Wow Chow Meatballs

These are perhaps the most succulent meatballs you will ever eat.

All the meatball recipes that I have seen bake the balls in the oven. This pretty much destroys the savory goodness of the meatball. Plus, you may as well hand out the nutcrackers when serving the meatballs, they get so hard. My meatballs are boiled in tomato sauce, and turn out soft and savory.

Just like all of my recipes, this one is customizable. I usually hunt around in my refrigerator, looking for leftovers or other savory things to dump into the meat mixture. This time I had some leftover cubanelle peppers and tomato slices. In the past, I’ve added cooked spinach (make sure its FULLY drained if you add it), shredded cheese, or oatmeal. Keep in mind that the more leftovers you add, the more dilute the meat and the spices are, so be sure to add more meat and/or spices accordingly.

Also, this is a big recipe. I was able to make 135 meatballs with these ingredients. The great thing is that meatballs freeze very well. Even though this recipe has raw eggs, the uncooked meatballs can be frozen for up to 4 months. So, next time you want to have a spaghetti dinner, just pop the meatballs into a can of tomatoes, cook for an hour and there’s your dinner.

OK, on with the show.

Wow Chow Meatballs

4 lbs ground beef
2 lbs ground bulk sausage
1 cup breadcrumbs
4 eggs
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cup diced white onion
small saucepan with 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons Caesar or Italian salad dressing
2 28oz cans petite diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1/2 cup to 1 cup leftover veggies or etc (optional)

First thing is get a small saucepan and add a little olive oil. Saute the diced onion until it’s turning tender. I also sauteed my leftover veggies to soften them.

While the veggies are cooking, get some breadcrumbs ready. You can buy the prepared stuff at the store, but it only takes about 4-5 slices of bread and 3-4 minutes to crumble it yourself. Doing this is fresher, has fewer preservatives, and is less expensive.

Your sauteeing veggies are probably done by now; turn off the heat and set the pan aside to cool a little.

Now it’s time to get to the meat. In a very large bowl, dump the meat in it. I usually get the fatty type of ground beef (the 70/30) because I am cheap. You can go with super-lean beef here, but the recipe will alter a little– I’ll be sure to let you know what you do, when we get to it. For now, dump the meat into the bowl, and chop at it with a spatula to loosen the mould.

Next, add the ground sausage, the bread crumbs, the basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix the dry ingredients with your hand. (You didn’t think you’d be able to make an Italian dish without getting your hands dirty, did you?).

Now add the eggs, the salad dressing, the sauteed veggies, and the optional Parmesan cheese. I usually add about 1/4 cup of cheese; do what you will. You get to mix it by hand again! Isn’t this fun?!

Now you make the meatballs. You can make them as big or small as you wish… I like them to fit in the cup of the palm of my hand.

Place the meatballs in a Dutch oven. Don’t fill the Dutch oven, though– place the meatballs no higher than two stacks. Pack them in closely together, but keep the balls from mushing so tightly that they lose their shape. We want meatBALLS not meatOVALS.

Now, if you are using the fatty ground beef like me, add about a half-inch of cold water to the pot. If you are using super-lean beef, you can skip this water part and go right to the step where we add the cans of tomatoes (see below).

So, those using the fatty beef can put their Dutch oven on the burner, set between medium and high. Cover the Dutch oven with a lid. Get the water simmering quickly, and once it starts to simmer, turn the heat down to medium-low. Boil the meatballs for about 10-15 minutes.

Now this is very important– never at any time do you ever stir the pot! Never, never! You will break the meatballs and create a mush. To keep the meatballs from sticking to the bottom of the Dutch oven and from each other, shake the Dutch oven until the meatballs jiggle. They only need to jiggle a little bit to keep from sticking. I shake the Dutch oven probably 5 times while it boils for the 10-15 minutes it’s going.

The meatballs will brown a little. This is good, this helps them to keep their shape. Drain the water out (keep the stove burner on– your pot will be right back). This is what the meatballs should look like. They have a very nice round shape.

Now you are going to add the tomatoes, liquid and all.

And add a little more basil (about a teaspoon) to sweeten the tomato sauce. Add some salt to taste.

Shake your Dutch oven to get the liquid to go to the bottom. Don’t over-shake– your meatballs are tender little things and they make fall apart if you abuse them.

And again cover your Dutch oven, keeping the stove burner on LOW. Allow the tomato meatball mixture to simmer. I let it cook just about all day– it drives the family crazy! But if you have to pin me down as to how long to cook it, I’d say about 2-3 hours. From time to time throughout the day, shake them. Don’t let the tomato sauce burn, it will ruin the entire recipe. Keep the burner at low and shake every half hour or so. The meatballs will absorb the tomato liquid as it simmers. This is so much better than baking the balls into hardened little marbles, don’t you think?

Now, my family likes the store-bought spaghetti sauce. But I like the fresh/canned tomato sauce like I have here. So we reached a compromise where I add a can of store-bought sauce to the simmering mix, about 1/2 hour before I serve the meal. You can always add one less can of tomatoes, and more suace. Like I said, this is a very customizable recipe. It’s sooooo good, believe me!

We rarely have leftovers, but if we do, I set aside 3 meatballs with sauce in a small plastic container, and pack it in my husband’s lunch box. I include a small hoagie roll with a small bag of shredded mozzarella cheese, and he’s got a hot lunch for work. And the leftover meatballs are even better! Manja, manja!