Ground meat – beef, veal, lamb, pork, chicken or turkey – are perfect meal stretchers. Whether mixed with other ingredients and rolled into balls, patties, cooked loose or incorporated into a sauce, they can feed a crowd, and on each occasion, they are bound to please.
Meatballs can be made in various sizes – small, medium, large or extra large – and you can do many things with them when cooked. Meatballs can be used to create sandwiches such as subs, they can be tucked between cream-sauced pasta and baked, they can be tossed with vegetables for a quick stir fry; they can be sauced and be plopped atop a heap of cooked pasta, rice or mashed potatoes. Or they can be glazed, jabbed with a toothpick and be served as hors d’oeuvres.
Meatballs cook up quickly, whether in the oven or on the stovetop. What takes time, is the rolling of the individual balls, therefore, I always recommend that if you are going to make meatballs, make a large batch. What you don’t use can be easily frozen.
When making meatballs, you need some fat in the meat to keep it juicy and not dried out when cooked. The other thing is not to overcook the meatballs, remember that there is carryover cooking, that is, the temperature of the food is sustained for a period of time even though it has removed from the source of heat.
Yield: 60-small/30 medium/15 large
Special equipment: 2 (13 x 18) baking sheets lined with parchment paper and brushed with oil
INGREDIENTS
- 3 tablespoons oil
- ½ cup finely chopped onions
- ½ cup fresh chopped herbs – thyme, celery, parsley and scallions
- Minced hot pepper to taste
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 pounds grade B beef mince
- 1 heaped cup fresh breadcrumbs, sodden with milk
- 2 eggs, room temperature
DIRECTIONS
- Heat the oil in a pan until shimmering and then add the onions, herbs and hot pepper. Season with salt and pepper to taste, reduce heat to low and cook until the onions, and herbs are soft and fragrant. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix together the minced beef, sautéed aromatics, breadcrumbs and eggs along with salt and pepper to taste. Use your fingers to gently mix everything together. To test if the mixture has adequate seasoning (salt), take a teaspoon of the mixture and fry in a pan, taste and adjust if necessary.
- Take a little of the mixture at a time and roll into balls. Assemble the meatballs on the prepped baking sheets.
Transfer to the oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for 5 – 8 minutes before serving.
NOTES
- Check the meatballs at the 15 minute-mark, when pressed with your thumb and index finger, the meatballs should give a little, it should not be very hard.
- Replace the fresh breadcrumbs with dried, however, you will need to add more milk to soften the crumbs.
- To ensure that the meatballs have the same size and to facilitate even cooking, use a measuring spoon or some other utensil that gives consistent measurement whether by volume or weight.
