Meatballs: The September 2012 Home Cooking Dish of the Month

[L.Nightshade]

Welcome to the September 2012 Dish of the Month: MEATBALLS!

During the month of September we will be cooking meatballs. This doesn't mean you have to cook meatballs every night. You can cook them once, or you can try 30 versions. You can make an old favorite recipe, try a new one, or invent your own. Once you've made your meatballs, please come back here and report on your experience. Tell us about your recipe, your process, and please tell us about your outcome. And do feel free to post photos of your meatballs!

The Home Cooking Dish of the Month is fairly new, and everyone is invited to join in, even if you've never before posted on Chowhound. You can take a look at the DOTM for August here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/861003
And you can take a look at the voting thread (with the meatball landslide) here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/865191

As always, per Chowhound policy, please paraphrase any recipes that are not your own; verbatim copying of recipes to the boards is a violation of the copyright of the original author. Posts with copied recipes will be removed.

If you would like to comment on another post, please hit the "reply" in that post. If you want to make a new post about your own meatballs, please hit the "reply" in this post.

Cheers to September, and let's get cooking!

[mamachef]

Dinner to home and for three of my meat-eating clients (the others get what I call "notballs," but that's another thread) is ground lamb mixed with salt, pepper, egg, breadcrumbs, minced garlic, mint, aleppo pepper, and a little lemon zest; to be served in toasted seeded pitas with a raita made of Greek yogurt, minced garlic, salt and pepper, diced seeded cucumbers and chopped tomato. To make an appearence w/ Jasmine rice cooked w/ raisins and almonds, and a large green salad w/ lemon vinaigrette. Looking forward to it.

[Passadumkeg]

Yum!

[L.Nightshade]

Oh, just saw this. Sounds wonderful mamachef!

[plasticanimal]

I'm going to be thinking about these all day!

[GretchenS]

I made Konigsberger Klopse (German meatballs with creamy caper sauce) yesterday using this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/konigsberg...
I had never heard of these prior to Berheenia's mention of them upthread, but I am very happy to know about them now. I followed the recipe fairly faithfully but I couldn't get ground veal, so just used gound beef and pork. I made 1/3 of the meatball recipe but half the sauce and was glad I did. I stopped before the last stage (adding lemon juice and zest and sour cream) and refrigerated the whole thing until my football game was over, and then just did the final step to my one portion, figuring the rest would freeze better without it and I can finish each individual portion when reheating. These were excellent on wide egg noodles and I am very excited to have 3 more batches awaiting me!

[JungMann]

I totally forgot about Königsberger Klopse! Now I have something great to do with ground turkey and pork!

[nomadchowwoman]

These do sound delicious.

[famz10]

Pakistani Meatball curry/ 'Kofte ka Saalan' anyone?

Just made it yesterday and it turned out to be a feast! Succulent beef meatballs in a spicy curry :). I did not fry them beforehand, simply braised them in the curry.

[jpr54_1]

The Meatball Shop Cookbook
page 40
tandoori lamb meatballs
they r in oven
i modified the recipe-no cilantro(flat parsley used) only 1 egg, 1/2 t. salt
the tandoori spice mixture was easy to prepare
the aroma of Indian spices is in the air

[yamalam]

I made the America's Test Kitchen meatballs this weekend, and figured I should pipe up, because I didn't see that anyone else mentioned them last month.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/4631594...

They are unique in that they use gelatin, IIRC it coats the protein molecules so moisture is retained, etc, etc. The recipe also calls for a panade of panko soaked in buttermilk to keep things moist, and a mixture of ground chuck, ground pork, and prosciutto. The balls are baked off at 450 for a half hour while you make a simple tomato sauce, then simmered in the sauce for another hour.

Results: they were incredibly moist. Almost too moist...if I hadn't known that I had cooked them for 90 minutes, I would've thought they were raw inside. Oh, I subbed extra lean ground turkey for the pork, and used 90-10 ground beef so it is especially amazing that they were not dry, given those lean meats. If you like moist meatballs, I'd 100% recommend this recipe.

[GretchenS]

Thanks for the link, these look great!!

[TxnInMtl]

Buffalo, Mushroom, and Feta Meatballs with San Marzano Tomato Sauce from Food52
http://www.food52.com/recipes/6202_bu...

This is my first recipe to report on CH from my new kitchen. It feels good to finally be settled in well enough to start reporting again after sitting out for most of the month. My BF had already been living in the apartment for a few weeks when I arrived and I found some ground buffalo meat in the freezer. Searching the EYB library for online recipes (such a useful feature when my cookbooks don't turn up anything!), I found this one.

I made a half recipe and only a couple of changes. I used shiitake mushrooms in place of cremini and chopped basil leaves in place of the chopped stems. I overreduced the sauce a bit due to some mistimings on dinner, but nothing a little extra water couldn't save. The sauce didn't add very much to the dish for me and I think next time I would just skip it. The meatballs themselves are very loose when they are made, so they flattened out a bit on the baking sheet (I lined with parchment). They stayed incredibly moist though and the mix of flavors was very good. Like many others in this thread, I think I'm sold on the oven cooking method. The addition of mushrooms into the meatballs also seemed to work very well to keep the meatball moist without detracting from the flavor of the meat.

[soypower]

I finally got around to making some meatballs! I've been swamped with school stuff so I searched around for something I already have all the ingredients for..I came up with:

Jamie Oliver's Tuna Meatballs
m/recipes/fish-recipes/the-best-tuna-meatballs-le-migliori-polp

These were a loose rendition as I did zero measuring, omitted the cinnamon and added onions. Oh and big sub: canned tuna! Which he explicitly says not to use...

They came out yummy because anything combining cheese, parsley garlic, and breadcrumbs usually does. The pinenuts were an interesting addition. I think I liked it.

Thank you for joining me...We now return to the regularly scheduled s**t ton of studying and homework...

[nomadchowwoman]

Drunken Pork Balls (from The Meatball Shop Cookbook, p. 35)

I've been wanting to try something from this little book (which has several non-meatball recipes that look enticing too), so before retiring from meatball making for a while, I decided on these porky meatballs since I had ground pork in the freezer and also b/c the recipe calls for madeira, a bottle of which I have, with few ideas for using it up.

I made half a recipe, mixing all at once 1 lb. pork, 1 egg, 1 slice of fresh white bread, in tiny dice, 2 T. breadcrumbs (I used fresh), 2 T. honey, 1/4 c madeira (i used med. dry though recipe calls for sweet), a minced gralic clove, 1 T chopped fresh sage, CF rosemary which I cut to 1/2 T.

This was my first time using the bake-on-parchment method. I rolled the meatballs slightly smaller than golfballs and fitted them snugly, as directed, so that they were touching each other, and baked for 20 minutes at 450F. While they were cooked at that point they weren't very brown and a fsir amount of liquid had pooled in the bottom of the pan. I drained them and let them sit under the broiler for a minute or so to brown. (I wonder if arranging them on a shallower pan and leaving a little space wouldn't have allowed them to roast--and brown--better, more important, when, as in this recipe, they're not going into sauce.) I served these w/wild mushroom risotto, a small salad, and roasted brussels sprouts.

These were just "meh" to me, a tad sweet but not unpleasantly so. It was the overpowering rosemary, despite my cutting it by half, that turned me off. But my husband liked them, and he's been making sandwiches with them. While I'm not likely revisit this recipe, I'll definitely try the roasting method next time I make meatballs.

[gimlis1mum]

I usually make Charmaine Solomon's recipe for Kashmiri-style koftas when I have ground lamb to use, but this week decided to try something different. Found a recipe on Epicurious for Middle-Eastern style sesame meatballs with lamb. The recipe says to coat half of the meatballs in regular sesame seeds, and half in black sesame. I happened to have both types in the cupboard.

They were very cute and very tasty meatballs. The best part, though, was the look of sheer joy on my six-year-old's face when he wandered into the kitchen, spotted the meatballs cooling on a rack, and shouted "We're having Chocolate Munchkins for supper??!?"

[L.Nightshade]

That sounds delightful; I wish I could see those dark and light sesame coated meatballs. I may just have to start referring to meatballs as munchkins now!

[Gio]

Chipotle Meatballs alla Gio

The combination of ingredients I use to make these meatballs also makes a deliciously spicy meatloaf. The meat used varies from time to time and depends what is in the freezer. Last night it was ground dark meat turkey but other times it's been bison, pork, lamb and a mixture of two meats.

Mix together: 2 lbs ground meat, egg, ketchup (or Ro-Tel or tomato sauce or ...), oatmeal (or breadcrumbs), chopped chipotle in adobo (1 Tbsp or more), chopped garlic (I use 3 cloves), freshly grated Pecorino Romano, S & P. Do the usual roll and bake thing.: in a pre-heated 475F oven for 15 minutes or till golden brown. I served the meatballs with my version of Russian dressing: mayo/ketchup/minced garlic/ fresh lemon juice, white pepper. The side dish was a steamed broccoli and fresh corn salad.

[rabaja]

I finally made the David Tanis recipe from The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/din...
They were highly spiced, and pretty delicious. I ended up with 28, 1 oz meatballs.
We had them over a quinoa/bulgur mix, with ratatouille and sautéed spinach. They were good enough that my husband wanted to take them ("just like this") for lunch today, and I can imagine they got even better overnight.
I stayed pretty true to the recipe, I even measured the black pepper, but I didn't have any turmeric, so I used a couple of pinches of saffron instead. -I've been trying to use up my saffron stash before it goes stale, so while this seemed a little decadent for meatballs, I was curious if the flavor would come though. The perfume was there in the raw product, but it got a little muddled once cooked. I imagine all those spices were competing with it.
I also used panko, as I was out of bread and I soaked it in 3/4 c of milk vs. a cup. The panade definitely kept things moist, but I almost wanted a more distinguishable ground meat texture, as opposed to the meat paste I got with the panade. Overmixing maybe? There were a lot of ingredients to incorporate.
I think these would work really well with ground chicken or turkey. I used 20% fatty, grass-fed beef.

[mebby]

Sounds delish. For more ground meat texture, you might want to check out the very similarly spiced meatballs I made upthread -- moistened with creme fraiche and no panade/panko and poached in a more brothy but very flavorful sauce -- definitely moist but good meat texture...although this is coming from a confirmed lifelong meatball hater who has been converted by this thread, haha. BTW, since I know you track these things, a serving of the recipe I made is about 10 WW pp without accompaniments using ground lamb. I would be very interested to see how it could amp up a more diet-friendly ground chicken or turkey...and drive down the points in the process :)

[kcCentralME]

Did also make this NYT recipe 2 nights ago. I was fortunate enough to have ground lamb in my freezer that I was trying to use up. I had the opposite spice problem- plenty of turmeric but no saffron to be found at my local supermarket. Was a bit worried about the tomato sauce without it. When I first tasted it after the initial simmer it neither tasted or looked very good at all. But after I added the meatballs and simmered for 20 minutes it was wonderful. Had over a brown rice blend with a chickpea and beet salad.

[L.Nightshade]

Buffalo Meatballs with Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
Totally winged this one. Mr. NS is ill. He declined soup, so I thought something spicy might help. I opted to freeze some bison I had on hand, mixed it with ground almonds, red onion, cumin, coriander, chile powder, salt, and an egg. Cooked then in the oven. In spite of freezing them briefly, they still seemed to slump, and were not the nice round balls I took so much trouble to form. I was surprised how much more quickly buffalo cooks, as opposed to other meatl Also, with so much less fat, the have less of a tendency to brown. A little mist of oil might have helped.
For the sauce, I roasted tomatillos, added cilantro, garlic, a bit of onion, and lime juice. To serve, I just sat the meatballs on top of a splotch of sauce. For a side dish I quick sautéed red onion, red and yellow pepper, seranos, jalapeños, Anaheims, and some red fresnos. I added black beans and corn, tossed in some fideo, and topped it with cotija. A bit of a success for something pulled out of my hat. And a bit of a sinus clearer too!

[L.Nightshade]

That should read that I opted to UN-freeze some bison.

[inaplasticcup]

Looks delicious together. That side salad sounds right up my alley.

[mariacarmen]

i'm just seeing these - they sound fantastic.

[herby]

LEMONGRASS-CHICKEN MEATBALLS ON RICE VERMICELLI
from I Love Meatballs! cookbook, p. 106

I made the meatballs as instructed mixing together lemon grass, ground chicken, shallots, fish sauce, cornstartch, chile, garlic, brown sugar and salt. The recipe suggests to refrigerate for upto 4 hours but life interfered and my mixture sat in the fridge for about three days. Roll the balls and BBQ for 4 min per side turning once. Since I do not have access to BBQ, I broiled the meatballs for 5 min per side to let them brown all over. They were delicious but a bit salty and I could hardly taste the lemongrass. In the furure (and this will definitely be repeated!) I will ommit the salt and double the lemongrass. In addition to the meatballs, the recipe instructs you to make vermicelli but I used the wrong kind - bean curd instead of rice - and did not like it. There is also a dipping sauce that resembles vietnamese dipping sauce - simple syrup, rice vinegar, fish sauce, garlic, carrot and chile. Simple and tasty!

What a great collection of meatballs recipes - many thanks to all of you who shared their favourites! I am bookmarking this thread to be used for many future meatball feasts:)

[HillJ]

herby, did you read my post above using this very recipe?

[herby]

I did not! Looked through the thread to see if anyone made meatballs from the same book - none... Searched just now and nothing popped up... Could you link your post since I am not able to find it? and very curious to read about your expeience:)

[HillJ]

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesgui...

Yesterday family and friends enjoyed this recipe for chicken meatballs infused with lemongrass and served with vermicelli and a light dipping sauce. I followed the recipe as written. Great combo of light flavors, one bowl meal. I adore lemongrass and it really works with ground chicken meat beautifully. I do prefer the ground dark meat for this dish.

[Hank Hanover]

HillJ expects a check. :-)

[gingershelley]

I made a 1/2 batch of NMC's Thai shrimp and pork meatballs a while back in the month, served with a ginger tomato sauce with a bit of orange in it. That was great.

Froze some of the mix, and pulled it out Sunday night and made mini meatballs, cooked them in the oven on my silpat - easy - 15 minutes and they were nice and browned.

Had made chicken stock that day, so used some if that and added ginger, lemongrass, rice noodles, cilantro and basil, plus the meatballs and a handful of spinach at the end. Voila! Thai-ish meatball soup.

VERY tasty. This recipe is a keeper! Next I want to make Bahn Mi's with it, but must try another kind of meatball flavor (bought ground lamb yesterday) before the month is out:)

Sorry, I accidentally deleted the pic of the finished dish. But it was pretty and tasty - promise!

[inaplasticcup]

That sounds like something I could have done with my meatballs, too! I'll have to try that one.

[Dave MP]

I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner on Friday, using my mom's meatball recipe that I grew up with. I'm proud to say mine tasted exactly like hers (I hadn't made this in a few years, though I had done it before). The recipe is based on the one from the NYT International Cookbook

1-1/2 lb. lean ground beef

1-1/8 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

3 slices bread, cut into small cubes, soaked in 3/8 cup water

2 cloves garlic, pressed

3/8 tsp nutmeg

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2-1/4 tsp dried basil

3 T chopped parsley (or sprinkles of dried parsley)

3 eggs

1/4 cup olive oil for frying

These are easy to make. I mixed up all of the ingredients in a big bowl, using my hands to incorporate everything. I made pretty small meatballs (not that much larger than a golf ball), so all in all I got about 30 from this recipe. I fried them on all sides in olive oil, till they are pretty much cooked through, then let them drain a bit on paper towels before I added them to tomato sauce where they cooked the rest of the way. Because these contain so much parmesan cheese and egg, the meatballs are pretty light and fluffy.

Served over spaghetti, they were great...but even better were the meatball sandwiches I made later in the weekend for lunch....on toasted bread w/ melted cheese.

[nomadchowwoman]

Those do sound good too!

[gingershelley]

I think a meatball sandwich is the true and just reward of making meatballs, Dave! SO delicious!

[Cynsa]

Just made meatball sliders for 30 with the recipe from A16 in San Francisco: it went for lunch on a houseboat in Tiburon and we grilled the rolls until the mozzarella melted.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pork-and-ricotta-meatballs-in-tomato-sauce

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/meatballs_with_ricotta_in_tomato_sauce/

http://seattletimes.com/html/foodwine/2011420709_web24recipes.html

http://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_w...

[nomadchowwoman]

Which recipe did you settle on, Cynsa?

[Cynsa]

I've been making this recipe since it was published in 2005 in the SF Chronicle. They went to the houseboat in the largest crockpot I have - but we could have just as easily transported them in the oven roasting pan... the crockpot made it easier to keep the meatballs warm for the sliders.
A16's Italian Meatballs With Tomato & White Wine Braise

From Christophe Hille, executive chef.

INGREDIENTS:

Meatballs

10 ounces ground pork

10 ounces ground beef

4 ounces ground prosciutto (see Note)

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon fennel seed

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1/2 onion, finely diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 bunch parsley, minced

3 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 pound good-quality Italian bread, crusts removed and cubed

2/3 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs

Braising Liquid

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, coarsely chopped

1 bay leaf

3/4 cup white wine

1 quart pureed tomatoes

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 bunch basil, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh oregano, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Extra virgin olive oil, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

For the meatballs: Preheat the oven to 400°.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground pork, beef and prosciutto by hand and season generously with salt, pepper flakes, fennel seed and oregano. Add the onion, garlic, parsley and Parmesan cheese and mix by hand. Put the bread cubes in a food processor and process into fine crumbs. Add the breadcrumbs, the ricotta and milk to the meat mixture and continue to mix by hand. Add the eggs, stirring until barely incorporated (do not overmix). Form the mixture into about two dozen 1 1/2-inch balls and place in an oiled roasting pan. Bake until browned, about 15 minutes. When done, reduce the oven temperature to 300°.

For the braising liquid: Meanwhile, in a large, ovenproof saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion, carrot and bay leaf and cook until the carrot is softened and the onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Deglaze with white wine, then add the tomatoes, stock, basil and oregano. Heat for 5 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Drain the fat off of the meatballs and pour the braising liquid over them (they should barely be covered). Bake the meatballs at 300° for 2 1/2 hours. Allow to cool in the braising liquid. Skim off the excess fat.

To serve, reheat the meatballs in the braising liquid, finishing the dish with Parmesan and olive oil.

Serves 6

Note: Roughly chop a 4-ounce piece of prosciutto (ends work well) and grind in the food processor.

PER SERVING: 680 calories, 43 g protein, 44 g carbohydrate, 36 g fat (14 g saturated), 204 mg cholesterol, 2,516 mg sodium, 6 g fiber.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/recipes/article/Mad-for-meatballs-Bay-Area-diners-warm-up-to-a-2700402.php#ixzz27WP82x8f

http://www.sfgate.com/recipes/article...

[nomadchowwoman]

Thanks for posting this! I noticed several variations in the linked recipes. They all sound great, but since you made them with great results, wanted to know which. That must have been a lovely boat trip.

[JungMann]

I have been meaning to join in on the meatball fun, but I have been so busy I had to cheat by testing out a couple recipes featuring Costco frozen Italian meatballs. The first recipe was pretty traditional: prepared meatballs braised in a quick marinara which I enriched with the broth from Chicago-style Italian beef. The results were, as expected, delicious. Perfect for a messy sandwich with plenty of giardiniera. My second test was barbecue meatballs, a combination I'd never heard of prior to last week, but irresistable when the only instructions are "Combine barbecue sauce and meatballs in a slow cooker." While these proved to be the hit of the party, I was slightly shocked by the amount of fat these meatballs gave off. Delicious to eat, yes, but disconcerting for the vaguely health conscious person who didn't first read the nutritional label.

[Gio]

Well now you know how easy and relatively quick it is to throw some ground turkey in a bowl, say, with breadcrumbs/seasonings/egg... mix, roll them up, put 'em on a lightly oiled baking pan, and bung that in a pre-heated 375F oven for about 20 - 30 min. Then douse them with simmering BBQ sauce... Good to know about that fat quantity of the Costco balls, though.

[inaplasticcup]

Late to the party, but tonight I made some Chili Lemongrass Meatballs with pork and threw together a cold noodle salad with some angel hair, assorted veg (lettuce, cabbage, carrot, cucumber), topped it with some chopped fresh shallots, Thai chilies, and cilantro and dressed it with some spicy peanut sauce and a couple of squeezes of lime.

Can't believe we're already voting on October. Where does it go...?

[Breadcrumbs]

Stunning as always Ina. Would you mind sharing what you put in your dressing....it looks much lighter and more appealing tha mine.

[inaplasticcup]

Thanks, Bc!

Spicy Peanut Sauce

- 1/4 cup minced shallots (if you don't have shallots, you can used 1/4 cup minced onions + 1 minced garlic clove)
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
- 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
- 1 Tablespoon chili garlic sauce or sriracha (you can adjust this down if you like your food milder)
- 1 teaspoon sugar or honey
- 1/2 cup water

*Optional for addition right before eating

- lime wedges
- more minced shallots or onions for extra savory flavor
- chopped fresh chilies for extra heat (I used Thai chilies - you could use jalapeños, serranos, chiles de arbol, or even habanero)
- chopped roasted peanuts

1) Saute the shallots in the oil over medium-high heat until they turn translucent and a few bits are browned.

2) Turn the heat down to medium low, add in the rest of the ingredients and stir until everything is evenly incorporated.

[dkennedy]

Ina, your meatballs sound incredible. Is it your own recipe or from a book?

[inaplasticcup]

Thanks, dk! It's my recipe. I think it would work really well with ground chicken, too. Specially dark meat.

CHILI LEMONGRASS MEATBALLS
Makes about 24 1 ¾” meatballs

- 2.5 pounds ground pork

- 2 teaspoons oil for sweating aromatics
- ½ cup minced onion
- ½ cup minced shallots
- 3 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons minced chili of your choice (I used serranos this time)
- ¼ cup very finely chopped lemongrass (just the white ends)

- 1 large egg
- zest of 1 lime
- 3 to 4 Tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- 2.5 Tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons oil, depending on how fatty your ground pork is, for the meatball mix

- 2 Tablespoons oil for rolling meatballs

1) Sweat the onion, shallots, garlic, chilies, and lemongrass in the 2 teaspoons oil in a pre-heated medium pan for 4 minutes or so, or until the onions are translucent.

2) Preheat the oven to 450F.

3) Combine all of the rest of the ingredients with the sweated onions, etc. in a large mixing bowl, and massage all ingredients together until they are just evenly incorporated.

4) Line a sheetpan or cookie sheet with foil, and lightly oil the foil.

5) Lightly oil your hands and form roughly 1 ¾” meatballs, placing them at least 1.5 inches away from the next meatball in your sheetpan or cookie sheet. The oil not only helps to keep the meatball mixture from sticking to your hands, but it helps the meatball sear more quickly, therefore retaining the juices.

6) Place the sheetpan in the oven so that the top of the meatballs is about 4 inches away from the top heat element. (Usually either the first or second rack in most ovens.) Bake for 13 minutes.

7) Then turn the oven to broil and broil an additional minute to two minutes to achieve desired browning on top.

[dkennedy]

Thank you so much, it was so thoughtful of you to go through the trouble of posting the entire recipe. I just came back from the grocery store but I will put the ingredients on my list for next week and report back. Again, thank you!

[Breadcrumbs]

ina sincere thanks, what a great, versatile recipe. I sincerely appreciate your taking the time to share it. I'll definitely go w your base and take your suggestions by adding a Thai bird chili (or two!!) and some lime...love the lime!!

[inaplasticcup]

Gladl, Bc! And I'm a huge fan of the citrus, too. :)

[mariacarmen]

aahhhh gorgeous, and so delicious looking! i wish i was eating this right now.

[inaplasticcup]

Thanks, mc! :)

[L.Nightshade]

Fabulous, Ina! You always have an interesting twist. Meatballs in a noodle salad, what a great idea.
I've been fiddling with an idea for turkey or chicken meatballs with a peanut dipping sauce, you've inspired me to get moving on that one!

[inaplasticcup]

Thanks, Linda! I'm going to use your chicken idea next time I make these.

[nomadchowwoman]

Wow, does that look wonderful! So do your recipes. Filing those away.

[inaplasticcup]

Thanks, ncw! :)

[gingershelley]

Looks and sounds great! Love the idea of meatballs in salad....

[inaplasticcup]

Thanks, ginger. :)

[Hank Hanover]

Nightshade;

I have a question. On the next thread where we vote for which dish. Can I submit more than 1 idea?

[L.Nightshade]

Hank - judging by your twelve nominations on the thread, I guess you've figured out that the answer, is yes! In the nomination thread you can submit several dishes. In the voting thread, only one.

[Gio]

Molto Italiano by Mario Batali
Polpettine di Tacchino
Turkey Meatballs, Pg. 341

Delicious outcome for this really easy recipe. Either a mix of ground turkey and ground pork or all turkey may be used. I used all turkey and halved the recipe. Ingredients: ground meat, fresh breadcrumbs, a bit of milk, eggs, garlic, rosemary, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do the usual mix, roll, bake technique. From the mix I used 12 meatballs filled a smallish slightly oiled baking dish. They baked in a pre-heated 475F oven for 15 minutes or till golden brown.

We loved the taste combination of the rosemary and red pepper flakes. Served with Patate Fritte con Peperoni (Crisp fried potatoes with sweet peppers) from the COTM My Calabria, Insalata di Pomodori e Cipolle Calabrase (salad of tomatoes and onions from Calabria), and corn on the cob...

[L.Nightshade]

The nomination thread for the October Home Cooking Dish of the Month is up here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/869782
Please join in and help select a new dish (while you continue to enjoy your meatballs, of course!).

[sedimental]

I just made a throw together type meatball dinner.FAST and EASY!
Perfect for my low energy week :(

Isernio chicken sausage, cracker crumbs, egg and cream, dried parsley, dried cheese ( cotija) and lots of pepper. baked in the oven on silpat. Served with red cabbage and dab of butter over the top. Seriously Delish!

[L.Nightshade]

Sounds very good! This is what I'm loving about the meatball project - it's so easy to throw ingredients together and toss them in the oven!

[GretchenS]

MMRuth's Swedish Meatballs, as first posted in a thread in January, 2006

These were completely amazing. I cannot urge you strongly enough to make them. I am filled with regret that it has taken me more than 6 years since she first posted them and I copied the recipe to make them. All the many meals I made during those years which were not nearly as good. Sigh.

Ground beef and pork, panade, grated onion, salt, allspice, egg. Mix ahead so you can refrigerate until they set up before forming the meatballs. Refrigerate again if you have time. Saute in butter. Serve. Be very happy. Recipe here with some tips in subsequent posts. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/2827... Knowing MMR to be a gifted cook I did not make any changes other than cutting all amounts in half to make a smaller batch. I did make a gravy from the drippings once the meatballs were browned and that was a waste of time and calories, it was completely surplus to requirements. I think these meatballs would work really well with sauteed or braised cabbage. I will let you know soon!

[rabaja]

Ok, my mouth is watering.
I'm making a NYT meatball recipe tonight from David Tanis, but MMRuth's are now on my radar as well, thank you!

meant to add the link...
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/12763/...

[GretchenS]

Wow, those look fantastic, rabaja, are you making them with beef or lamb? Can hardly wait to hear your report!!

[rabaja]

I'm using beef, some 85% lean, grass-fed that needs using up, and I'm making them this afternoon as I ran out of time yesterday. Will report shortly!

[blue room]

This thread is great, isn't it? And those NYTimes meatballs!

[jpr54_1]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/din...

this was in ny times today

[rabaja]

Thanks for linking the complete article. I should have done that.
For that photo alone!

[nomadchowwoman]

Yes, those look pretty great.

[L.Nightshade]

Oh, those meatballs look amazing; thanks for the link. I can't wait to hear about your results.
I've got an entire folder of meatball bookmarks now. I think my meatballing will continue through the winter.

[gingershelley]

+1, LN - this has been inspiring, and taste-bud opening.... Should the NYT Moroccan meatball idea move to a response to the OP so that it doesn't hijack the Swedish meatball part? Seems to me it grew out of that with exuberance for the recipe, and isn't properly filed here, just - sheepishly - saying.

Love your shepherding of all of us meatball peoples - thanks:)

[L.Nightshade]

I think that is just the nature of these threads, a bit tangential at times. It doesn't detract from Gretchen's delicious sounding Swedish meatballs. I don't think the mods are in the habit of moving posts around within a thread, but someone is welcome to correct me if I am mistaken.

Hopefully, when rabaja makes the meatballs, we'll hear all about them in a new post.

[rabaja]

I promise I'll put my review in a new post, and soon!

[gingershelley]

Well I am all DOWN with the following comments on the NYT meatballs - but I don't want to take AWAY from Gretchen's awesome-sounding swedish here!

It seems some mod should push the comments on the David Tannis MB's, and NYT article, to an original post-reply so they have their own goodness?

[nomadchowwoman]

Lamb Meatballs (w/pine nuts and golden raisins)

This is the lamb version of "Doron's Meatballs," a recipe from Molly Wizenberg's "A Homemade Life" (p.168). Here's a link:

http://orangette.blogspot.com/2005/02...

We were invited to watch football at our neighbors' home, and when I asked what I could bring, my neighbor asked if I'd mind bringing the lamb meatballs I'd brought to their house once before. (Which is funny, b/c we have another set of friends who always ask me to bring these meatballs to their gatherings.) They are good, and my husband grouses that the only time he gets them is when we're guests somewhere, and he can't scarf too many!

I had decided I would try baking these this time instead of frying, but since they're served naked on the platter with yogurt dipping sauce on the side, I feared they wouldn't brown well so at the last minute I decided to fry them, in 1 T each of olive and grapeseed oil, over med. heat in a deep cast iron frying pan--and that was all the oil I needed.

This was my most successful attempt so far w/these babies, in that not one fell apart or lost most of its innards. I was more careful with my chopping, mincing the cilantro and onion, and chopping both the pine nuts and golden raisins more than the recipe directs. And, as many have suggested here (thanks all), I rolled the meatballs and then refrigerated them for a few hours.

Anyway, they were a hit. The easy yogurt sauce is really tasty, too, but from experience, I knew that there's always a lot leftover so I make 1/2 recipe of sauce for one recipe of meatballs (and there was still some leftover).

[nomadchowwoman]

photos, such as they are--

[GretchenS]

Another one I want to make! This is one of the great threads of all time.

[L.Nightshade]

I can't get the link to work, but they sure look and sound good!
When you refrigerate the meatballs, does it take longer for the inside to cook? In other words, when you're happy with the brownness on the outside, were you happy with the doneness on the inside?

[nomadchowwoman]

I will try to resubmit that link as I had some trouble getting it to work. Otherwise I'll paraphrase the recipe. ETA: I think the link works now.

I think, LN, I cooked the meatballs longer than usual, but I was consciously using lower heat as I wanted to be able to use the same oil for both batches, and in the past, I've had trouble with pieces falling out of the meatballs and burning. I also used a deeper pot--and that seemed to make a difference. Maybe they steamed a little as they were browning? Which, I think, would be a good thing.

[L.Nightshade]

Thanks for the info on cooking them after refrigeration.
And the link is working! I've bookmarked it; they really sound great.

[gingershelley]

SO awesome.... I love Molly; she just had a baby this last week. I am 'remote' friends with her, having many friend that know her, but not having met her actually yet. Such is the food scene in SEA.

I am sure I will make these in honor of her new daughter, June.:)

[L.Nightshade]

In her intro to this recipe Hazan calls meatballs "forthright, non-intimidating food, food to make one feel complete, filled to the brim with happiness and gratitude." How can you resist that?

We got a savoy cabbage in the CSA, so although it's not winter yet, I made Polpettine Invernali con la Verza (winter meatballs with savoy cabbage) from More Classic Italian Cooking.

These are beef meatballs, made with a panade, onion, parsley, pancetta, parmesan, egg, salt, pepper, and ground beef. They are rolled in dry breadcrumbs before cooking.

Shredded savoy cabbage has a long cook with garlic, and tomatoes are added near the end. I boiled up some ragamuffin pasta (cuttings left from making raviolini the other night), and tossed it with garlic and pepper. On our plates we mixed up the pasta with everything else. Very tasty. Although the recipe doesn't call for the pasta, we will always do it this way in the future.

I read somewhere about cooking meatballs in mini-muffin tins, the idea being they would perch over the indentations and drain the fat. I was attracted to the idea because the meatballs I roast on a baking sheet always have a flat side. So they did come out nice and round, took about 5 minutes longer than my control group on a baking sheet, but ultimately, I don't think it was worth it. They are a little bit cuter, but didn't brown as well, and there was a muffin tin to clean up afterward.

[mariacarmen]

this looks like the perfect winter dish. i can just taste the sweetness of the cabbage with those meatballs. nice. lovely pics, too, usual.

[nomadchowwoman]

They look great, LN!

[GretchenS]

Those look and sound fantastic! Going on my list....

[gingershelley]

Great report, LN - those sound tasty and well thought-out ( you are a remarkable woman of sorting out distinctions!). Love the comparison of muffin-tin vs. sheet tray with parchment.....

Also love your take/create on having shaved pasta with the results. Why would you NOT have pasta in the mix with the long-cooked cabbage?

All sounds delish. Thanks for the report! May borrow some inspiration here...

[inaplasticcup]

Thanks for taking one for the team with that muffin tin experiment! :P

[Hank Hanover]

Swedish Meatballs

I reviewed several recipes and decided to go with Cooks Illustrated's recipe. Of course, I just couldn't leave it alone, completely. Of all the Swedish meatball recipes I looked at CI's was the only one using chicken broth. I chose to use beef broth.

Here is the recipe I used.. properly paraphrased. I'm sorry. I didn't take a photograph. I served mine on egg noodles. They were very well received. Everybody liked them.

Swedish Meatballs hh

Meatballs:

1 large egg
¼ cup heavy cream
1 slice white bread, cubed
8 ounces ground pork
1 small onion, grated (about 1/4 cup)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tsp packed brown sugar (optional)
1 ½ teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces 85 percent lean ground beef
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil

Sauce:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups beef broth
2-3 teaspoons packed brown sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon

Instructions
1. For the Meatballs: Whisk egg and cream together in medium bowl. Stir in bread and set aside. Meanwhile, in mixing bowl, mix pork, onion, nutmeg, allspice, pepper, salt, and baking powder. Use a fork to mash bread mixture until no large dry bread chunks remain; add mixture to bowl and mix. Add beef and mix by hand. Try to take as little time as possible. Using moistened hands, form generous tablespoon of meat mixture into 1-inch round meatball; repeat with remaining mixture to form 25 to 30 meatballs.

2. Heat oil in 10-inch sauté pan or 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until edge of meatball dipped in oil sizzles (oil should register 350 degrees on instant-read thermometer), 3 to 5 minutes. Add meatballs in single layer and fry, flipping once halfway through cooking, until lightly browned all over and cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. (Adjust heat as needed.) Using slotted spoon, transfer browned meatballs to paper towel-lined plate.

3. For the Sauce: Pour off oil in pan, leaving any fond behind. Return pan to medium-high heat and add butter. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until flour is light brown, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in broth, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits. Add brown sugar and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sauce is reduced to about 1 cup, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream and return to simmer.

4. Add meatballs to sauce and simmer, turning occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

[cstout]

Amazing, I was just thinking about making Swedish meatballs. Have never made them & was hoping someone would post a recipe. Thanks so much. they sound delicious.

[nomadchowwoman]

Sounds wonderful, Hank, esp. w/the noodles. As often as I've had them (or something called "Swedish meatballs"--not always great), I have never made them.

[Hank Hanover]

To tell you the truth, I hadn't had them in years but I have been meaning to make them for a couple of years. It seems to me, the last time i had them my wife had made them form some kind of kit.. perhaps a spice packet? .. not sure. We liked them back then.

I think I would like even smaller meatballs. mine were about 1 inch maybe 3/4 inch. Maybe a tiny bit more sauce.

[Hank Hanover]

Tonight I made Sweet and Sour Meatballs. I started with this recipe as a base.
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/...

I modified it to this recipe.

Pineapple Glazed Meatballs

Ingredients:
Meatballs:
1/2 pound ground chicken
1/2 pound ground pork
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbl brown sugar
1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon 5 spice powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tbl pineapple juice

Glaze:

1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbl ketchup
1 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon corn starch mixed with 2 Tbls cold water

Directions:
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2 Combine meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Form 1 inch meatballs.
3 Arrange the meatballs in a casserole pan and put in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. Look for an internal temperature of about 165° or so.
4 Make the glaze when you put the meatballs in the oven. Mix all the ingredients except the corn starch in a small pot and bring to a boil. Whisk in the corn starch and simmer 1-2 minutes.
5 Baste the meatballs once they have cooked for 10 minutes, then again at 20 minutes, and then again at 5 minutes before they're done.

Serve by themselves as a party appetizer.

It seemed to me that if I was going Asian, the meatballs needed to be chicken and pork. For the same reason, I added a little 5 spice powder to the meat. I didn't have dry mustard so I used Dijon mustard. I glazed the meatballs with the sweet & sour pineapple sauce and served it in a bowl for dipping, also.

After 10 minutes in a casserole dish, it was clear that there was going to be way to much grease and sauce. so I moved the meatballs to a jelly roll pan with a drain rack in it. I wanted them to brown.

The meatballs turned out very well. I served them as appetizers but I suppose they could have been served on a bed of rice as a main dish. The meatballs were very tasty and fairly pretty. My apologies to the food artists out there. I did the best i could with a picture. I hope you like these.

[GretchenS]

Those sure look tasty!

[Hank Hanover]

Oh.. I appreciate it. thank you.

[dkennedy]

Wil there be an October 2012 Dish of the Month? I haven't been able to find a nomination thread. Am I missing it?

[blue room]

dkennedy, the nomination thread for September went up on August 20th, so I'm expecting the October one in about 5 days. I'm mainly wondering how to top or even equal the success of these mahvelous meatballs.

[L.Nightshade]

Yes dk, blue room is correct. The DOTM nominating thread has been going up around the 20th. I'm not sure it even needs to go up that early, as we don't have to beg, borrow, or buy a cookbook! But go ahead and start thinking about our next dish (while you continue to cook meatballs)! I'll post the link to the new nominating thread here as soon as it goes up.

[dkennedy]

Thanks!

[jpr54_1]

This afternoon I am picking up my fish and brisket.
Sunday will be making gefilte fish and matzoh balls
For those who celebrate Jewish New Year-Rosh ha Shanah
L'shana Tova Tickatevu !!!
May you be inscribed in the Book of Life

[jpr54_1]

my dinner is ready-
fish and brisket came out well

[Gio]

The Meatball Shop Cookbook
Chicken Meatballs, Pg. 12

Tasty little tidbit, this. It's a simple meatball recipe with the alternative meat being ground turkey if chicken is not to be found, so I took advantage of this option. I halved the recipe for 2 people. The ingredients are: ground meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, chopped parsley (I used basil), dry white wine, salt & pepper, ground fennel. Mix it all together, form golf ball sized balls, roast in an oiled baking dish at 450F for 20 minutes, or till golden and cooked through. Although I used only 1 egg the mixture felt a little too wet to me so I added a bit more breadcrumbs till the mixture held together as I rolled the balls.

Served with a drizzle of Sriracha mayo over top, sauteed zucchini, and the Jetalah Pineapple, Cucumber, and Chili Salad from Mighty Spice cookbook. The flavor of each component complimented each other very well to produce a delicious meal.

[soypower]

I just haven't had the time to get much done in the kitchen, but before the month is over, I -will- make these...

Hundred Corner Shrimp Balls
http://bloatalrecall.blogspot.com/201...

They're a bit more like a croquette than a meatball, but I think it will qualify, no?

[nomadchowwoman]

They qualify in my book! "The Meatball Shop Cookbook" includes a recipe for crabcake balls. Thanks for the link.

[Hank Hanover]

I finally made my 1st meatball recipe for the month, Szechwan Meatballs.

I used this recipe.

Szechuan Braised Meatballs
Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck
1 6-oz can water chestnuts, finely chopped
2 tbls plus 1 tbl cornstarch, divided
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup Szechuan sauce
4 cups shredded napa (Chinese) cabbage
1 15-oz can straw mushrooms, rinsed

Preparation:
Gently mix beef, water chestnuts, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, five-spice powder and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Shape the mixture into 12 balls (≈ 2 tablespoons each or ≈ 1 1/2-inch meatballs). Whisk broth and the remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook, turning once, until brown, about 3 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.
Add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil to the pan. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 15 to 30 seconds. Add the reserved broth mixture, Szechuan sauce, cabbage and mushrooms; cook, stirring, until the cabbage is just wilted, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to a simmer, return the meatballs to the pan, cover and cook until the sauce is thickened and the meatballs are cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.

About the only changes I made was I used half ground chuck and half ground pork. I thought about using chicken and pork and using chicken broth instead of beef broth. Another time, perhaps.

They were pretty good. Spicy but not overbearing. The dish was easy to make. I think if I made it again, I would use smaller meatballs.. maybe 1 ounce by weight before cooking. That would have made 20 instead of 12.

[GretchenS]

That picture looks yummy. Enlighten me please: what is Szechuan sauce? And where do you get it?

[Hank Hanover]

It is a hot sauce found in the Asian section of the grocery store. Here is a link to a recipe for making it if you want. Besides, I only needed 1/4 cup. I was much to lazy for that.

http://www.food.com/recipe/szechuan-s...

The authentic sauce is usually made with a powdered Sichuan pepper. It is, probably available in the local Asian market. I have seen other versions where the sauce was made fairly thick and used as a dipping sauce for meatballs on a toothpick.

[GretchenS]

Thanks Hank!

[HillJ]

In honor of my hard working hubby I made something really comforting and fun: Spam meatballs with a molokai glaze.

I ground up 2 cans of spam, added some Ritz crackers and 2 eggs and made small meatballs out of it. Cooked the meatballs on a cookie sheet for 15 mins at 375 degrees. Then, made a molokai glaze using tangerine juice, soy sauce and puree of green peppers reduced down to a glaze. Removed meatballs from oven, brushed with glaze and return to the oven, now set on broil, to achieve a slight char. Served with toothpicks and add’l sauce as an appetizer with a tossed green salad lightly dressed. Some crisp white wine. He was one happy guy!

[blue room]

You are a good wife!
Molokai glaze? I know Spam is popular in Hawaii, but a specific island glaze is new to me. Haha my first thought was "don't they have pineapples there?"
Regardless, the whole thing sounds good.

[HillJ]

http://www.hotsaucehawaii.com/product...

blue, kinda did my own version! They were tasty...more important hubby was in heaven.

[Berheenia]

How big did you make these babies? They sound perfect for an appetizer. I love Spam.

[HillJ]

I used my medium sized cookie scoop for these and they were just the right size.

[L.Nightshade]

Little Fridge-Cleanout Meatballs for One

I'm loving this whole meatball thing. And I'd never have guessed. What a perfect destination for refrigerator odds and ends.

Mr. NS is out of town tonight, a perfect time for cleaning out the fridge and experimenting. A little bit of ground lamb, grated yellow summer squash, onion, parsley, dried lime, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, allspice, all went into the meatballs. On the side, a tahini, garlic, lemon, and chile flake sauce for dipping meatballs and sliced cucumbers.

[GretchenS]

Very nice, LN. How was the texture sans breadcrumbs? I am still pondering those Indian ones I made upthread.

[L.Nightshade]

Oh, I knew I forgot something when listing the ingredients! I didn't use breadcrumbs, I just used a small amount of garbanzo flour. The texture was very nice, and there was a faint taste of garbanzos, which worked well with the other ingredients.

[GretchenS]

What a great idea! Stealing it. :)

[dkennedy]

Meatballs al forno, The Mozza Cookbook, page 107

Well, I was finally going to attempt a meatball recipe today (first time for this thread) but it was not meant to be. After I went grocery shopping, I came down with a flu, so I won't be making anything for a while. It's too bad because the recipe is quite interesting.

It calls for equal parts pork and veal, fresh breadcrumbs, milk, eggs, etc. The interesting parts for me are the addition of pancetta, (finely chopped) and the fact that the meatballs are meant to rest overnight to solidify before cooking. Is that typical? Thereafter they are dredged in flour, browned in oil, and then transferred to a very simply passata sauce to finish cooking and to be served with.

[gingershelley]

Dkennedy. Sorry you are under the weather!

I have my eye on those meatballs as well, esp. since I have been very impressed with the Mozza book. Have been reading through it as I got it from the library to peruse as was intrigued by discussion on it's nomination for COTM status. Very well written and researched book, so expect these will turn out very well.

If I get to these before you do, or both of us do, we can compare results and experience. Feel better!

[dkennedy]

Thanks GS,

I have cooked a few things out of Mozza (all excellent) and I have a few other books by Nancy Silverton. Her recipes are outstanding. Look forward to reading your review.

[dkennedy]

All better today so I just whipped up a batch of meatballs referenced above, they are resting in the fridge until tomorrow. I did cook one as a tester, and it is very tasty. The pancetta certainly adds a little something-something to it and the chili flakes a kick at the end. The recipe calls for 6 1/2 oz. pancetta, 2 t. salt, and 1 1/2 cups of grated parmesan. I wish I had considered that before adding the full amount of salt. They don't taste of salt, but they are salty, and they are not the type of meatball I would ever make to serve on their own. I think they will be very nice in a tomato based sauce. This recipe while good, will not replace my go-to meatball recipe (out of Cheesemonger's Kitchen - which BTW is a fabulous book).

[dkennedy]

Meatballs al forno, The Mozza Cookbook, page 107

Update:

You'll recall that I tested my one meatball and found it to be a little to salty on its own. The next night we ate the meatballs in a very simple Passata sauce to which I only added a little stock, a sprig of rosemary and thyme and 2 smashed garlic cloves. As predicted, the simple sauce perfectly balanced the saltiness of the meatballs. They also were a little firmer than I like. My husband absolutely loved these meatballs. I only liked them. I do love, love, love the Cheesemonger's Kitchen meatball and if any of you have this book on your shelf you should try this recipe.

[gingershelley]

Glad to hear the results DK, as on your note above about the salty ingredients, I was beginning to doubt this recipe!

I will make these soon, and probably reduce the salt on your notes. Thanks!

[blue room]

I've always wanted an excuse to make Lion's Head Meatballs. Oversized, with a "mane" of greenery. So many Asian restaurant dishes have playful names. I wonder if that's a restaurant thing or a cultural thing -- ?
I chose a New York Times recipe, can be found here
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/mag...
I used all shiitake 'shrooms rather than a mix of black and shiitake, and used napa cabbage instead of watercress for the greens.
Very satisfying to lower a huge meatball full of ginger and sesame and all good things into oil and watch it get golden brown. The meatballs are baked too, to finish cooking, in mushroom broth.
I skipped some of the garnishing steps, and did not thicken the broth, but did follow the meatball instructions.
Delicious, would make again, but probably only for an occasion due to the deep fat frying.

[gingershelley]

Great addition to the meatballs theme, Blue Room. I haven't had a Lion's Head MB in years.

Thanks for sharing - looks and sounds wonderful.

[caviar_and_chitlins]

I love Lion's Heads. There was a chef at a favorite Cantonese restaurant I used to frequent who finally told me the secret of his super tender meatballs...... tofu. Drained well, beaten, then mixed in with the meat, and it worked beautifully. I believe his ratio was about 1/4 to 1, tofu to meat- of course I didn't put it in my recipe box.

[blue room]

You know, the recipe I used (from the NYTimes.com) tells you to mix the meat with the other ingredients for 3 minutes! -- that's a long time to stir ground meat with a wooden spoon, and results in a very fine textured sliceable big meatball. Pleasant textured, but definitely firm. I wondered about this, since tenderness is a good thing in meatballs. The flavor was so good I didn't mind at all, and maybe it has to be that way to deep fry.
Back to your point, the tofu (I've never beaten tofu) sounds like an excellent idea, I wouldn't hesitate to try it.
There are so many Lion's Head recipes -- Irene Kuo, in "The Key to Chinese Cooking", says that the authentic version from Yangchow calls for 1/2 pork, 1/2 pork FAT. (Minced separately, by the way.)

[Berheenia]

We wanted to make a 'gourmet weekend meatball " but had to settle for 'weekday' as the butcher shop was lacking any decent ground meats- only had a fatty chuck. We baked them so a lot of the fat was left behind in the roasting pan. Stand-by recipe is pound of meat with 1/2 finely chopped white onion, a teasp of minced garlic, 1/3 cup romano cheese, egg, s&p, dried oregano/parsley/basil and the heel of a loaf of sandwich wheat bread processed into crumbs. Some times we add panko or store bought Italian bread crumbs to thicken the mixture. If I had anticipated the amount of fat I would have as the balls kind of lost their shape. Threw remains of 2 TJ's sauces and the rest of a box of Pom tomatoes in a pan with some red wine and roasted red peppers and buzzed the whole mess with a stick blender and added the balls to simmer. Finished the balls and sauce with fresh basil and some shaved Italian cheese mix from Trader Joe's served over Barilla spaghetti. And there are leftovers!

[Breadcrumbs]

SUNDAY GRAVY WITH SAUSAGES AND MEATBALLS – ON TOP OF SPAGHETTI BY JOHANNE KILLEEN AND GEORGE GERMON – p. 126

This dish just called out to me when I flipped through the book in search of a hearty Sunday dinner. For those who may not know it, gravy is what some Italian Americans call their tomato meat sauce. In this case, the recipe yields a large quantity of “gravy” and that’s because a half batch of it is called for in another recipe in the book – “Mary’s Lasagna”.

I found the recipes for all these dishes online so I’ll paste the link here for folks who don’t own the book and may be interested in this dish. I won’t cover the prep in this post. You’ll need to scroll down as the recipes for the Gravy and the Meatballs follow that for the lasagna:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/em...

One note I’d add is that I believe the meatball recipe calls for far too much milk relative to the quantity of other ingredients. In my case I actually had 15 oz of beef vs the 12oz called for and 1/3 cup of milk was more than enough to moisten the meatballs. Any more and they would have turned to mush.

The meatballs actually cook by simmering in the meat sauce so it’s more important than ever that they hold their form. The recommended technique of gently shaking the pot as you drop them in worked well and the meatballs easily nestled amongst the sausage and pork chops. Once the meatballs were added I simmered my sauce for 2 hours covered and an additional hour uncovered. Though this isn’t necessary, it does further integrate the various flavours and makes your home smell amazing!!

Next time I prepare this dish I’ll remove the sausage from its casings as I found the large pieces didn’t break up enough using the prescribed method. The gravy was a big hit. This is a sauce where the rich meaty ingredients don’t overshadow the bright flavours of the tomato sauce and the result is a perfectly balance dish. The meatballs were ridiculously tender and just melted in our mouths, it was tough to imagine how they’d held together. They really were the star of the dish.

[angelsmom]

Thanks for the review, one of my favorites from this book is...http://lisaiscooking.blogspot.com/201...
There are do many great recipes in that book.
It is interesting in how different baking, frying and just drops in the sauce makes in the flavor and texture of meatballs. It would make a great test.
I forgot to mention the bucatini with 5 peper sauce and the roasted asparagus peto from this book.

[nomadchowwoman]

I agree--I've only ever fried meatballs, but these other techniques are intriguing. No mess of frying= priceless.

[Berheenia]

When I was learning to cook I found meatballs very challenging until I discovered the Joy of Cooking recipe for Koenisberger Klops, a large German meatball simmered in stock. I won't report on it here because I haven't made them in years but it's a nice alternative to fried meatballs.

[linguafood]

One of my favorite meatball preps. How could one go wrong with a creamy caper sauce??

[gingershelley]

Oh BC - this looks amazing - esp. that you simmered the meatballs for a total of 3 hours and they didn't fall apart. I have bookmarked this one to try when the weather cools off here. I will have to have a party, as this looks like it feeds an army!

[linguafood]

Inspired by L. Nightshade's polpette (and this thread, of course), I've finally decided to take the meat-a-ball-a plunge: golfball-sized balls made of ground veal, beef & pork, toasted breadcrumbs, a sploosh of milk, one egg, toasted fennel seeds, pecorino, paprika, oregano, rosemary & a hint of cinnamon will be baked in the oven -- on foil, we were out of parchment paper. Dang.

A very simple tomato sauce is in the making -- diced onion & one anchovy filet currently sweating away in olive oil, to be combined with tomato paste, cooked briefly on high, then turned down. Can of Marzanos, blended, some fresh basil chiffonade for later. Tossed with paccheri, topped with da meataballza.

Pics to follow. Won't be eating for another couple hours here....

[linguafood]

Eh. The photos didn't come out that well. It was tasty, but not very photogenic :-)

The meatballs were nice, although I probably liked the pasta & sauce the most.

[L.Nightshade]

Polpette alla Verbicarese (My Mother's Pork Meatballs in Tomato Sauce)

These simple meatballs are from the COTM, My Calabria, so I guess I'm double dipping with this recipe. Breadcrumbs was the first to post about it, and her report is here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8661...

The meatballs are made from ground pork, fine, dry breadcrumbs, pecorino cheese, and chopped parsley.
I took a cue from Breadcrumbs' report, and I roasted them on parchment paper in the oven instead of frying them. I love this technique. They brown nicely, and the mess of frying is eliminated. I didn't make the tomato sauce in the book, as we had our own standing by in the freezer. I served the dish as the author suggests, with some of the sauce on pasta for a first course, and the meatballs as the main course.

Also in the book, is a recipe for Sagne Chine (Calabrian style lasagne). It calls for these meatballs to be made the size of marbles, and layered with pasta sheets, hardboiled eggs, peas, and mozzarella. I've got that on my list for later this month.

[nomadchowwoman]

Wow--those look good; making me very hungry, LN!
I have to try the baking method.

[inaplasticcup]

Such gorgeous pics as always, LN! And don't you love the convenience of just popping them in the oven?

[Breadcrumbs]

Jerk Chicken Balls – The Meatball Shop Cookbook by Daniel Holzman & Michael Chernow – p. 30

We’re big fans of jerk chicken so needless to say this dish held immediate appeal. This is really a chicken and pork meatball, despite being named otherwise as the recipe calls for 1 lb of each. The recipe comes together in no time with limited chopping require. I only used one Scotch bonnet pepper (the book calls for 2 habanero peppers) and we found the meatballs to be just right. I think 2 would have been too overpowering for our tastes. Even as you stir in the spices and herbs this smells like jerk so it was no surprise that the finished meatballs tasted great and pretty authentic. We liked them on their own and also w a little Jamaican Pick-a-peppa sauce on the side. I’d definitely make them again and I think they’d make for perfect party food.

I found the recipe online here (along w a couple of others from the book) in case folks are interested: http://www.expressnightout.com/2012/0...

[HillJ]

Bc, thank you for the links to all three recipes...printing out now.
Lovely pixs!

[Breadcrumbs]

Thanks very much HillJ. There's also a recipe for the Buffalo Chicken Meatballs from this book on the web. I made them earlier this year and had a bit of an issue with the mixture being too wet. In hindsight I would have reduced the liquids but at the time I'd already added them so I compensated by adding in some extra breadcrumbs and all was well. I mention this just in case others are tempted to try the recipe.

Here's a link to my review of that dish:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/848094#7367320

Here's a link to the recipe:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/meat...

[HillJ]

Breadc, I was completely sidetracked by the 3 meatball recipes you included in your post. My family & I enjoyed the Tandoori Lamb Balls tonight for dinner. The tandoori spice mix was excellent and I prepared a good amount of it to use in a few other recipes; including Naan. Highly recommend. And, my favorite meatball recipe so far.

[TxnInMtl]

I added a report on a meatball dish I made last weekend to The Olive and the Caper COTM thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8364... .

I wish I had more time for cooking and posting this month as meatball recipes are some of my favorites. If any of you have 660 Curries, I highly recommend the lamb meatball recipes in there, particularly the ones with almonds in a tomato cream sauce (p. 217).

[Breadcrumbs]

Thanks for the heads up on the lamb meatballs in 660 Curries TxnMtl, I have some ground lamb in the freezer so if I have time, I'll definitely check those recipes out.

[GretchenS]

Thanks very much for your recommendation, TxnInMtl, I made the lamb-almond meatballs (Shahi Kofta Curry) from 660 Curries tonight and they were delicious. Mix ground lamb, finely chopped red onion, ground almonds, minced mint and cilantro leaves, garlic, garam masala and salt, brown in ghee, remove and deglaze pan with plain tomato sauce, cumin seeds, cardamom and cayenne, add cream and meatballs and simmer. I cut way back on the cayenne as I am a spice wimp and was very glad I did -- they were at the limit of my heat tolerance. The sauce is truly amazing. I served with coarse bulgur (my usual sub for rice) and green beans.

One thing about those meatballs, tasty as they were: just like my other much-loved Indian meatball recipe, they were on the tough side. I believe this is from the lack of a panade (breadcrumb and milk). Thinking about it, I remembered that the Lion's Head Meatballs I make do not have that problem so I looked up that recipe and they have chopped mushrooms in them. THAT in turn reminded me of the article in a recent Cooks Illustrated about meatloaf where they wanted to remove the panade and replaced it with some gelatin and chopped mushrooms (which have something in them that absorbs and holds moisture). So I think I will play with either this recipe or my other Indian meatball recipe to see if I can make them as tender as they are tasty.

[TxnInMtl]

I'm so glad you liked it. That's a very interesting idea to try adding chopped mushrooms. Please do report back if you get the time to experiment.

[GretchenS]

Belated pic.

[nomadchowwoman]

Another book I want now: 660 Curries.
What you describe is a dream meal to me--lamb meatballs and an Indian tomato sauce with cream!

[nomadchowwoman]

I finally got around to making these tonight. (After reading your report last month, I went ahead and ordered "660 Curries," which I'd been wanting, and then it became COTM so it all worked out well).

We really liked these, and I agree, th sauce is wonderful, but, alas, mine were also tough. I was too rushed to do anything but follow the recipe, but I wish I'd tried one of your ideas. (DH didn't seem bothered by the lack of tenderness, however. He ate a slew of them. Truth be told, I would have been happy to eat just the sauce with rice.)

[Dave MP]

I made some meatballs over the weekend, and very roughly based it on Claudia Roden's recipe in the Lebanese section of Arabesque. Hers are lamb meatballs, and I used ground turkey (which was probably my first mistake), so it was really just the general concept that I copied.

I mixed about 1.5 lbs of ground turkey meat with finely chopped onion, cinnamon, allspice, ground coriander seed. Then I added some finely chopped fresh mint and cilantro, since I had some in the house anyway. I baked the meatballs on their own for a while, with some olive oil in a pan, and meanwhile I made a tomato sauce by cooking fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

What came out looked pretty, but the meatballs were too dry and a bit tough—though I liked their flavor. What should I add to turkey meatballs next time so they come out more tender? Maybe just less-lean meat?

But I liked the sauce, and the overall concept, and I took a photo. We served this over couscous.

Dave MP

[greygarious]

Panade and egg, without which meatballs are hockey pucks.

[Gio]

Grey, are you saying that a Panade should be added into Dave's turkey mix?
As far as I know a panade is a complete dish in it's own right consisting of onions, garlic, a pound of chard, about a pound of bread cubes, chicken broth and baked in the oven. As someone has said , it's a "cross between French onion soup and an eggless strata." Is there another panade?

ETA: Here's the Zuni Cafe report thread about Panade where I first heard about it during that COTM.....
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/355989

[GretchenS]

Hi Gio, panade also means a mix of breadcrumbs and milk, commonly added to meatballs and meatloaf to hold moisture -- and according to Cook Illustrated it also "physically interrupts the meat proteins from linking together into a tough matrix". But I am glad you reminded me about that Zuni Cafe panade! :)

[Gio]

Oh thank you Gretchen. Imagine that. Something I didn't know... (J/K) I had no idea the combination of bread & milk is called a panade. That Zuni panade is absolutely deliciously Decadant. Something I usually make during the Holidays.

[Breadcrumbs]

Your dish sounds lovely Dave. I have that book and appreciate the reminder about this dish. Not sure if you're aware but Arabesque was a past COTM and it turns out beetlebug made this dish too. She also had some textural issues w the meatballs though in her case she felt they were too heavy. Here's a link to her post if you're interested:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/3870...

I've had success making meatballs from very lean meat such as turkey and chicken however I find you do need to compensate for the lack of fat by incorporating some additional moisture in some form. Eggs, such as greygarious suggests (1 egg per pound of meat in my experience) work well, also you can soak some day old bread in milk or water for 15 mins or so then squeeze out the excess moisture and incorporate.

In terms of toughness, in my experience over-mixing or over-handling are typically the biggest culprits. Some folks use an ice cream scoop or similar scoop to shape meatballs. This helps ensure similar-sized portions and, prevents the heat from your hands being an issue.

[EM23]

What should I add to turkey meatballs next time so they come out more tender?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minced mushrooms and a touch of cream help a lot with turkey. I have read that minced zucchini works too but I have not tried that yet.

There are some great recipes on this thread!

[nomadchowwoman]

Susan Spicer's Thai Meatballs (Pork and Shrimp)

http://countryroadsmagazine.com/Appet...

I order this appetizer every time we go to Spicer's terrific "neighborhood restaurant" Mondo, and I was delighted when I found the recipe last year. Last night was my third go at these. Each time, I've had some difficulty skewering these on my lemon grass stalks as the mixture is very loose and has to be mounded around the skewers, more quenelle-like. The first time I made them they held together best, and I was actually able to serve them on their skewers. Last night, they came off the skewers so I just removed those before serving. My photo of some of the cooked ones reveals their lack of beauty, but what they lacked in looks they made up for in flavor.

I suspect my grating the ginger, garlic, and carrot on a fine microplane grater, which struck me as a brilliant idea yesterday(!), actually caused my problem in an even looser mix. (The previous times I grated everything on a cheese grater, which I used only for the onion yesterday.)

At any rate, I'd love any suggestions for coming up with a way to keep these babies on their skewers. (It just occurred to me that maybe I should cook them first, skewer them after they're done.) I'd love to be able to grill them, but so far I've broiled as the recipe directs b/c, this wet, they'd fall through the grates.

I made a dipping sauce with about 1/3 c Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce, 1 T soy sauce, juice of a large lime, and a tsp of sambal oelek. These meatballs and a stir fry of asparagus and oyster mushrooms were dinner last night.

It's turning out to be a meatball-y week around here. I've made two types, and tonight we're going to Mom's for one of her Italian feasts, in which her meatballs always star. And this time, although the recipe is in her head, I'm going to get her to dictate what's in there while I copy it. Someday I'll want to be able to duplicate hers.

As always, I'm loving reading about and getting ideas from everyone else's meatballs.

[L.Nightshade]

I hate to keep repeating myself, but this sounds wonderful! My mouth is watering, and I'm getting so many ideas from this thread.

[Bryan Pepperseed]

Just about everyone here knows more than I do, but since you asked for suggestions regarding your loose mix ....

1) I'd limit the use of the food processor (if not eliminating it all together) to just chopping up the shrimp and then mix the rest by hand. - to me, putting already ground pork in a FP = wet.
2) I would then refrigerate the mix for awhile to see if it "sets up" a bit or form the balls and refrigerate them on a pre-chilled sheet pan.
3) For grilling, purely as an experiment, I probably try to see if two skewers thru each ball might help.

[gingershelley]

Wow, now THAT is an awesome sounding meatball too! Love the flavors. MUST make this one too.

Such great ideas here! Thanks NMC for having a meatball-heavy week. Would love to get your mom's meatball recipe if you can pry it from her for her 'adoring fans' on here....

[nomadchowwoman]

By the time we got to Mom's, several people were already there so I didn't get the "recipe," but I told her to be prepared to give to me over the phone--to which she responded with the usual, "I don't have a recipe. I just make them the way Mrs. Messina taught me." But I will still try to get it from her. I think it's a pretty standard combo for Italian-American meatballs--pork, veal, chuck, and the usual suspects. But she must have a super light touch. They are always tender. My husband dies for these.

[cstout]

Mom's meatballs - just quote word for word what Mrs.Messina said & hopefully we can all figure it out. It is very true so many good cooks don't have a "recipe', but just listen carefully to their words & soon it will all come together. Often it is not the specific ratios to be gleaned, but the "technique" that is prevailing.

[gingershelley]

I understand NMC these 'recipes' are sometimes the hardest to get from a relative, but what a great legacy.

I bet there is alot to be said for her technique, esp. if she has been making them for years and years. An expert really! Hope down the road we may get some tips via 'mom' for Mrs. Messina's meatballs:)

[caviar_and_chitlins]

These sound just like something I'd love. As for staying together- I second what Bryan Pepperseed said- after you form the meatballs, put them on a plate and let them rest, formed, in the 'fridge for an hour or so. I always do this with my meatballs, and it really helps.

Thanks for the recipe!

[gingershelley]

Well, last night I finally got down with the meatball gauntlet, version 1. I had perused a bunch of my cookbooks and found surprisingly few recipes that called out to me to make. And I was very into the idea of the pork and shrimp meatballs that Nomadchowoman put up on the meatball thread.

Thanks so much for these, NMC - I have been wanting to eat them for a week now! Mine are different, but you were my inspiration:)

Of course, I can never leave well-enough alone, and after the discussion of them being a bit wet, and sliding off the recipe's plan that you grill them (or broil) them on lemongrass stalks, I made some tweeks.
So I made the recipe, sans grated carrot (somehow, that didn't appeal to me), added a bit of fresh bread crumbs, soaked in milk for a couple minutes and squeezed out. I also added lemon peel, as for some reason I couldn't find lemongrass in my asian store yesterday. Weird about that, so subbed in micro-planed lemon zest. I also added about 2 oz. of ground chuck that I had in the freezer since it needed using up. Made about 1/2 recipe as just lil' ol me for dinner, and I knew I would have leftovers as it was.

I chilled the meatballs for an hour after forming (perfect, nice scoops made with mini ice cream scoop). Then I browned them, removed to a plate, and made a light fresh tomato sauce in the drippings. Garlic, ginger, scallions, a couple of very juicy local tomatoes diced up got sauteed until breaking down. Added some harissa paste for heat, a dab of tomato paste for depth, and a sploosh of lime juice, fresh orange juice, and a pinch of sugar. Put back the meatballs to finish and simmer in the sauce for 30 minutes to finish cooking them and heat through.

Delish! Kind of a hybrid Thai-ish meatball in a ginger tomato sauce. Very good over some rice noodles, tho I think coconut-ginger rice might have been a better base for some reason. Will try that next time. These are a keeper!

By the time I was ready to eat, I forgot to take a finished-dish pic, but here are the meatballs in their sauce in the saute pan. I really liked the complex, yet light flavor of the meatballs, and the orange-ginger tomato sauce really set them off.

[nomadchowwoman]

Those look, and sound, fabulous, gs. I love the sound of your sauce--over rice noodles or rice!

[dkennedy]

I haven't had a chance to go through all of the 79 meatball recipes that came up on my EYB search, so I will start with the tried and true meatball recipe I use. It is a recipe of Tyler Florence's for mozzarella stuffed meatballs. They are incredibly moist and fall apart all over your pasta (in a good way) letting the cheese ooze out. Yum, my mouth is watering!

http://theresalwaysthyme.blogspot.com/2011/03/now-thatsa-meatball.html

ETA

Here is another use for meatballs that I love!!!!!!

http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-me...

[mike9]

I made meatballs the other night from some leftover beef I had ground for Labor day. They were delicious.

[MelMM]

Kefta Tagine with Herbs, Spices, and Leom - The Food of Morroco, p. 401

This recipe is available online here:
http://leitesculinaria.com/79209/reci...

So here's a non-Italian meatball to throw into the pot. This is a tagine of little lamb meatballs from Paula Wolfert. She has you make the kefta (meatballs) in a food processor, combining ground lamb or beef, creme fraiche or beef suet, sweet paprika, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, nutmet, cayenne, salt, pepper, parsley and cilantro. I used lamb, and the creme fraiche as opposed to suet. You start the sauce in a tagine on the stovetop, with grated onion, butter, saffron water, sweet paprika, cumin, ground ginger, black pepper, cayenne, turmeric, salt, and cilanto. This mix is brought to a boil and simmered for a bit, then you add the kefta and poach in the sauce for 30 minutes. Lemon juice goes in at the end, seasonings are adjusted, and to finish, some additional cilantro sprinkled on.

I love this. First off, I love ground lamb and kefta in general. But done here as meatballs and poached in a tagine, they are just wonderful. So tender, and the lemon in the sauce really sets of fthe robust lamb and herbs in the kefta. I'll add a note here about ground ginger, which is called for in the sauce. I buy whole dried ginger from Penzey's, which keeps much better than ginger that is already ground. This can be grated as needed on a nutmeg grater. The resulting powder is much more flavorful than any pre-ground ginger. This is what I always use when a recipe calls for ground ginger, but I don't think I've ever mentioned it here before.

[nomadchowwoman]

This does sound delicious. And I was unaware of whole dried ginger, but I will put it in my next spice order. Thanks for the tip.

[jpr54_1]

I have the dried ginger and use it frequently-
I make tea with it

[toodie jane]

have GOT to try this

[L.Nightshade]

Thanks for the alert to this recipe! I've got some ground lamb in the freezer, this looks like its destiny.

[mebby]

Made this last night and it was delicious -- thanks, MelMM! Our whole family loves lamb and Moroccan flavors, so this was a natural. And I loved the light but incredibly flavorful broth they poach in -- we sopped up every bit with both couscous and toasted pita. If you have kids, this is a great recipe to get them involved too...measuring out all the spices, crushing the saffron, forming the meatballs, etc.

My only deviations from the recipe were that I accidentally added all of the saffron water instead of a 1/4 cup of saffron water and another 1/2 cup of plain hot water, so proportions were pretty similar but higher concentration of saffron. Also, even with significantly larger than "olive sized" meatballs, I got 31 meatballs out of the recipe, not 24, and so they cooked in about 20 minutes.

Will definitely go into the regular rotation and I'm pretty sure my kids will be requesting it often. And I'm loving this thread -- I've never been a meatball fan, but there are so many here that have me drooling!

[gingershelley]

After a couple of recco's, this sounds like a must-make. Thanks for the weight-in mebby!

Love your comments, and the info about additional saffron. I like more saffron!

[MelMM]

Classic Beef Meatballs - The Meatball Shop Cookbook, p. 4

Several people have said they have this cookbook, but I haven't seen any recipes reviewed yet, so I'll kick it off. And where better to start than the standard beef meatball? This is the first recipe in the book. It's pretty simple. Ground beef, ricotta cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, fresh parsley and oregano, salt, red pepper flakes, and ground fennel, are mushed together in bowl and then shaped into balls. The balls are placed in a baking dish with a coating of olive oil on the bottom, then baked for 20 minutes in a 450 degree oven. The recipe calls for you to serve with the classic tomato sauce on p. 56, but I didn't make the sauce. I had them once with the quick tomato sauce from the current COTM, and as leftovers with some jarred sauce I had open from when I was sick last week, and needed to use up. That's life.

This was a good, solid meatball. I'd make it again if I wanted to make a beef meatball. The ricotta was an interesting touch I hadn't seen before. Looking back at the recipe right now, I see that you are supposed to roast the meatballs for another 15 minutes in the sauce. I didn't do this, and frankly I think they would be overdone at that point.

For my money, I prefer the pork meatballs in the current COTM, which for now remain my favorite Italian meatball. This recipe is certainly worth doing, though.

[L.Nightshade]

I've got the pork meatballs from Calabria on the menu for the weekend; happy to hear you hold them in high esteem.

[Mr Bigglesworth]

I've made a few recipes from the meatball shop cookbook. The viva la mexico balls dissapointed - not enough heat for my tastes... but the lamb meatballs were a real winner (just packed with flavor,) the LES bbq balls (made with a bourbon bbq sauce) are among my fav balls, and the veggie balls are great and taste like lentil soup in ball format. I'm a fan of the original balls as well.

[blue room]

There are some masterpiece meatballs in this thread!

[aching]

I made meatball banh mi this weekend, adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe (it's very hot here still, so a lot of other meatball recipes didn't really appeal). The recipe called for pork, but I had a package of ground turkey I wanted to use up, and that worked great. I tend to do a very free-form meatball as I don't really like handling raw meat, and that was perfect for this preparation.

MEATBALL BANH MI

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground turkey or pork
1 egg
¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
3 T. garlic, minced
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 T. fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
1 T. sriracha (or other hot chili sauce)
1 T. sugar
2 t. cornstarch
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 T. sesame oil

Sriracha Mayo
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 T. sriracha (or other hot chili sauce)
1 T. garlic, minced

Pickles:
1 cup coarsely grated carrots
1 cup coarsely grated peeled daikon
2 T. unseasoned rice vinegar
2 T. sugar
½ t. coarse kosher salt

Sandwiches:
4 10-inch-long French baguettes
1 jalapeño chile, thinly sliced
16 large fresh cilantro sprigs, lower stems trimmed

• Prepare pickles: Toss all ingredients in a small bowl. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
• Prepare sriracha mayo: Stir all ingredients in small bowl.
• Prepare meatballs: Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange on a baking sheet.
• Cook meatballs: Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of meatballs. Sauté until brown and cooked through and well-browned, turning meatballs often and lowering heat if browning too quickly, about 10 minutes. Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
• Assemble sandwiches: Cut each baguette horizontally in half. If desired, pull out enough bread from each half to leave a ½”-thick shell. Spread hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange jalapeños and cilantro in bottom halves. Fill each with ¼ of the meatballs. Drain pickled vegetables; place atop meatballs. Press on baguette tops.

Makes 4 servings.

[aching]

Here's a photo...

[nomadchowwoman]

Oh yum.

[mariacarmen]

damn, beat me to it! i was going to make these a week or so ago but never go to it, and the BF used up my ground pork. maybe this weekend.

[aching]

They're REALLY good - highly recommended. A word of warning about the Bon Appetit recipe though - if you follow it exactly, it will be WAY too salty, and also you'll have way more mayo and pickles than you need. Also, it doesn't include an egg in the meatballs, which I think is important. I've adjusted all of these things in my version above.

[inaplasticcup]

So up my alley, this recipe!

[aching]

I forgot to add this when I posted!

[inaplasticcup]

+10 :)

[nomadchowwoman]

Turkey Arugula Meatballs

This is our favorite meatball-for-pasta recipe (except maybe for my mom’s, which I’ve never made, b/c she does!); it’s based on one which appeared many years ago in F & W (I think) and has been tweaked here and there over the years. I did measure yesterday, for purposes of this report, but often I eyeball some of these measurements. It is important to chop the ingredients fine, or the meatballs tend to fall apart when frying. Yesterday, I used a small FP to whiz some panko into finer crumbs, grate the cheese, mince the garlic, mince the capers, and lightly beat the eggs, in that order, without having to clean the FP bow between usesl. I like to chop the pancetta and arugula by hand.

2 T. olive oil
4 oz. pancetta (or prosciutto), chopped fine
2 tsp. minced garlic
6 oz (about 1 ¾ c) finely chopped arugula (any long/large stems removed before chopping)
1 ½ lb ground turkey (higher fat content works best; yesterday I used a mix of 1 lb. ground thigh and 1/2 lb breast b/c that’s what DH brought home)
Generous ¾ c fine dry breadcrumbs
¾ c grated Pecorino-Romano (or parmigiano)
3 T. drained capers, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten (orig. recipe called for 2 small or 1 ½ lg, but I always use two of whatever I have unless they are real jumbos)
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp black pepper

Heat oil in lg. skillet or dutch oven over medium-med. high heat. Add pancetta and cook for a few minutes, until crisp. Stir in garlic; add arugula and cook until wilted, stirring, for a minute or two. Transfer to lg. bowl to cool. Once arugula mixture is cool, add turkey, breadcrumbs, cheese, capers, eggs, salt, and pepper. (Despite the salty ingredients, I still find the mix needs a little salt.) Mix well. Roll mixture into small-ish balls (I like about 2 T per ball, but they always seem to come out a bit larger).

To cook the meatballs, add enough oil to film your skillet or DO. (I usually use one pot for everything; yesterday I just added a bit of OO to the DO in which I’d cooked the pancetta and arugula.) Over medium-med. high heat, cook meatballs (it took me three batches), turning to brown all over, about 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside.

Tomato-Butter Sauce:

4 T. butter
3 lg. shallots, chopped
3 oz. brandy
2- 28 oz cans whole (I used Cento Italian plums) tomatoes w/juice, chopped
1 ½ tsp. fresh thyme, chopped roughly (or 2 tsp. chopped fresh basil)
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

To make sauce, remove excess oil from pot in which you cooked meatballs, but leave brown bits. Over medium heat, melt butter; add shallots and cook until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add brandy. Raise heat and cook to evaporate the alcohol. Add tomatoes, thyme, salt and pepper. Lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add meatballs and simmer another 5 minutes. Serve with pasta.

Note: my girlfriend always make these as tiny cocktail meatballs, and she always uses prosciutto and parmigiano (and often substitutes spinach for arugula); they are equally delicious. When I don’t want to mess with meatballs, I shape this into a meatloaf and bake. Near the end of the baking, I pour some of the sauce over the loaf and serve the rest with the meatloaf at table. It’s my BIL’s very favorite meatloaf.

[dkennedy]

These sound truly wonderful NCW. Thank you for the recipe.

[L.Nightshade]

These look just great. I love the pancetta/turkey/arugula combo. And I adore the idea of adding capers. Thanks so much for writing out your entire recipe!

[inaplasticcup]

All of it sounds amazing. Arugula in the meatball - that has to taste so very good...

[blue room]

Meatballs Inspired by Cabbage Rolls from Local Restaurant...
Can't remember the names of either the book or the restaurant, but I had a cookbook from a Salt Lake City place that is at least 10 years gone. The book is gone too, but I copied down the recipe for cabbage rolls, a Swedish recipe. And for this thread simply made the (delicious, best ever) meat filling into balls. Of course the perfect side dish would be braised cabbage.

2 lbs. ground beef
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Rolled into balls and fried in vegetable oil, they are tender (a little prone to crumble, since they are meant to be encased in cabbage -- handle gently while frying.)
I don't have the patience to coax them into perfect spheres while cooking, they flatten and then I try in vain to brown all "sides". But the flavor is not flat!

[Allegra_K]

Oh my, that sounds like the perfect way to get my cabbage roll fix! I'll have to give this one a try for sure.

[toodie jane]

my meatballs always look like those little Chinese "pinch-purses"--lol!

[cstout]

Pinch purses - who cares what they look like? Flavor Rules!!!!!!

[Breadcrumbs]

Mushroom Barley Soup with Mini Meatballs – Food and Wine Annual Cookbook – 2008 – p. 290

Who doesn’t love meatballs in soup? Italian Wedding Soup is one of my absolute favourites but in the spirit of trying something new, I opted to make this meatball-themed dish. I have the full set of F&W Annual Cookbooks and they rarely let me down. This dish was no exception. Though this was intended to be a make-ahead meal for a weeknight, the aromas of the soup simmering away on the stove proved to be too enticing and we couldn’t resist the temptation to ladle ourselves some “sample bowls”!! The meatballs are very simple in terms of prep and ingredients: ground sirloin, egg, dry breadcrumbs, parmesan and parsley (or in my case basil). I also added some fresh garlic to the meat mixture since I simply can’t imagine meatballs without garlic!! They cook directly in the soup so the flavours of the broth are further enhanced. I don’t think I’ve ever made meatballs w ground sirloin before however they really do make for a flavourful, dense meatball that holds up well in a soup. When I serve this during the week I plan to add some chopped spinach to the broth and top w some fresh parmesan. Excellent recipe and love that it makes for a quick, delicious make-ahead meal.

For those of you that don’t have this book, I found the recipe online as well in case it’s of interest:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/mu...

[HillJ]

Nice photos, Bc. Sounds delicious.

[Breadcrumbs]

Thanks so much HilJ!! We're having this again tonight so I'll report back on how the additions work out.

[HillJ]

Thanks, I was thinking of giving your recipe/instructions a try on Sunday. I have kale to use in place of spinach so I'll be curious to read your followup!

[Breadcrumbs]

Well this was better than ever tonight HilJ...I added spinach and topped w some freshly grated parmesan. The soup was quite thick tonight so I thinned it out a bit w about 1 1/2c of broth. I'd highly recommend this. Let us know if you give it a try.

[HillJ]

http://lainesrecipebox.blogspot.com/2...

I couldn't open your link & I don't have the cookbook, so I found this blog post. Sound right?

[Breadcrumbs]

Yes that's it HillJ...enjoy!

[CarrieSeas]

Wow, this is a must try for me! Great pictures and thanks for supplying the link. :)

[L.Nightshade]

Breadcrumbs - I've learned from you to cook meatballs on parchment (thanks, I love it!), and it looks like you did these on aluminum foil. Are you equally happy with the results?

[Breadcrumbs]

Yes, I love baking the meatballs in the oven on my jelly roll pans atop some parchment. I use parchment since it seems to provide a good non-stick coating without my having to use any oil.

In this case I used the foil to cover my vintage baking pan that's rusty in spots. The recipe actually called for the meatballs to be baked in a 9 x 13 x 2 pan and as the book describes, its a snug fit w the meatballs touching.

I think the idea in this case was for the taller sides of the pan to create a steaming effect to ensure the meatballs didn't dry out. I didn't bother w the parchment as I suspected it would turn into a soggy mess w the pan juices and that definitely would have happened.

I don't think I'd use foil on my sheet pans unless I ran out of parchment since the meatballs did adhere to the foil in some (albeit very small) spots. I still think the parchment provides a better surface. Even if my meatballs have a coating or ingredient that caramelizes, I've never had any issue removing them from the parchment.

[dkennedy]

Great tip!

[inaplasticcup]

This sounds and looks totally homey and comforting. And I'm with you on the garlic! :)

[HillJ]

Jezebel sauce
pineapple crushed in blender or food processor (1 cup)
diced cooked apples (1 cup)
1/4 cup dry mustard
1/3 cup prepared horseradish
1-1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground black pepper
Mix all in a saucepan over low heat until completely combined.

Served over mini baked meatballs topped with pickled red onions on enjoyed on grilled flat bread. I like a combo of beef, pork & veal.

[Island]

Mmmm that sounds good. Probably goes well with pork and ham too.

[HillJ]

That jezebel sauce is great on a zillion things!

[toodie jane]

I LOVE Jezebel sauce! (it;s the horseradish that make it) thanks for the recipe

[Island]

My Italian grandmother always made them with a mix of ground beef, pork, veal and chopped mint from her garden and they were delicious. Unfortunately that's all I know about them and have never been able to duplicate that wonderful dish from my youth. I look forward to hearing what you all come up with this month..

[LJS]

I read a trick for meatballs that I kept meaning to try and this thread spurred me on. The idea was to use sausage meat INSTEAD of ground beef or pork. So-o-o, I purchased 4 large "Farmer's Sausage" links from a my local butcher (enough to equal one lb--pork, onion, seasoning and no filler). And, for good measure, I added 1/4 lb ground round.

Because I cook for gluten-free eaters, it was important to me that the recipe was free from filler. It was and it worked really well.

All I did was 'de-construct' the sausages (discarding the casings), mix the meats together by hand, add 1 tsp of "Italian" mixed spice (oregano, basil, fennel seed mixture) and a good dollop of hot peppers and roll them into balls directly onto 2 baking sheets.

My meatballs were small as I use the in a variety of dishes, some where I layer them into a lasagna style casserole, so giant one don't work. I actually got 6 dozen from the 1 1/4 lbs.of meat.

I baked them at 375 for about 10-12 minutes-let them cool and then put all but 12 onto a clean baking sheet and froze them solid. When I had 60 meat marbles, I popped them into a freezer bag.

The other dozen went straight into a oriecchiette pasta, with slightly cooked cherry tomatoes, both red and yellow, diced baby squash, a splash of tomato sauce and lots of fresh-from-the-garden basil.

I don't think I will bother with anything BUT sausage for meatballs ever again, my family and I were that pleased!

[corneygirl]

I made sausage meatballs recently as well. I had a little more than 1 lb. of this great italian sausage from the farmers market in bulk. I don't have the gluten-free restriction so mixed in about 1 cup of panko, 2 eggs, 1 cup chicken broth and a good dash of red pepper flakes. I made balls just a bit larger than a golf ball. I baked them on a lined sheet at 350 brushed with tomato paste mixed with olive oil. Really good with roasted onions and peppers one night and the leftovers made an excellent meatball sandwich.

I've also been making turkey or chicken meatballs with cabbage, ginger and lemongrass. I roll them in rice that I soak and steam them until the rice is cooked. I can't quite figure out the correct amount of cabbage. I salt and drain the cabbage before adding it to the mix. I thought 2 cups would be good for 1# meat, but this is too much. Other then that these are nice for variety and I like steamer meals - just throw some green beans in the basket when the meatballs are almost done and dinner is ready.

[HillJ]

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/...
Up bright and early today making finger food for a party later today. Hank Han., you should enjoy these-nice infusion of pineapple juice.
Tangy, sorta sweet and we'll be serving them as sliders on soft potato buns.

Enjoy the holiday all.

[Hank Hanover]

Nice... and I haven't forgotten Sweet and Sour meatballs either. It's on my list after the Szechuan meatballs. The article fritzed my mind a little. The author kept referring to her hubbie Hank.

It's true, I am enamored with pineapple juice and pork right now. I even used it on the St. Louis style ribs I smoked yesterday. They were great.

[HillJ]

http://www.macheesmo.com/2011/06/buffalo-meatballs/

Next up Buffalo meatballs served inside of fry bread. Lots of flavor from the fresh herbs and spinach. We utilized the cupcake tin baking method but opted for a fry bread pocket instead of noodles. Navajo Fry bread recipe taken from here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Na...

On the pineapple-meatballs we grilled pineapple rings to layer inside the bun.

[HillJ]

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesgui...

Yesterday family and friends enjoyed this recipe for chicken meatballs infused with lemongrass and served with vermicelli and a light dipping sauce. I followed the recipe as written. Great combo of light flavors, one bowl meal. I adore lemongrass and it really works with ground chicken meat beautifully. I do prefer the ground dark meat for this dish.

[HillJ]

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.co...

My daughter and I followed this recipe fairly closely. Meat-less balls instead of patties and the fryer at the right temp (which dd nailed much better than I did) is essential. We used 1 tsp. not 1 Tablespoon of cumin and tripled the amount of lemon juice called for in the recipe.

We served the falafel with some homemade red pepper jam, cucumber relish and Greek yogurt thinned out with lemon juice and grated onion.

Mighty tasty for a warm Sept 1.

[blue room]

Falafel falafel, I always get a positive reaction when I say it's "what's for dinner" The recipe I use is this one:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/seans-fa...
I can't bring myself to use all that oil for deep frying, I usually just pan fry. I know the oil can be re-used, but that plan never seems to work out for me.

[HillJ]

hi blue r, falafel is yummy!

I don't eat alot of fried food in my diet so the trade off to try and enjoy 4 falafel every once in awhile out weighs pan frying or baking for me. They get drier the long they sit in a pan or tray. A quick dip in the right temp oil my dd did a great job. We don't reuse the oil ever.

For me a outstanding falafel is about the bright ingredients and sauces. Lots of lemon, lemon zest, yogurt, cukes, red roasted peppers, garlic.

[HillJ]

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/...

In celebration of fall weather we dug deep into the deliciousness of sweet potatoe falafel last night served with some spicy mayo, apple crumb (from fresh picked apples) cake and honey tea over a movie (One Day) and some live music after (hubby's garage band).

Delicious meatless balls for September! Great evening.

[blue room]

Completely new idea to me! -- is it put into pita bread to serve?

[HillJ]

blue, they are good served in a pita pocket, served as an appetizer with dip, flatten slightly in a sandwich--lots of options. I had mine between two slices of tomato bread filled with cucumber and red pepper slices and lots of that spicy mayo.

[corneygirl]

Those are seriously good! Meat-eaters and abstainers alike devoured them. Easy to make as well.

[kengk]

I have some really nice lamb sausage and grass fed ground beef in the freezer. I feel a breakfast dish coming to me. Meatballs and gravy over biscuits?

[L.Nightshade]

Just a gentle reminder to posters that this thread is for reporting on meatballs you actually make during this month. Please share with us a little bit about about the recipe, the process, and the outcome, instead of just posting a link. Photos of your dish are always welcome too!

[angelsmom]

So sorry, I have made all of these and dd not expound on them since the recipe was available. I thought posting my comments was sufficient and I cannot send photos with iPad.

[L.Nightshade]

No apologies necessary! And it's nice to have the links. But we'd like to hear more about your personal experience with the recipes: any tweaks you made, how you served it, what you and your family thought about the dish. The idea is that we're cooking together and sharing our adventures! Otherwise, we'd just be googling meatball recipes!

[angelsmom]

Lidias meatless pecorino meatballs. These are wonderful just to eat as an appetizer or for a vegetarian meal.
http://www.divaeatsworld.com/?page_id=90

[angelsmom]

I am a meat lover, and honestly when I took a bite of these I could not tell they were meatless. I think they are better served as an appetizer with sauce because they can get mushy in the sauce if not eaten right away. The meatball are fried and have only bread crumbs, eggs, cheese and herbs.
Everyone liked them even us carnivores.

[angelsmom]

Lidias Sausage and Fennel Meatballs. I did not use the orange.

http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/de...

They are really delicious.

[angelsmom]

I loved the sautéed fennel in these meatballs, by the way the fennel is missing from the posted recipe. It is 2/3 cup fennel chopped in food processor. I left out the orange zest and they were still quite sweet from the fennel. DH and I are fennel lovers so I make these often.

[L.Nightshade]

I love fennel too, and these sound great! Thanks for the note about the fennel not being in the ingredient list! Pretty big oversight.

[biondanonima]

These look delicious - thanks for posting!

[angelsmom]

My pleasure.

[angelsmom]

One of my favorites is Spuntinos ....their sauce is superb too.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

I do, however leave out the raisins.

[angelsmom]

I made these with Spuntinos famous sauce that begins with a 96 ounce can of tomatoes, 13 cloves of garlic and cooks for 4 hours. As I said I did not use the raisins, but did include the pine nuts and, as always, with all their recipes......white peper only. They are baked in the oven and I strongly suggest the use of Release foil. They were great tasting and the sauce is also.
A bit off topic, but their pork braciole is out of this world.

[roxlet]

Raisins and pignoli are the Silcilian way to make meatballs. Growing up, my mother always made a few of her meatballs this way for my father whose parents were from Sicily. She would make them in an elongated egg shape to distinguish them from the regular meatballs. I was a picky eater, and although I liked raisins, I hated the surprise of getting one in my meatball. And though I am a far more adventurous eater than I was as a child, I still don't love raisins in my meatballs.

[Hank Hanover]

Ok so I had to look up what pignoli is .. it's a pine nut. Interesting... I can't even imagine raisins and pine nuts being in a meatball.

[rabaja]

I can. It sounds delicious!

[boppiecat]

They are delicious! And it's not just Sicilians who make them this way. My mother's family from a tiny town in Campania always use raisins and lightly toasted pignoli.

[roxlet]

Really? That's interesting. My mother's family was from Campagna and never made them that way -- at least until she married my father. Maybe your family knew some Sicilians!

There are a lot of raisins used in Sicilian cooking, supposedly an influence from North Africa. But in Sicily, I believe they mostly use currants, which are small and not as sweet as our raisins and currents.

[walker]

I use currants instead of raisins in the Spuntino recipe and everyone loves them!!

[walker]

I made the Spuntino recipe again but fried them, have never tried baking .. I like the browned goodness. Like I said, I use currants instead of raisins and for the pinenuts I usually brown them in a pan first but this time I didn't bother -- think it's better if I take the time to brown them.

I use a lot more eggs (I made 3 lbs instead of the 2 lbs of ground chuck .. I would not use lean .. and ended up using 12 eggs. Makes it moister but still holds together. I always put chopped fresh basil in my meatballs as well as the chopped parsley this recipe calls for.

My Italian relatives (Calabrian) always made plain (very delicious) meatballs but I now prefer this version. I do put in more currants .. 1/4 cup does not seem like enough for the 2 lbs of meat in this recipe. And, mine were lacking in salt even tho I salted when they came out of the frying pan .. would add more salt to the uncooked mixture.

[toodie jane]

they're terrific together in dolmas, why not judiciously in meatballs? maybe the tiny dried currants (Sultanas) rather than the grapes-on-steriods that are Thompson Seedless raisins (aka Sunmaid). TS are sprayed with hormones to make them that big. Hormones, as in endocrine system interruptors.

[greygarious]

In New England, if not everywhere, Sultana is synonymous with golden raisin. It is a grape, not a currant. Currants here are the quarter-inch diameter tart red berries, as in currant jelly. Dried Zante currants are from a very small grape, and are dark and tiny. When an American recipe calls for raisins, it means standard Sunmaid-type dark raisins. If it means golden raisins it will say either golden raisins or Sultanas.

[mariacarmen]

in Bolivian cooking, raisins often make an appearance in dishes using ground beef. love the combo.

[L.Nightshade]

I'm with you on this one, I love that combination!
I always make my meat dolmades with raisins and pine nuts.

[inaplasticcup]

I like the raisins, too. :)

[mariacarmen]

i've had them, they're wonderful!

[lynnlato]

It's delicious! It's Sicilian and it's delicious. You cannot taste the currants (or raisins, but currants are Sicilian) although they impart a very subtle sweetness. Delicious!

[greygarious]

I urge meatball makers to try making frikadellen instead (also spelled fricadellen. For the singular, omit the "n"). This is, essentially, a meatloaf mixture which is formed into patties, typically 3/4" thick, then sauteed in a little fat over medium-low heat, about 10 minutes per side.
Pan gravy can be made from the fond, and they are good as the hot protein in a dinner, as well as being perfect on a bun as a cold or room temp sandwich.

Mom's frikadellen always included cooked, minced cabbage. This melts away as the patties cook, adding moisture and sweetness but no identifiable cabbage taste. In a pinch, I once subbed coleslaw for the plain cabbage, and prefer the slaw. Whenever I buy or make coleslaw,
I freeze a cup of it to thaw when next making frikadellen. I include the liquid in the meat mixture.
Freezing breaks cell walls so the slaw melds into the meat even more thoroughly.

I like to use a lot of vegetable in my meatloaf and meatballs. Including the panade, about as much volume as of meat. An egg per pound of meat. To help them hold together better (as would also be needed when using lean meat), I slice the onion into very thin rings on a mandoline or V-slicer. They form a matrix of strands to hold the meat mixture together as the meatballs or meatloaf cook.

[onrushpam]

Greygarious,
I'd love more details on amounts/ratios on these! I Googled a bunch of recipes, but found none that included any veg other than onion or shallots.

When you used the left-over slaw, did you cook it before mixing into the meat?

I really want to try these... and I want a good lot of veg in there.

Help another greyhound lover, please?

[greygarious]

I never measure so I can only guesstimate amounts - obviously, I'm not doing the exact same thing each time so precision is not essential. For a pound of ground beef, one egg, one slice of good bread (I usually have whole wheat or multigrain), a tbsp milk, one medium onion and a half a bell pepper, both sliced paper-thin, a liberal shake of garlic powder, a fourth of a packet of dry onion soup mix, a tsp of Kitchen Bouquet (or Gravy Master or thick soy sauce), a half tsp tomato paste, and a half cup of wilted coleslaw (either thawed frozen or nuked for a minute then allowed to cool to room temp).

I beat the egg, add the liquids and the coleslaw, then stir in the diced bread and allow it to soak while I am slicing the onion and pepper. I mix everything together with my hands. Because there is a lot of non-meat, it takes a few minutes of mushing to get the mixture to firm up so it holds its shape when formed.

I include chopped canned or fresh mushrooms in the mix if I happen to see them marked down at the supermarket. About a half cup in addition to the above mixture. When I make this as meatloaf rather than meatballs, I use the side of my hand to form a trench down the middle of the loaf. I fill that trench with catsup, and lay a slice of bacon along each side of it.

[jpr54_1]

I have 2 books on meatballs-

I Love Meatballs! by Rick Rogers
Interesting and different types of meatballs
pork meatball sliders
holiday meatball lsagna
pho with beef meatballs
spanish meatball tapaskoftas with dill
chinese shrimp ball soup

The Meatball Shop Cookbook by Daniel Holtzman

[jpr54_1]

I know it is early but I did make these this afternoon
I love Meatballs! by Rick Rodgers

page34
Chicken-matzah balls in vegetable soup
I made half the recipe. I used matzah meal but followed the recipe.
I put the chicken balls in the freezer and will use them with vegatable broth I will make during week.

about 16 hours ago

[jpr54_1]

I decided to make a small amount of chicken soup instead of the vegetable soup-
I used celeriac,parsley root,turnip,carrots,celery,parsley,dill,onion,leek salt and pepper for the veggies and a quarter of a pullet, plus 2 chicken feet.
These vegetables r also the ones I use for the gefilte fish stock-ordered my fish today

[jpr54_1]

the soup was delicious with the chicken meatbal-
btw I used white meat --
next time I will add alittle more matzah meal-