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This recipe is my update of a recipe that my father-in-law, Ollie, has always made for his twelve children and extended family. It's delicious!
Jody's mother, Sue Ann, wrote out many family recipes for him on cards and they 'live' in this cookbook from the family's church in Mt Pleasant, MI. I consider this and her other recipe cards family treasures!
The recipe card & it's 'home'...
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So, let's get started on the update, shall we?
First, get the bread mixture started. I had large pieces of whole wheat bread, so that's what I used. I usually use white sandwich bread, but I rarely buy white bread anymore. I am trying to get more comfortable with substitutions. Whatever bread you use, remove the crusts. If you have dogs, they would like to eat those crusts for you so you don't have to feel guilty about waste. Really. They will help! Tania is absent from this picture. I think she was licking a marshmallow fluff container.
Tear up the now crustless bread and put into a bowl:
Add buttermilk to the bread pieces:
You want this bread to basically dissolve in the buttermilk, so it needs to sit for a bit. Feel free to moosh it with a fork to help hasten the process. Or not. It will get there either way.
Then let's move onto the rest of the meatball mixture. I like to use lean ground beef:
Then I add Italian sausage:
Gently mix these meats together...you don't want to compact this meat mixture too much or you will end up with tough meatballs.
Then start adding the rest of the meatball ingredients. I will tell you right now, I almost never add in order of the recipe. So this time, it's parmesan cheese first. I use the regular Kraft parm and save the good stuff for grating on the top of the finished dish.
Chop parsley. I am a princess. Consequently, I only use flat leaf parsely. Curly makes me gag. Though I am pretty sure that once it's chopped, there isn't a difference.
And onion. Please note I was in a hurry because I was hungry. I should have chopped this onion more finely. I don't like chopping onions. They make me cry everytime.
Add both to the meat mixture:
Add garlic:
Add salt and pepper. I use very little salt because I think we all eat too much. Salt has it's place, but our palates in this country are over-used to it. It leads to high blood pressure and it's also an appetite stimulant and the more salt we eat, the more we eat. I used a scant 1/2 tsp in this and that, along with the salt in the Italian sausage, is *more* than enough. A teasoon of salt has about 2400 mg of sodium, which is the recommended amount for a day...I still think that's too much. Most Americans eat closer to 7000-10,000 mg a day. I'm going to quit now because I could easily launch into a rant and rants are never pretty, are they?
Add an egg:
Make sure the bread is dissolved in the buttermilk:
And add that to the meat mixture:
Combine all of this gently:
I don't fry my meatballs. I find that oil doesn't add any extra flavor to the meatballs and quite frankly, I don't like the frying mess on my stovetop and I enjoy halving the calories. So, I cover a jelly roll pan or other deep cookie sheet (you need sides) with heavy duty aluminum foil. Then I place a cookie cooling rack on top of the foil in the jelly roll pan and place my meatballs on the cooling rack. You can crowd them, as they will shrink, not expand, and the cooling rack keeps them out of the grease that drips down. Sort of like a poor girl's George Foreman. I can easily fit twenty-four 1 1/2 inch meatballs on this setup. Remember, don't compact your meatballs as you form them...gentle, gentle!
Then I bake them in a 400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes. While the meatballs are baking, I start my sauce and the water for my spaghetti.
Sauce starts with warming olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano and pepper:
Cook this mixture over medium low heat until the garlic and the herbs are fragrant:
Add crushed no-salt added tomatoes and diced no-salt added tomatoes. There will be plenty of salt taste in the meatballs and any parmesan you add to the top. If you wish to add salt, you certainly can or you can use regular tomatoes with added salt.
Stir:
Then simmer this yumminess until your spaghetti and meatballs are ready.
Once the meatballs have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees, I remove them from the oven:
Just TRY not to eat one at this point. Or two. Really, you have to make sure they aren't disgusting before you serve them. Right?
Sometimes I add the meatballs to the sauce if my spaghetti isn't quite done, sometimes I don't. Either way, top cooked, drained spaghetti with sauce and meatballs and parmesan cheese if you would like. These meatballs ROCK!
Recipe:
| Meatballs |
| 2 |
slices bread (crusts discarded), torn into small pieces |
| 1/2 |
cup buttermilk
|
| 3/4 |
pound ground lean beef
|
| 1/4 |
pound ground Italian sausage
|
| 1 |
small onion, finely minced
|
| 1/4 |
cup grated Parmesan cheese |
| 2 |
tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves |
| 1 |
large egg
|
| 2 |
cloves garlic, minced (2 teaspoons) |
| 1/2 |
scant teaspoon table salt |
|
Ground black pepper |
|
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| Simple Tomato Sauce |
| 1/4 |
cup extra-virgin olive oil |
| 2 |
tablespoons minced garlic (or to taste)
|
| 2 |
tablespoons dried basil
|
| 1 |
tablespoon dried oregano |
| 1/2 |
teaspoon freshly ground pepper |
| 1 |
(28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (no salt added) |
| 1 |
(14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes (no salt added) |
| 1 |
pound spaghetti |
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Grated Parmesan cheese |
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For the meatballs: Combine bread and buttermilk in small bowl, mashing occasionally with fork, until a smooth paste forms, about 10 minutes.
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Mix all meatball ingredients, including bread mixture and pepper to taste in medium bowl. Lightly form 3 tablespoons of mixture into 1 1/2-inch round meatballs; repeat with remaining mixture to form approximately 18 meatballs. (Compacting them can make the meatballs dense and hard. Can be placed on large plate, covered loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerated for several hours.)
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Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large pot for cooking pasta.
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Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a jelly roll pan or other deep cookie sheet (you need sides) with heavy duty aluminum foil. Then place a cookie cooling rack or other small opening rack on top of the foil in the jelly roll pan and place meatballs on the rack. A standard cooling rack should easily fit 24 meatballs if you've increased this recipe. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until meatballs are slightly browned and have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
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For the sauce, warm olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano and pepper, just until mixture is fragrant, about a minute. Add tomatoes, bring to a gentle boil, and simmer gently until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Add meatballs and simmer, until spaghetti noodles are done. Keep warm over low flame.
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Meanwhile, add 1 pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente, drain, and return to pot. Ladle several large spoonfuls of tomato sauce (without meatballs) over spaghetti and toss until noodles are well coated. Divide pasta among individual bowls and top each with a little more tomato sauce and 2 to 3 meatballs. Serve immediately with grated cheese passed separately.
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