Joe’s Saturday Meatballs

2/6/10


Well I have spent that past couple days working my day job then in the evenings stooped over working on my boat. To say it mildly the epoxy fumes got to me last night through my respirator and I have a ringing headache this morning. Its literally like I have a hangover but worse. So at some point today I will need to run over and pick up a new respirator so I may resume boat building. In the meantime I figured I would type up for all of you how to properly produce a real Italian meatball.

Now in Italy a meatball would never hit the same plate as pasta. However in the early days of Italian immigration into the United States there was a big shift away from tradition and today in the States meatballs are always accompanied atop pasta.

My heritage is in the North of Italy, just east of Genoa in a small mountain side village called Paggi. This town is on the confluence of Liguria and Tuscany. The coastal influence is there indeed, but so it the traditions of the Italian countryside. The town overlooks the Ligurian sea, my great-grandfathers house still stands slightly up the hill from the small church in great disrepair. The last time I visited this place was in 2000 I look out at the expansive view and realized that my great grandfather must have been pretty hungry to leave such a beautiful place. He traveled a very far way indeed for the hope of some space and a place of his own. This was in 1898 and he was 19 years old, he made his way west with his brother. The passed through Ellis Island and worked their way west with the intention of obtaining the free land being given away in California. A few years after they hit New York the brothers working a large acreage along the Tuolumne River in what is now Modesto. Once they were settled they sent letters home for women which were soon to follow.

I know a little about my great-grandmother, from all accounts a modern woman for her time. She had been married to another man in Italy and bore a son by him, she divorce that man because he abused her and sent her availability to my great grandfather. She and her son from the first marriage along with another woman for my great uncle traveled out west. There they settled raised families and were prosperous.

When I make food I commune with my ancestors, I think about what they did, and the risks they took to come to America. These meatballs I hope would live up to their personal expectations..And if there were here with me now, I would serve them as the meat course to the dinner, far away from my pasta. But feel free to sever them as you see fit.

List of what you will need…

3 cups of stale day old Italian bread crumbs coarsely ground (remove crust then grind up, roughly 5 slices)

1 cup of milk

1 lbs ground beef (not lean, fat=flavor)

1lbs ground pork

½ ibs ground veal

5 garlic cloves minced

3 cups graded imported parmigiano-reggiano cheese (don’t be cheap here get good cheese, grate yourself don’t get that abortion they call pregrated cheese. )

2 eggs

Teaspoon salt

Teaspoon white pepper

2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg (get whole seeds and grate them do get pregrated)

½ cup freshly chopped Italian parsley

3 teaspoons freshly chopped oregano or thyme…your pick

In a large bowl, place the bread crumbs and milk. Allow this to sit for about 20-30 minutes, then add remaining ingredients and mix well with your hands until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Place a large deep braising pan over medium heat, allow the pan to come up to heat before you add some high quality extra virgin olive oil to it. Shape the meat balls one at a time and begin adding them to the braising pan. Make a concentric circle of meatballs until all the meatballs have been added. Meatballs will shrink a bit in the cooking process. A good sized ball is a bit larger than a golf ball. Keep and eye on the heat, you don’t want to burn what you are working so hard to product. Lower the heat as needed to prevent problems. Once you get them all in the braising pan, place them in an oven under the broiler on medium heat. Keep and eye on them they will begin browning in 5-10 minutes and shedding some fats and liquids. Don’t burn them, once they get a nice golden color pull the pan out and turn the ball over then place them back under the broiler and brown up the other side. They will shed a little more weight in this process, pull the pan out and discard this liquid.

Sauce

Normally I make a clean tomato sauce to go over these. Get a high quality can of whole tomatoes don’t skimp here, buy Italian manufactured tomatoes or get the Cento brand. They are a New Jersey based company but offer a high quality product. Take out each whole tomato and crush it in your hand over the meatballs, basically you are just breaking them up to assist in the cooking process. Beware you will get squirted. I usally just jam my hand in the can and give the tomatoes little Joe’s job so to speak. This keeps you from getting tomato juice in the eye. Then pour the whole mess juice and all over the meat balls. Add about a cup of good dry white wine and 3 cups of good beef stock or veal stock (preferable to beef stock but you will most likely need to make this yourself. I usually add some fresh basil to this and let the whole thing sit atop the stove over the lowest flame for about an hour. Low and slow is the name of the game here. You can also toss the pan back in the over at 300 degrees. Either way you will have a winning meal for your family.

Oh and here is one more bonus for you…

Fresh pasta recipe

1 lbs white flour

4 eggs

Salt

Olive oil

On a board mound the flour and make a well at the top. Crack the four eggs and add them into the well. Sprinkle the salt over this and pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the well. With your hands break the eggs and begin incorporating the flour into the center. This is a messy gooy process and is the traditional way to make fresh pasta.

But the hell with tradition if you have a big old kitchen aid mixer like I do….then you can cheat. Put the flour, eggs, salt and oil into the mixing bowl with the bread hook attachment. Turn on low speed and sit back and let the mixer do the work. You are looking for a well incorporated end result. The mixer may not be able to do this for you and you will have to get your hands in there to process the dough to completion. You are looking for a nice (not wet or sticky) consistence. When you have this place the dough on a well floured surface. You can roll it out with a rolling pin by hand which takes forever. Or you can go spend $40 an get a pasta machine or attachment for the kitchen aid. If you don’t have those plan on an afternoon of messing around rolling pasta…When I am in the mood and not hung over from epoxy the “by hand” deal sounds better than it does to me now. Pics to follow…