Recipe: Basic Meatballs

Meatball lovers unite!

This recipe includes estimated measurements for the ingredients. I prefer to eyeball it, wing it, guessimate it, etc.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Italian seasoned, plain, panko: take your pick. I've used pulverized Saltines in desperation.
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 lb. Ground meat: Meatball/meatloaf mix is preferred, but plain ground beef works, too. The "mix" includes pork, veal, and beef.
• 1/2 a large onion finely chopped
• 1/2 cup parmasean cheese
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 egg
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive oil for frying

Instructions:

1. Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Stir in the  milk slowly until the breadcrumbs have absorbed as much milk as they can. The mixture should not be soupy.
2. To the milky breadcrumbs, add the meat, the onion, cheese,  garlic powder, beaten egg, salt and pepper. Use your hands to incorporate all of the ingredients.
3.  Form 1-inch balls with the meat mixture and stack on a plate or cutting board.
4. Coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil. Heat on medium. When the meatballs are placed in the pan, they should sizzle. If they don't sizzle, allow the pan to heat a bit longer.
5. Brown the meatballs on all sides. You should do this in batches, so as to not overcrowd the pan. After two or three batches, your oil may need a re-fresh, so feel free to add another glug to the pan and let it come back to temperature. 
6. If you will be adding your meatballs to tomato sauce (Sunday Supper Style), just get a nice brown on the outside and pop them in the pot of simmering sauce. They can finish cooking in there. If your meatballs will not be spending additional time cooking in sauce, please check that they are cooked through (little to no pink inside). 1-inch meatballs can be cooked through on the stove top.
7. Transfer cooked meatballs to a rack or paper towels to allow excess oil to drip away.

Raw meatballs

Cooked meatballs

Optional preparations:

• Include additional herbs into meatball mix- fresh parsley, dried oregano, or dried basil would all add nice flavor.
• I like to use a mini food processor to chop the onion, instead of a knife, to ensure very fine pieces of onion that will incorporate easily into the meatball mix.
• To make extra large meatballs, follow the same process, except after searing the outsides in the pan, transfer the meatballs to the oven and continue cooking at 350 until they are cooked through.

Ways to enjoy:

• Hot and plain, right out of the pan
• Cold and plain, right out of the fridge the next day
• Simmered in tomato sauce
• Over pasta
• On a sub roll with mozzarella