Italian Meatballs

I FINALLY got the recipe for Aunt Annette's famous meatballs! My boyfriend's family is part Italian and when we went to visit them in Michigan recently I couldn't leave without learning the tricks of the meatball trade. I've never thought the meatballs I used to make were anything special and thankfully I never served them to a large number of people, because after having these, I realized the meatballs I used to cook were not acceptable! I didn't know any better but my meatballs were sub-par, and these are OUTSTANDING, and I'm thankful that I will only cook and eat delicious and moist meatballs from now on! The key things that make these meatballs great (I think) are the fresh parsley and more water than you think you need. You'll "feeeeeeel the meatballs" like Aunt Annette says, and if it feels like there's slightly too much liquid, it's perfect. You almost think that they're so moist that they will fall apart when they cook, but they don't. And the parsley, cheese, and garlic... Mmmmm. Tasty Italian comfort food. 

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Italian Meatballs

by Saucy Jocey's Kitchen June-18-2012

Aunt Annette's classic Italian meatballs that are incredibly juicy and flavorful.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup Romano Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 clove garlic

Instructions

1. Chop parsley and mince or crush clove of garlic.2. Mix all ingredients together. Form into balls about 2 inches in diameter if simmering in step 3, 1.5 inches in diameter if roasting in step 3.3. Gently place in sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Alternatively, roast in a 400 degrees F oven on a greased cookie sheet for 7 minutes. Flip and roast for another 7 minutes or until the interior is completely brown and cooked.4. Serve with spaghetti and sauce! Enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins Total time: 1 hour 40 mins Yield: 14 meatballs

**** DISCLAIMER: These pictures are from a batch made to feed a ton of people... We used 4 lbs of meat. The proportions in the recipe above are adjusted to use ONE POUND of ground beef and it makes about 14 (pretty large) meatballs.****

 The ingredients! Nothing surprising, but I'm telling you, everything is fresh and the proportions are just right so these meatballs turn out perfectly. 

Flavorful Italian bread crumbs. I suppose if you haaaaad to you could use the store-bought kind, but I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND the homemade Italian Bread Crumbs version.

Garlic crusher. My new favorite kitchen tool!

Add the Romano Parmesan cheese, an egg, parsley, Italian bread crumbs, water, salt, and pepper.

Now the fun part... don't be afraid to get messy!

Form the mixture into balls. 

Gently place in the sauce and bring everything to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and cook for an hour and a half. Stir the sauce occasionally but be very gentle with the meatballs!

If you don't have the time and/or sauce quantities to simmer the meatballs, roast them in a 400 degree F oven on a greased cookie sheet for 14 - 15 minutes flipping once halfway through the roasting time. This cooking method makes the recipe very weeknight friendly!

Aunt Annette and her outstanding meatballs! Sauce recipe also coming soon! Thank you for sharing your recipe with me Aunt Annette :)

 Moist and flavorful meatballs and spaghetti. These will have you doing your happy-food dance.