Italian Meat Balls

If you never seem to have time to cook during the week, try this recipe for Italian meatballs. You can make these on the weekend and heat them up in the microwave (for about 1 minute) when you need them during the week.

We will cover them in a simple tomato sauce before they go into the oven. In addition, we made a velouté sauce that can be poured over the meatballs when they are served. This sauce is optional but very easy to make.

The Italian meatballs can be eaten as a stand alone dish or they can be added to your favorite pasta (such as Risotto Milanese) and sauce. Regardless of how you decide to use them, they will save you time during the week.


Ingredients:
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
2 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp rosemary, chopped
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
1 tspn salt
1 1/2 tspn black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms, ground

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a large casserole dish.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the pork, beef, bread crumbs, milk, eggs, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and porcini mushrooms.
3. Using your hands, form golf ball sized meatballs.
4. Place the meatballs into the casserole dish and place the dish into the oven.
5. Cook for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the casserole dish containing the meatballs from the oven and reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Cover the meatballs with your favorite spaghetti sauce. I used canned pizza sauce.
8. When the temperature in the oven has reached 350 degrees Fahrenheit, place the meatballs back into the oven and bake for 1 hour.
9. Remove the meat balls from the oven and serve hot.

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