I make the meatballs and bake them on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 350. This gives them a nice crispy bottom, elminates the pain-in-the-ass mess of frying, and then I remove them from the HALF INCH OF GREASE that has accumulated on the pan. They simmer in the sauce for a while… Ick! Just the thought of eating all that rendered tallow in my nice sauce makes me want to heave!
I’ve posted this in the past, but here it is for ease of access. This sauce never fails, and you can make meatballs or not. Remember that these are Italian sized meatballs, not those wimpy Swedish versions.
Zappa Family Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs
New York Times
Time: 3 hours
This is an amazing spaghetti sauce, and any leftover meatballs and sauce can also be used for meatball subs. There’s lots of room for experimentation with meats in this dish, and it makes a lot of servings. Note that the meatball recipe only makes 16 or so. That’s because Italian meatballs (unlike Swedish meatballs) are very large. The important key to good meatballs (or anything made with ground meat, for that matter) is not to overwork the meat mixture. Use a light touch when mixing, and a very light touch when forming the balls, or you’ll end up with dry, dense product.
Sauce:
Salt and pepper
1 pound pork spareribs, neck bones or pork chops
1 pound beef chuck roast, blade steak or brisket
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably Italian
1 28-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped
4 small or 2 large pickled peperoncini
Cooked meatballs (see recipe)
1 pound dried spaghetti for serving
Grated Parmesan for serving.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper all over pork and beef. Place large pot over medium-high heat; when hot, add olive oil and brown meat. (Or cook meat in same pot used for meatballs, browning in the leftover fat.) Remove meat to a platter. Turning heat under pot to medium, add onions, and cook 3 minutes, stirring. Add garlic, and cook 2 minutes longer. Add tomato paste, and stir: cook until it absorbs fat in pan. Add oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and bay leaf, stirring to combine.
- Add cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce, then 4 1/2 cups water. Stir in sugar, parsley and peperoncini. Return meats to pot with their juices. Bring sauce to a gentle boil. Turn heat down to a simmer, partly cover and leave sauce to simmer 21/2 hours or more, stirring regularly.
- About 20 minutes before serving, add meatballs to pot. Boil spaghetti according to package directions. Drain, return spaghetti to pan and add 3 cups sauce. Toss pasta in pan for a minute to coat with sauce, and place on a large platter. Pour 2 more cups sauce over pasta. Place meat and meatballs on pasta, slicing large pieces. Serve with bowls of remaining sauce and Parmesan.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings.
Italian Meatballs
Time: 20 minutes
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil.
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except olive oil by hand, using a light touch. Take a portion of meat in hand, and roll between palms to form a ball that is firmly packed but not compressed. Repeat, making each meatball about 2 inches in diameter.
- In a large, heavy pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add meatballs in batches. Do not crowd. Brown well on bottoms before turning, or meatballs will break apart. Continue cooking until browned all over. Remove meatballs to a plate as each batch is finished. Let meatballs cool slightly; cover and refrigerate until needed.
Yield: About 16 meatballs.
Our meatballs are pretty much this, except we do a mix of 3 meats: either sirloin, ground pork, and ground turkey or sirloin, veal, and turkey.
Actually, it turns out I didn’t need any milk. Here’s my recipe from yesterday. I went with ground turkey for the first time and it turned out surprisingly soft and moist. I would not have known it was turkey if I didn’t make it myself.
1.5 lb ground turkey
1 large onion, grated
1 egg
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2-3 finely chopped anchovies
1/4 teaspoon mace (or nutmeg)
Mix all but turkey (or other meat) together in bowl. Add turkey. Mix well. If it’s still a little moist and having trouble holding together, add a little more breadcrumbs, but the consistency should be such that it just holds together.
Heat cast iron pan over high heat. Working in batches, form meatballs and add to pan. Brown on all sides (or two sides). Remove to casserole dish. When finished browning all the meatballs, place them in a 350F preheated oven until cooked through, about 20-30 minutes.
To make sauce, remove meatballs, sprinkle about two tablespoons of flour (or two teaspoons corn starch) on the casserole dish and mix it in with the drippings/fat. Add a little stock and cook over a medium heat until it thickens. Keep adding stock until it reaches the consistency you desire (you’ll probably need about a cup of liquid or so.) Add two tablespoons of cream, and finish the sauce with a little salt, pepper, and mace/nutmeg to taste.
I served it with boiled new potatoes and steamed spinach with sunflower seeds and cranberries.
With my laptop depending on how I’m sitting.
Oh.
I just drop them raw right into the simmering sauce. Advantages to this are:
- You don’t get another pan dirty.
- The meatballs stay nice and round; frying them tends to turn them into meat-triangles.
- It takes less time.
They’ve always tasted superb. I once tried frying them and the slight difference in flavor wasn’t really worth all the extra work and cleanup, IMO.
Not necessarily, though I usually fry “real”* meatballs first and then simmer them for just as long as it takes for them to cook through. Last weekend I made a stew with a mixture or strong spices that contained pre-seared chunks/balls of plain ground beef. Let it simmer for about 3 hours which worked wonders for the taste, and they weren’t chewy or dry at all. more detailed description here
I guess if you’ve got large balls they might dry out, but in my experience the moisture in the sauce combined with the slow cooking method will keep more or less all meat soft and moist. Same method works well with chicken wings, for example - a friend of mine make heavenly chicken wings that are stewed with onion and cloves for 6 hours!
*Real meatballs defined as: a mixture of ground meat, egg, some bread crumbs, and whatever cheese and spices you like.
Do you skim the pot? Seems like the drop and cook method would produce a lot of grease. And heartburn from hell too.
I cook mine in the oven and drop them in the sauce just before serving. I like a firm meatball myself.
(Why can’t I talk about meatballs with out snickering like a 5yo? :D)
If I use mostly beef, then I have to skim the pot, otherwise it’s all gross. If I use mostly turkey and pork, though, there’s not much need for skimmin’.
I’d never make meatballs without using three meats–usually beef. pork and veal, but once in a while I substitute lamb for veal.
I try to use the extra-lean beef, and there’s minimal skimming. I think I’m mostly skimming the good olive oil that I used to start the tomato sauce.
I do this every few days when I make hamburger stew. The meatballs are done before the carrots, so it’s hardly a problem. Since they are boiling, it’s more than the recommended 160[sup]o[/sup], and they are no longer pink inside. What other test is there?
Ikea has meatballs? I thought they only had furniture and home goods!
Fatty Beef, wonderbread, saltine crackers, milk, garlic, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, pepper and oregano are my spaghetti and meatballs from the 'hood secret ingredients.
For every lb of hamburger (90% lean)
1 cup of bread crumbs (3 pieces of toast)
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1 egg
Cook in sauce for 4 hrs.
Would somebody please invite me to dinner? 
Same here.
If we’re making a small batch, the balls get all crispy and happy in an electric skillet, (There just seems to be something about that old bare aluminum that non-stick pans can’t replicate) but large batches just go into the oven on sheet pans.
Either way, they get nice little crunchy bits all around. Then they get plopped into the sauce. If we’re in a hurry, they’ll simmer for a few hours, but normally, the pot of sauce and meatballs goes into the fridge for an overnight soak. That’s when things get really happy.
Thanks!
I think in the interests of fairness, though, I will have to try making ALL the recipies in this thread.
So much for the diet…
Perhaps another advantage of just stewing the Meatballs as “dumplings”, rather than browning them is that they release more fat and hence flavor as that fat slowly releases more freely from the meatball and reacts and reagents with the onions, garlic, and seasonings. I think it makes for a more tender 'ball, as well, a notable textural difference.
I think stewing the meatballs makes for a superior sauce/gravy and the meatballs are more tender meatballs, I like a good sauce and 'ball.