Rocco’s Mama’s Meatballs

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not Italian. As such, I have no store of old family recipes for sauce or lasagna or meatballs. So I just keep trying other people’s recipes until I find ones that I like. Or that my husband likes. He’s never been really wowed by any meatballs I’ve made in the past and has been so harsh as to suggest that those frozen ones from Costco were better than my usual. Dude, that hurts. So you know I have to take that as a challenge.

I figured my old pal Rocco is actually Italian and he and his mama wouldn’t steer me wrong. Mama’s recipe calls for 1/2 pound each of beef, veal and pork but veal isn’t something I buy so I went with 1 pound beef and 1/2 pound of pork.

And, I got to use Colossus! I used it to make my bread crumbs and to combine the stock mixture.

The cheese was the only other way I veered from the recipe. And that’s only because I accidentally picked up this Italian sharp cheese one day at the store when I meant to get Parmigianno-Regianno. It’s a little softer but it still grates nicely tastes pretty good to me! I hope Rocco & his mama would approve.

The last random meatball recipe I tried failed me at the browning stage. They all just fell apart into little bits. I was a little concerned these might do the same because they felt a little loose but in the end they stayed mostly together. I stirred any loose bits that did fall off right into the sauce.

And in the end? He liked it! He really liked it! I served the meatballs over spaghetti with homemade bread and it was such a satisfying meal. We both just sort of groaned as we chowed down, smiled, and said, “Mmmmmmmm.” And really, what more do you need in a meatball? I knew Rocco would show me the way. Thanks, Mama!

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