Making Meatballs with Mom [pics]

A few pictures of the first day of a marathon NYE cooking session that also included a cassoulet from the ground up, frozen key lime pie and Irish cream crème brûlée. I only took pictures on the first day as I was to busy cooking on the following days but these came out great. I'll see if I can get my mother to post the recipie as it resides in her cookbook shelf.

I made meatballs last night coincidentally, your batch looks good, and very similar to mine.

I used:
-ground chuck
-bread crumbs
-minced garlic
-2 eggs
-red wine
-parsley
-salt
-ground pepper
-reggiano parmesan

browned/cooked in olive oil.

I eagerly await the rest of the report. Very cute thus far - and very tasty-looking.

Send us pictures of that Irish cream creme brulee! Sounds like a magnificent New Year's.

I went to a potluck appetizer party and made Spinach balls that sounded promising but didn't turn out as good as they looked.

I made them with chopped frozen spinach, breadcrumbs, butter, egg and Parmesan cheese. I may have needed fresher cheese.

Happy new year!

That irish Cream creme brulee sounds like fun. Do I need a recipe, or just throw some Irish Cream into a regular brulee mix?

Thanks

Mike

MikeLM wrote:That irish Cream creme brulee sounds like fun. Do I need a recipe, or just throw some Irish Cream into a regular brulee mix?

Thanks

Mike

I didn't take pictures on 12/31 (we made the meatballs on 12/30)... I was too busy cooking... I think there may be one portion left in the fridge at my mom's but it doesn't look appreciably different from any other crème brûlée. It just has Irish Cream added at the same time as the whipping cream. I like the recipie because the liquor is subtle in the finished product, unlike some other baked custard dishes where the liquor is overwhelming.

Irish Cream Crème Brûlée

8 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 large vanilla bean
2 cups heavy cream
3 to 4 tablespoons Irish Cream (to taste, I keep it light but you could go as high as a cup)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (for the caramelized tops)

Preheat oven to 300ºF. Split vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the seeds. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, vanilla, and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Add cream & Irish Cream, and continue to whisk until well blended. Strain into a large bowl, skimming off any foam or bubbles.

Divide mixture among 6 ramekins or custard cups. Place in a water bath (make sure to keep the water level as close to even with the custard level as possible) and bake until set around the edges, but still loose in the center, about 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and chill until cooled through. Add sugar on top of each custard and evenly torch. They key is to keep the flame moving and not burn the sugar unevenly.

Hi, I'm Stagger's mom. The following is the recipe for the meatballs. It originally was printed in the Sept. '07 issue of bonappetit magazine and is from The Little Owl restaurant in the West Village, NYC. We've made a few modifications. Here it is:

3/4 lb ground beef
3/4 lb ground pork
1/2 cup panko (Japanese)breadcrumbs
1/2 cup water
8 tbsp freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp groud black pepper
2 sprigs fresh chopped tyme
2 sprigs fresh chopped oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 head of garlic
1/8 cup oil

Peel garlic and place in small sauce pan with oil to cover cloves. Cook over med/low heat till garlic is softened and tender but not browned. Remove from heat and press garlic through sieve.

In a large bowl mix garlic with all other ingredients. Form into eighteen 2" meatballs (we used a #20 scoop).

Heat vegetable oil in large heavy skillet. Working in batches, fry meatballs until brown all over. Do not overcrowd pan. Transfer to rack to drain.

NOTE: We usually double or triple the recipe. They freeze well.

Enjoy!

Welcome, roz! Thanks for the recipe, pictures, and sharing the family talent with us.

roz wrote:Hi, I'm Stagger's mom.

Welcome, Stagger's mom! I love it when families get in on LTH. (Mine just thinks I'm stange.)

those meatballs look delicious. I'm trying to eat a little healthier so I wonder if I could fire those meatballs up in the oven at 400-450 and get similar results. Anyone try making the oven-baked variety using this recipe?

Hey stagger, I made your maw's meatballs last night for my son. I put a little panko on the outside, and then fried them in butter (shameful I know). They were really great, nice little kick with the pepper and red pepper flakes. I had also made Creme Fraiche (inspired from a thread here). I thought, well why not try some on the meatballs? I thought it was great. The Creme Fraiche was cool and creamy, and meatballs contrasted nicely with crunch and a little spice! My son loved them! Thanks for the inspiration!

razbry wrote:I put a little panko on the outside, and then fried them in butter (shameful I know).

Shameful? Now way! Genius if you ask me!

Glad you liked them!

I'm not sure these would come out as well if they were baked. I think an all beef meatball would probably work better unless you could get very fresh ground pork. I think most store bought ground pork would make the product taste mealy without the proten caramelization that comes from frying. Really just speculation on my part but I figure if you are going to eat a dish made up almost entirely of ground meat, a little frying oil shouldn't hurt too much...

I love a good Italian-American meatball in red sauce. And I've made a fair share of them over the years, but they've never come close to the best ones I've had at restaurants. Then I tried this recipe on seriouseats.com from Daniel Gritzer. Well, these were not only the very best meatballs I've ever made, but they were probably better than any meatballs I've had anywhere. Yes, they are that good -- very flavorful, tender, light and juicy. They're so good I've been eating them for days . . . with garlic bread, with pasta and finally on a toasted roll with mozzarella as a sandwich.

My only departures from the recipe were to use 1/3 veal (along with ground beef and pork) and to slightly reduce the amount of gelatin given that the veal contains some gelatin too.

Here's a picture of the diced gelatin that helps make these meatballs plenty juicy:





Here's a picture of the formed meatballs:





And here's a picture of the meatballs after broiling (a few ended up needing a bit more time under the broiler after this picture):






They store well so I highly recommend giving these a try. You won't be sorry.

How cool is this thread!!
I would love to see a thread where people introduce their moms like this
(mine is loong gone) and the moms bring their favorite recipe.
Stagger - how generous of you to share. And with beautiful pictures! Nicely done!

BR - that recipe looks amazing, thanks for posting