🍝 Spaghetti & 🧆 Meatballs ?

[rwjr]

Greenbacks: "Let's eat."
More accurately - "Mangia!"

Bozzie: "Veal..under rated."
And also impossible to find at grocers in S. Cal where I'm currently stuck for a while. I have to drive 15 miles to get to an Italian Specialty store to find fresh, quality veal. Fortunately, they also have Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma, which you also can't get at grocery stores here (not the real stuff anyway) so it's worth the trip.
One time I was at a health conscious-type of grocers out here called Mothers, and just for kicks I asked the little Gen Z'ers behind the counter,"Hey, where do I find the veal? They shot me eye daggers and haughtily said, "We don't carry veal."
I thought they were gonna call 911 to try and have me arrested as an accessory to Baby Bovine Butchery.

Michael A: "I used a white port wine from Portugal."
I use a red port for a Porcini mushroom and Port wine cream sauce served over penne, with chunks of sausage sauteed with garlic and crushed red on top. Try it, great stuff.

B Jack: "My wife this past year been making lasagna with a bolognese sauce and it brings it to a whole new level."
Yes, it certainly does. My grandmother came here from Italy, and she taught me years ago, the secret to a good gravy isn't any ingredient in the pot - it's patience.
Sure - we're all guilty of occasionally just heating a jar sauce ("Forgive me, Grandma, for I have sinned . . .") and pouring it over pasta,
but a sauce made from scratch, a long slow simmer, for 3-4 hours, to reduce water content, thicken, and allow the flavors of the different components sufficient time to meld together and leave you with a concentrated flavor is the true way to gravy goodness.

Now, back to the original topic - meatballs. What are ya putting in 'em these days?
Mine are loaded and colorful - ground beef, pork, veal, fresh parsley (please - no dried herbs from a plastic bottle), bread crumbs and bread chunks, finely diced onions and garlic, and a few other ingredients and spices.
Yes, "a few other ingredients and spices." What - you thought I was going to give you my entire secret recipe??!!
No.

We want the * Meatball Recipe *

 

[Greenbacks]

Sunday Gravy and meatballs are tradition in these parts. Wifey makes the gravy , but I roll the meatballs, my specialty

In my parts it's called sauce.
Sauce on my spaghetti & meatballs.
Gravy on my turkey & mash potatoes.
Lol

 

[rwjr]

Sunday Gravy and meatballs are tradition in these parts. Wifey makes the gravy , but I roll the meatballs, my specialty

U mean Sauce ?

 

[Michelangelo]

Sunday Gravy and meatballs are tradition in these parts. Wifey makes the gravy , but I roll the meatballs, my specialty

How doyou make your meatballs, Haystacks?

 

[MAGAking1]

 

[truthstorm]

From PHD inSports:
"Bread crumbs, a little milk, tiny slices of white wonder bread, Reggiano, in a bowl. Let it soak for an hour. I get a veal, pork, ground beef blend from my butcher, but you could just use beef. Add beef to the bowl, egg, fresh parsley, garlic minced almost liquified with a good masher, salt and pepper. Roll them. I fry them in a little olive oil first. Love that crisp fried exterior of the meatball! You could also cooked them in the oven first. I then use that oil as a base for my sauce."

"I then use that oil as a base for my sauce."
THIS^!!!
Most of the method I use (milk, garlic, parsley, bread etc) is contained in the post quoted above, with the addition of a teaspoon of brown sugar, a couple tablespoons of gravy (red sauce), and a half teaspoon of Dijon (my Grandmother would freak at that addition but it was taught to me by a Staten Island chick I dated who was right off the boat from Sicily; sounded odd to me but it adds a bit of bite to the mix.)
But the important part is what PHD said at the end - "I use that as a base for my sauce."
One of the best parts of doing meatballs with all these ingredients is what's left in the pan after frying - bits of cheese, onions, garlic, etc.
(the cooked Reggiano is superb. Stella wedge works just as well.) Scrape all that stuff up with a fork and eat it! And use the juices in your gravy/sauce.

And yes, the process is a bit of a pain in the ass but cook 'em in quantity - they freeze and reheat very well.

 

[MAGAking1]