Meatball Parmesan

I was so busy getting this on the table, I neglected
to get a picture before guests dug into it.

I made an awesome Meatball Parmesan dish the other night for six. It was a combination of two recipes that I happened upon, a wonderful serendipity of my reading appetite.

The first recipe I stumbled upon was this one -- from an Esquire magazine article entitled “The meatball recipe to conquer all others.” Now, who wouldn’t be attracted to a headline like that?

And it is indeed quite the fantastic meatball, made from not one, not two, not three, but six different meats, at least in the version I created.

The recipe, as you’ll see when you click into it, calls for a pound of ground beef, a pound of ground veal, a pound of ground pork, and either a pound of pancetta (an Italian bacon made of pork belly meat) or a pound of cured bacon. I chose to use a half a pound of the pancetta and a half a pound of the bacon.

The other recipe I happened up was in the New York Times for Meatball Parmesan. The recipe is here.

What I did was to substitute the NYT meatballs for the Esquire meatballs.

And, though I have my own red sauce recipe, I did use the NYT recipe for the sauce.

I served it with penne pasta and salad.

This was almost an all-day affair in the kitchen. I started at 11:30 a.m. with the prep of the meatballs, and I was in and out of the kitchen until everyone was assembled for dinner at about 6 p.m.

It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort.

Sesame Lamb Meatballs

By Paul Briand

My wife Jane and I went to a Greek festival recently at a nearby Greek Orthodox Church.

My primary motivation was the food, and I got my gyro while Jane got moussaka. What I didn't expect was that the little market of Greek food in the church hall included several recipes and I picked up this one for Sesame Lamb Meatballs.

It's one thing to go out for a taste of Greek food, it was quite another experience to return with a recipe for Greek food that we could prepare and eat at home.

Ingredients
1/3 cup minced onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of cinnamon
1 pound ground lamb
1 cup bread crumbs
1 large egg, beaten lightly
2 tablespoons raisins
1/2 cup of sesame seeds, toasted lightly

Directions
1. In a small skillet cook onion and garlic in olive oil over moderate heat until softened;
2. Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl and add oregano, salt and cinnamon;
3. Add lamb, bread crumbs, egg and raisins, combined well;
4. Roll mixture into individual 1 1/4 inch meatballs, arranging on a tray;
5. Roll each meatball in a small bowl of the sesame seeds until coated;
6. Transfer meatballs into a baking pan;
7. Cook in 450 degree preheated oven until done, about 10 minutes.

Given the dryness of the mixture, I was worried that the meatballs would come out of my oven and into my mouth and be a little dry, but there were two surprises: the raisins that added a nice level of moisture and sweetness and the sesame seeds that gave the meatballs an initial crunch.

Fried Meatballs

(Editor's note: This week's contribution is courtesy of Dick Schuler, pictured here, originally of Oswego, N.Y., where his grandmother -- his Nana -- was famous in their neighborhood for her cooking, especially her homemade pasta drying throughout the house. Dick is now a resident of Minnesota and is the author of "An Italian Family Cookbook of Family Treasures." He describes his recipes as follows: "Each recipe has is own unique story and the best part is the book open with the family history of my grandparent’s journey from Italy to the U.S. in the early 1900's.")

By Dick Schuler
schuleritaliancooking.com

Nana’s three specialties were her sauce, homemade pasta and the ultimate family recipe, fried meatballs. The unique thing about Italian cooking is each family has a slightly different recipe. Our family sauce had several variations from household to household. Some of Nana’s siblings would use olive oil, some would use pork in place of beef. Nana did not add oil to her sauce so it was always seemed smoother and thicker. She would also change up the meat she would use in her sauce. She would use either ground beef, stew beef or meat balls.

Pasta was served twice a week in our house. I carry on that tradition of having pasta twice a week with my family. Nana would make her homemade pasta noodles the old fashion way. She used an old broom handle and the dinning room table as a work space. She would roll out large sheets of dough with the broom handle and with a knife cut the sheets into long strips. To dry them she would hang them over clothes bars, clothes line and the backs of chairs. The pasta would dry for a day before she would cut it into short lengths and send off paper bags of pasta to our relatives and friends. I can still smell the flour and egg mixture from the old house and hear her hands scrapping the dried dough and flour off the old broom handle between each stroke of the roller.

Our most popular and traditional food is our fried meatballs. For almost 100 years our family has been either frying or adding to the sauce these great flavorful treasures. It was my mother’s job to supply the meatballs at all the family gatherings.

The meatballs were the trademark food from our kitchen on old East Ninth Street in Oswego, N.Y. Everyone wanted to taste the meatballs whenever she made them and most of the neighborhood knew when she was frying them. The aroma of garlic would quickly spread out of the cast iron skillet and into the neighborhood. She was the master of the meatball recipe and my mother was second. My Uncle Joe would try to copy it but he could never get the same taste that came out of Nana’s skillet, I think he was light on the garlic. I was fortunate enough to help them mix and be part of the unique measuring process.

I can get the same results and duplicate the unique flavor to this day. See, the trick is when you add the garlic and you’re not measuring, you would add a little and taste the raw meat mixture until you hit the exact combination and flavor. People tell me I am crazy for eating raw hamburger but this is the only way to tell when you have added the correct amount. But to get this right you still need to know or have experienced the flavor before. Believe me there is no better smell or sound than the sizzling oil in the frying pan than that of meatballs cooking.

Ingredients
3 pounds ground beef
1/2 loaf of stale Italian bread
5-6 teaspoons of garlic power (be prepared to add more)
3 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups ground Parmesan cheese
1-2 eggs (start with one, if mix is too dry add a second

Directions
1) Start by breaking up the ground beef in a large bowl;
2) Take the bread and wet with warm water to soften but not saturate, wring any excess water out. Break up the bread into the meat;
3) Add the egg and mix in slightly;
4) Add the garlic, pepper, salt, and cheese. Mix thoroughly using your hands;
5) Now the tough part – taste the mix if you dare to determine if you lack anything. If anything you will need more garlic powder (experience tells me). Shake some in lightly covering the top of the mix and re-mix again. Repeat the test if you like;
6) Use your hands to shape and roll into individual meatballs
7) In a wide and deep frying pan add oil about ¼ inches deep. Preheat on medium and add meatballs. As you add them flatten slightly so they are not a true ball shape, this will allow them to cook more even;
8) Cook for 2 minutes and flip;
9) Once both sides are browned you should be OK to remove and place on a platter or bowl. I usually line the bowl with 2-3 paper towels to absorb any excess grease. Let cool and enjoy.