I Love Big Balls…

I have been having HUGEEEE cravings for meatballs lately. And while I could’ve taken the easy way out – that’s the problem when you live in a city where you can get anything you crave 24/7 – and gotten some at the Meatball Shop, I decided to make my own.  Since I have problems with making choices and I always crave multiple things at the same time, I decided, why not have TWO varieties…. I also knew from the beginning that I wanted HUGE meatballs… none of those dinky silly little tiny smaller-than-a-golfball bs, I wanted giant baseballs :]

First, perheat the oven to 400 degrees…

Meatball Base
1 yellow onion, grated
1/2 c chopped fresh italian – flat leaf – parsley
2/3 c grated parmesan reggiano cheese
1/3 c panko
1 large egg
3 tbs ketchup
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp truffle salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Take all the ingredients and mix it all together.  I tend to go with dry ingredients first, then wet and then the egg last.  I took this meatball base and split it into two separate mixing bowls….

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Beef/Pork/Veal
4 oz ground beef
4 oz ground pork
4 oz ground veal
1 tbs fresh chopped oregano
smoked mozzarella cheese, 1 inch cubes

Mix all the meats and oregano with the meatball base and then roll them into balls, makes 6. Then add the cube of mozzarella into the middle of each ball. Roll 4 for larger [if so make cheese cubes a 1/2 inch bigger]

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Spicy Turkey
2 c chopped fresh basil [less if you’re not a huge fan of heavy basil]
12 oz ground turkey
1 tbs crushed red pepper flakes

Mix all of this together and roll them into balls, also makes 6. 4 if you want them even larger. I added a lot more basil and red pepper flakes because I love it super spicy and basil-y.

Spicy Basil Marinera Sauce
2 jars  25oz marinara of choice
2-3+ tbs crushed red pepper flakes [to taste]
1 c chopped fresh basil
1-2 chopped tomato
a few splashes of white wine
6 cloves of garlic, minced

We were lazy and bought two large jars of garlic marinara that was all natural, no sugar, judy plum tomatoes, fresh garlic, EVOO kosher salt, fresh basi land pepper…. the tomatoes were imported from San Marzano, Italy

Toppings
red pepper flakes
grated smoked mozzerella
grated parmesan reggiano

Turkey with Fusilli

Delicious toppings

Beef/Pork/Veal with Smoked Mozz with Farfelle

See the cheese oozing out of it?

These meatballs were soooooooo tender, they just melted in our mouths

With all the essential toppings

I ended up eating 7 meatballs.. and R only ate 3… hahaha :] I was soooo starved and craving meatballs…. since we actually ended up making 13 meatballs, R still had 3 meatballs to bring to work today for lunch :] Omg, this is starting to sound like a math problem….