Meatballs Galore
I grew up with spaghetti and meatballs, and it morphed into spaghetti and meat sauce. Much easier to throw a pound of hamburger into the pan cook it and then either add the ingredients for spaghetti or just put in a jar of premade sauce.
When I started cooking large amounts of Spaghetti & meat sauce, I would freeze it. I believed freezing cooked meat in the sauce was safe. Then I started to “hot water can” it and I didn’t feel safe about only using hot water to can meat. Long story short, we were out for dinner and had a (big) meatball for an appetizer, and it was really good. We found a similar recipe, tripled it and now make 4 ½ pounds of meatballs at a time. The recipe we use is at: (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/excellent-meatballs-recipe.html).
However, we do make a few changes:
• Puree the onions and garlic which increases the liquid. You need to understand the texture of the raw ingredients not to have the meatballs too wet.
- We bake them, first at 475 to firm up the outside. Be very careful because they can easily burn (Did that!). Now I check every few minutes.
- Reduce heat to 350 and then use a meat thermometer to insure they are cooked.
Mostly, I am in charge of Cooking Large; however this can be overwhelming when doing these meatballs. My better half is in charge of mixing and forming the meatballs. She has a much better feel for the right texture of the raw meatballs, than I do. I am in charge of some prep, cleaning and cooking them. About 70 Meatballs last us about 6 months.
Starting with the ingredients:
We puree the onions and garlic, because we prefer the texture in this dish. If you choose to puree be aware the moisture of the mixture will change, so we are careful adding additional water.
Then we add ingredients and mix:
Forming meatballs using a cookie scooper (these come in different sizes, so pick your size). We end up with about 70 meatballs. I bake them on cookie sheets on a grate. I also put aluminum foil in the cookie sheets to assist in cleanup.
It is best to freeze these separately and then bag them. I bagged the first batch and ended up with one large frozen ball of meat balls. I put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper, (again easy cleanup) for about 3 hours. Then I bag them and put them back in the freezer.
© 2016 T.K.Frawley.