Tuesday Dinners

Step by Step Directions

The milk, breadcrumbs, parmesan and eggs are what are going to be keeping your meatballs together so they should be added no matter what.

The additional spices are what are going to make them your meatballs, and you should know what you like for spices and what you don’t. I know I like some spices more than others, but if you’re trying to replicate exactly what I did then these were my proportions:

• Six shakes of crushed red pepper
• Two shakes of both a salt and a pepper container
• One teaspoon of minced garlic
• Three shakes of onion powder
• 7 shakes of Italian seasoning

Mix it all together, until the eggs are beaten and the mixture is uniform.

Do you need to mix these beforehand, probably not. I find that when I don’t that I’ll get chunks that are all garlic, or all breadcrumbs, etc. So this makes them more even meatballs.

I went for a 50%/50% split of Italian sausage and ground beef. If you like one more than the other than feel free to use whatever proportions you want, but keep it at two pounds, otherwise the ratio will likely be off.

You can mix with a spoon, but I’ve found that your hands just feel like the right tool to use, plus when you shape the balls it’s way easier to do with your hands.

Be careful not to overmix the meat, we’re not trying to tenderize it. I’ve found that the best method is to just spread your fingers and stick them into the middle of the meat and then rotate your hand clockwise or counterclockwise. You should get a roughly even consistency throughout.

At this point I’d preheat my oven, it should be at 350 degrees.

Now comes the hardest part, trying to make evenly sized meatballs. I’d say my 4th column was my most consistent but that was pure dumb luck. Because I said the recipe made 24 I was stealing little bits off of all the larger ones when I found myself at the end with 23 perfectly sized meatballs. So 23, 24 or 25 it doesn’t matter so long as they fit on your tray you’ll be fine.

Throw in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. To test that they are cooked thoroughly break one with a fork and see if the inside is no longer pink (5th column, 3rd down).

You can throw these in with a red sauce and then make either meatball subs or spaghetti and meatballs. Or you can eat them plain, up to you. Enjoy.

Variations

• Don’t add any cheese, but then when you’re forming the ball create a little ball of cheese (mozzarella works well) and then wrap it in the meat, it makes a little cheese stuffed meatball
• Use different meats (ground turkey, ground pork, only ground beef, etc.)
• Play with the spices, maybe add some cayenne pepper, if you have an herb garden use that instead of the packaged stuff
• Make different sized meatballs (cooking times will vary)

Unsolicited Feedback

• IG: You didn’t use all ground beef? Disappointing.
• ML: You just made meatballs, no sauce, no pasta? Disappointing.
• FA: You only made 24? Disappointing.