Mmmm . . . Meatballs

So they say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? Well I typically stick by that rule so my man sticks by me. Honestly though, nothing makes me happier than seeing Zach clean his plate after one of my meals and then turning to me to see if he can scrounge up what I didn't finish. I kinda stole this title of this post from a restaurant Zach and I went to the other night. They had a pizza which they quite rightly named, "Mmmmm Meat." But to hear Zach order it with such enthusiasm was really the best part as I'm sure most diners just say, "I'll have the meat pizza, please."

One of Zach's favorite meals, behind 24 oz homemade chocolate shakes and matzo ball soup, is meatballs and spaghetti. I was never really a fan of meatballs growing up simply because I never really ate it. However, I realized that this really is a simple and satisfying meal. Even better, I usually have most the ingredients on hand so it's cheap and easy to make too.

When I make this I pretty much throw the ingredients together depending on how much I have on hand or how I'm feeling. A lot of it I feel is simply based on personal preference of how seasoned one like their meatballs or how fluffy or dense they prefer them to be.

Ingredients:
nocoupons

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (pork, turkey, veal, or a combination thereof works too)
  
• 3/4 cup of dried bread crumbs
  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 extra-large egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup minced onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
• Vegetable oil for cooking
  

Directions:

Place the ground meat(s), bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, onion, garlic, and egg in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have roughly 12 meatballs.

Pour vegetable oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don't crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don't clean the pan.

Here you can either choose to make your own sauce (which if I had the time to do all of the time I would all of the time) or you can just add your favorite jarred marinara. I decided to deglaze the pan with some red wine I had on hand to scrape up all the yummy brown bits and then add the meatballs back to the pan along with the sauce and a touch of water to keep the sauce for hardening. Cover and simmer the meatballs on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the they are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

Buon Appetito!
- Lindsay