MEATBALLS: THE SPUNTINO WAY
Provided by Frank Falcinelli
Categories Beef Bake Dinner Meat Ground Beef Peanut Free Soy Free
Yield Makes 6 servings; 18 to 20 meatballs
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- 1. Heat the oven to 325°F. Put the fresh bread in a bowl, cover it with water, and let it soak for a minute or so. Pour off the water and wring out the bread, then crumble and tear it into tiny pieces.
- 2. Combine the bread with all the remaining ingredients except the tomato sauce in a medium mixing bowl, adding them in the order they are listed. Add the dried bread crumbs last to adjust for wetness: the mixture should be moist wet, not sloppy wet.
- 3. Shape the meat mixture into handball-sized meatballs and space them evenly on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The meatballs will be firm but still juicy and gently yielding when they're cooked through. (At this point, you can cool the meatballs and hold them in the refrigerator for as long as a couple of days or freeze them for the future.)
- 4. Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce in a sauté pan large enough to accommodate the meatballs comfortably.
- 5. Dump the meatballs into the pan of sauce and nudge the heat up ever so slightly. Simmer the meatballs for half an hour or so (this isn't one of those cases where longer is better) so they can soak up some sauce. Keep them there until it's time to eat.
- 6. Serve the meatballs 3 to a person in a healthy helping of the red sauce, and hit everybody's portion-never the pan-with a fluffy mountain of grated cheese. Reserve the leftover tomato sauce (it will be super-extra-delicious) and use it anywhere tomato sauce is called for in this book.
MEATBALLS WITH RAISINS
----- Purpette a la Passula ----- Raisins in meatballs originated in Southern Italy, probably in either Sicily or Calabria. In Sicily, and (I expect) Calabria the use of raisins and pine nuts came from contact with Arabs, who use them extensively (remember that Sicily was an Arab Province for a time). Though the Arabs never dominated further north you do find raisins in savory recipes in old cookbooks. For example, raisins and pine nuts are included in a Roman sauteed spinach. Now you get garlic and salt, and perhaps a little red pepper. Though this might sound somewhat unlikely, it is quite traditional. The recipe is Calabrian.
Provided by Phil Franco
Categories Meat
Time 1h
Yield 4 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 8
Steps:
- PREPARATION:.
- Soak bread in milk then drain it well.
- Soak the raisins in warm water for a half hour to revive them. Grind the meat and combine it with the bread, eggs, cheese, and parsley, seasoning to taste with salt. Make your meatballs, including a couple of raisins in the heart of each one. Sauté the meatballs in the olive oil, turning them so they brown on all sides, and when they're done stir in a cup or so of tomato sauce and heat through. Serve accompanied by broccoli rabe, and a moderately tannic red wine.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 479.1, Fat 32.3, SaturatedFat 9.8, Cholesterol 192.2, Sodium 473.5, Carbohydrate 17.8, Fiber 1.6, Sugar 13.4, Protein 31.7
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