mozarella-stuffed meatballs
In the days leading up to me starting my new job, I was in a perpetual state of lamentation like woe is me, when will I ever find time to cook? What’s to become of my blog that I’ve maintained in my two months of leisure? What would I feed the boyfriend if I am coming home at 9 o’clock at night thinking of little besides Lean Cuisine?
In one of those particular stretches of despair, I found myself casually flipping through a Williams Sonoma catalog, wishing I could just wave a magic wand and the entire contents of the store would magically outfit my kitchen. I should be so lucky. Plus, my ant-sized kitchen can barely fit a few pots, nevermind an arsenal of cookware and cutlery. And as I was about to flip another page, regretting my budget and my limited shelf space, I spied a recipe so good, I paused to read it, and made mental note: mozzarella stuffed meatballs!! Bliss, happiness, melted cheese! Can anything be more perfect and breathtaking? And then I got distracted by a photograph of a ladle. And flipped the page.
A few hours later, after the boyfriend, flipping through the same catalog mentioned the recipe to me, my heart was set on making the meatballs. Soon, I promised him, maybe Tuesday. And sure enough he wasn’t about to let me forget. “Is it meatballs night,” he wrote Tuesday morning.
After running my pre-work errands that evening, I stopped at Bazzini to pick up the ingredients. I will tell you now, that I modified the recipe – so if you go and look up the stuffed meatballs recipe on Williams Sonoma website, you will get a slightly different version than I have here. Personally, I think mine’s a lot better, but that’s just me here. I’ll tell you what I did differently. I omitted the parsley and instead finely chopped an onion – I think it gives the meat deeper taste. Secondly, instead of beef, I opted for turkey. I figured with equal parts of veal and pork, beef would be maybe a little too rough in flavor and that turkey would give it a gentler taste, not to mention make it a tad healthier. So those have been my changes. I stand by them and think you ought to make your stuffed meatballs my way.
But then again, you have the right to have those balls any way you like.*
*The author is in no way, shape or form suggesting anything lewd and is shocked and appalled that your mind would even go there. ;-)
Mozarella-Stuffed Meatballs
(adapted from Williams Sonoma)
Ingredients:
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground veal
1 lb. ground turkey
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/3 lb. buffalo mozzarella cheese, cut into
1/2-inch cubes
Olive oil for frying
About 6 cups tomato sauce
2 lb. spaghetti, cooked and drained
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the milk and bread crumbs. Add the ground pork, veal, turkey, the onion the eggs, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Form the mixture into 2-inch balls and flatten the ball. Press a mozzarella cheese cube into the center of each ball, sealing it inside and rolling the meatball into its shape.
In a large electric skillet set on medium-high heat, heat 1/2 inch of oil until almost smoking. Add the meatballs and cook until browned, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined tray.
Discard the oil in the pan. Pour the tomato sauce into the pan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and cook for 10 minutes more.
Put the pasta in a warmed large, shallow bowl. Top with the sauce and meatballs and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately and pass the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese at the table.
Serves 10 to 12.
erin p.
weird questions…did you go with the sauce recipe in the ws catalog, or something else? (or no sauce, i suppose…)
radish
erin, i cheated and used paul newman’s sauce and added a few of my own spices. didn’t have a day to cook my own sauce (which would have been ideal) but after a full day of running around and all. :-) hope you take a crack at this recipe – it was very tasty!