
Serves a couple of dozen 1 1/2 " meatballs
Initially aired December 1, 2011
INGREDIENTS
- For that Meatballs:
- two tablespoons essential olive oil
- 2 pounds 80% lean hamburger
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
- 4 cups classic tomato sauce
- For that Classic Tomato Sauce:
- 1/4 cup essential olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried
- 2 garlic clove cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt in order to taste
- two tablespoons tomato paste
- Two 26-ounce boxes Pomi Chopped Tomato plants or two 28-ounch cans whole plum tomato plants, chopped using their liquid
PREPARATION
For that Meatballs:
Preheat the oven to 450F. Drizzle the essential olive oil right into a 913-inch baking dish and employ your hands to evenly coat the whole surface. Put aside.
Combine the floor beef, ricotta, eggs, bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes, and fennel inside a large mixing bowl and blend by hands until completely incorporated.
Roll the mix into round, basketball-size meatballs (about 1 1/2 "), ensuring to bring along the meat firmly. Put the balls within the prepared baking dish, fostering to line them up snugly as well as in even rows vertically and horizontally to create a grid. The meatballs ought to be touching each other.
Roast for 25 minutes, or before the meatballs are firm and cooked through. A meat thermometer placed into the middle of a meatball should read 165F.
As the meatballs are roasting, heat the tomato sauce in a tiny saucepan over medium-high temperature, stirring frequently.
Once the meatballs are firm and fully cooked, take them off in the oven and drain the surplus grease in the pan. Pour the tomato sauce them over. Return the meatballs towards the oven and continue roasting for an additional fifteen minutes.
For that Classic Tomato Sauce:
Heat the essential olive oil inside a large pot over medium heat. Add some onions, bay leaf, oregano, garlic clove, and salt and prepare, stirring frequently, before the onions are soft and translucent, about ten minutes.
Add some tomato paste and continue cooking for five minutes. Add some tomato plants and stir constantly before the sauce starts to boil. Lower heat and simmer for one hour, stirring every a few minutes approximately to avoid the sauce at the base from the pot from burning. Taste and season with a lot more salt, if preferred. Take away the bay leaf before serving.
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