Manly Meaty Meatballs

In an effort to close one of my other blogs that I don't use anymore, I'm going to be reposting things in here. The first is, of course, food. 

Please Enjoy!

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I stumbled across this the other day: 

Now as awesome as they are, there were things in there I couldn't do. For example, veal. I don't do veal. I wasn't too keen on the idea of milk in my meatballs*** either. However, I followed the basic idea of the recipe- as in baking them. I even went a step further and used them to make a tomato/red gravy/sauce*. Here's my interpretation of the meatballs. And my friends, it is REALLY worth it, either with the original or my alterations. 

_______________________________________Manly Meaty Meatballs: 

2lbs 80/20 ground beef (make sure you use 80/20!) 
1 lb ground pork 
1/2 lb pancetta or thick cut bacon, minced
2 eggs
1/3 cup finely diced yellow onion
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tbls of adobo**
1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup bread crumbs

24 oz can of tomato puree
14 oz can of tomato sauce, unseasoned
12 oz can of tomato paste
1/4 cup oregano (you can absolutely decrease this-- I'm a huge fan) 
1 tbls garlic power
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tbls basil 
1 tsp bay leaf
salt to taste
It's best to use dried herbs for this because it's not going simmer on the stove/in a crockpot like it should be.

First, on the stove: 
Combine the tomato products with the herbs and blend it well; make sure the paste blends through- there should be no lumps. Allow this to heat through for about 1/2 an hour before proceeding to the second part. 

Preheat the oven to 350*F 

Second: 
Mix the meat and eggs together by hand. It's squishy. Deal. 
Add the onion and garlic, and mix well. 
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Now: 
In a 13X9 pan with high sides (or use a dutch oven if you have it), take a ladle or two of your gravy/sauce and coat the bottom. 
Using an ice cream scoop, make the meatballs. Pack them well; you want to get rid of the air in them. Now pop it out and make sure it's round. repeat with all meat in the bowl. I got about 25 meatballs out of this. 
Ladle the gravy/sauce over the meatball. Cover them with the sauce-- make sure there are no exposed parts of the meatballs. 

Put the pan in the oven, uncovered and cooked for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Mine were ready in 1 1/2. 

Serve alone with crusty bread or over a little spaghetti. There should be WAY more tomato sauce than you need. Freeze or refrigerate for future use. I hope yours is as good as mine. Best Meatballs Ever. 

My picture is coming; I'm using an old camera**** with a CompactFlash card and I have to go find the cord to up load the shot. I also meant to Pin This to Pinterest last week so that I could have for my October challenge, but I messed up. I won't count it, but I WILL share it. 

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*I hate getting into the argument about sauce and gravy, so I always refer to it this way. However, in my house it's always tomato sauce. 
**I love adobo. I use it everywhere for everything.
***I have been informed that using the milk with the breadcrumbs is meant to keep the meatballs moist; it's an interesting concept and I may give it a try next time, but these babies were plenty moist. 
****That camera thing is a whole other post. Argh.
*****Original meatball post from here: http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a24664/best-meatball-recipe/

Originally posted Oct. 2nd, 2011 at 10:35 PM