(meat)BALLS.



Appetizer sized all cooked up!

I like meatballs, I haven't made them excessively but I made them by way of (you guessed it) Jamie Oliver and have had great success.  I tried this recipe with ground chicken (don't) and just beef (great but not the greatest) I have found, and as suggested in the recipe, a combination of ground pork and ground beef give a great meatball, and it's true.  It is an excellent flavour profile.   Meatballs are for more than pasta!  Soup, sandwiches, and hors d'ouvres are all excellent ideas for these.

These are great fresh, or make ahead.  I did both!  See notes below.

This is the original and inspiration:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/meatballs-pasta

I made a triple batch.  This is what I did:

INGREDIENTS:

Several sprigs of fresh rosemary (5 or 6 will do)

2 lbs of lean ground beef

1 lb of lean ground pork

2 eggs

2 heaped tablespoons of italian seasoning

2 tablespoons of dijon mustard

salt and pepper

30 saltine crackers, pulverized (smash them up yourself or place in a food proccessor)

Olive oil (if you like)



Get your hands in and mash!


METHOD:

Take all of the leaves off the rosemary stalks and mince finely, set aside (in a small bowl will do)

Place the meats in a very large bowl

Add the italian seasoning, dijon, rosemary and eggs and mix well with your hands.

Add the cracker crumbs and keep squishing it around until well mixed.

Divide into meatballs, see notes below:

For 1/3 of the meatball mixture I made smaller ones (40 approx), cooked them and put them in a lovely kale, bean, and meatball soup.




Simmering in kale, bean, and meatball soup



For the rest of the meatballs (2/3, or 48 normal sized meatballs - basically divided mixture in half, then quarters, then eighths and made 6 meatballs from each section), I placed them on a parchment lined sheet in the freezer (uncovered) for about an hour (away from other food, people).  Then I placed them in a freezer ziploc bag so they will be ready to go when I want to cook them.   Simply take out the quantity you need, defrost in the fridge overnight (covered) or in the microwave, and cook as directed (I did this the other night and they tasted exactly like fresh, delicious).

Cooks notes:
Now, instead of "cream crackers" you can use all sorts of binding agents, such as dry breadcrumbs, other butter crackers, or in the case of the ones I made on this day - plain saltless soda crackers crushed up (I would say though butter crackers, or ritz, are the best).  I used 2 eggs instead of 3 as I've found in the past 3 made the mix a bit too goopy and I always needed more crumbs.