after the onion and garlic were fried.

then she would get tons of fresh basil and put that in there too. oregano. this is all to taste so there's no measurements. and if there were seeds in the tomatoes cuz she didn't feel like straining them, then she would throw some sugar- just a little, to cut the acid from the seeds.

Now that cooks on a low to medium fire, for like a day, lol...keep some old jars handy and some fresh basil stalks, because you can dump the leftovers into the empty jars, stick one of the basil stalks in there and you are good to go. If the sauce turns any bitter from the seeds you just add a little more sugar- usually it will go too quick though, trust me.

Meanwhile, she is making the braciola, which are thin cuts of beef or pork, stuffed with salami or prosciutto wrapped around hard boiled egg, cheese, breadcrumbs, and then tied into a roll with butcher string. Or she is making and frying the meatballs, and sausage, and pork chops. The chops gotta have the bone, cuz that's where the good flavor comes from. And hardboiling a couple of eggs for my uncle Anthony. He always knew how to find the eggs.

As the meatballs and what not get done, into the sauce they go, cuz they gotta cook in there.

I remember sundays like they were yesterday, and that's how it was 'til she passed. now her recipes sort of got taken up by diffferent people. I make the sausage rolls, my aunt makes the arancini, another uncle makes the sfingi, and another makes the calamar and scungil, another takes up the honey balls binulata.

the only thing that brought the kids inside was dinner time, and to steal a meatball out of the pan before it got into the sauce.

Oh yeah, someone was asking what locatelli is, it is a kind of grating cheese, romano, as opposed to parmegan- bettter flavor for some things.

it's not that difficult, just time consuming to cook it to get the best flavor. You'll see too, that the second or sometimes third time you use it during the week, man...what flavor.

[Pepper]

Re: Meatballs

Thanks RMonk.

I can taste it now. I can't make the sauce tonight (obviously), but maybe in a week or two.

Let me go hit print so I can add this to my recipe file.

[mountaingal]

Re: Meatballs

rudemonk, that ain't a recipe, that's literature, lol! feel like rereading it with a glass of brandy in ma hand.

i mite try that recipe when the weather is a little warmer and i have fresh basil growing.

[rudemonk]

Re: Meatballs

you guys won't regret it.

[QK13]

Re: Meatballs

Pepper! I make a wickid sauce. Sen mi wan ticket fi come a yuh yaad an mi wi mek yuh some. Wid meatballs and sausage an poke!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

BTW, If you're going to simmer your sauce a while, and you bake the meatballs, (which is what I do) they can go into the sauce partially cooked and finish cooking in the sauce.
I usually cook mine till they're well done. 350 for about 45 minutes. Make sure the pan is deep enuff coz they are very fatty.

A combination of ground beef and ground pork is nice, Some fresh crushed garlic.

For the weight consious, try ground turkey or ground chicken.

[Pepper]

Re: Meatballs

Thanks QK. Lets see if I can find one good fare fi yuh. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I usually use ground turkey. But last night I wanted to make beef and the ground beef pickings were not that great last night. So we went with a meatless jar sauce. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

But I still have my print-out. I might have time on Sunday afternoon to do this justice.

[SistahD]

Re: Meatballs

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Thanks everyone for your recipies.

I am going to use a combination of the above, and use Loops' method of 'frying' the meatballs. BTW, Loops how long does this baking process take?

Thanks all. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] It's spaghetti and meatballs tonight. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img]

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I'd worry about the fat spitting inside the oven - and the cleanup after...

[QK13]

Re: Meatballs

About the eggs in the balls... that is definitely why they are falling apart.
for 1lb to a pound and a half I use one egg... the more meatballs you are making, add the eggs accordingly.

Pork... I use country style pork ribs, I season and brown them before I put them in the sauce, then they finish cooking as the sauce simmers.

I also cook my sausages in the oven. I like them well done before they hit the pot, but that's just me. It's a texture thing.
I cook them before the meatballs or if it's a small quantity of both, I cook them together. If not, the meatballs go right into tha same baking pan the sausages just came out of, right into the fat from the sausage. YUM!

[loops]

Re: Meatballs

i take it you've never cooked a pork roast...or broiled bacon?

you have to clean the oven?????? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[loops]

Re: Meatballs

I roast my sausage in the oven first too QK....keeps in the flavor...after i've roasted them...i let them cool and little, then slice them up and put them in the sauce.

[SistahD]

Re: Meatballs

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one pound chopped meat, 2 eggs, little milk, parmesan cheese and some bread crumbs - rub it up and fry the blls then pour some sauce and simmer- Leonie's version [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70367-help.gif[/img]

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Simple and nice - I'd leave out the cheese but put in seasoning (black pepper, thyme and garlic - no salt because most of the sauces have salt)


I make a wicked spaghetti sauce... but when I make meatballs, I make enough to separate for different sauces...

- fry and thoroughly cook meatballs, place in casserole, pour bottled garlic sauce (from the chinese section) and bake... garlic goes right through the meatballs and is great on brown rice, serve with steamed or stir fried veg


- fry and thoroughly cook meatballs, place in casserole, pour equal amounts of ketchup (catsup) and soya sauce over meatballs, cover, and bake. (quick version of Swedish meatballs). Great over rice or even egg noodles


ETA When I fry the meatballs... they are very well done... right to the centre - almost crusty on the outside - but when you simmer them/bake in the sauce, they soak in the juices from the sauce, and are very moist and almost melt in your mouth.... yummm

[QK13]

Re: Meatballs

Sis, at 350, they roast nicely, Not real messy. Not any messier than cooking any meat in the oven.

Monk, I hear ya bout the pan flavor!! Specially when the edges get just a little burnt!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70377-loveeyes.gif[/img]

My friends nona (Nona Grippi) was like 97 years old used to deep fry her meatballs. Also nice... as well as low fat! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
I also know people who put their meats into the sauce raw and let them cook all day.

With the pork, if you put it in partially cooked, it is just soooo sweet and tender... never dry. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70377-loveeyes.gif[/img]

GAWD! Do I have to make a sauce now??? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70456-eyebrows.gif[/img]