My Lime Green Kitchen

Since my meatballs are mostly frozen ahead of time, I start out by browning spicy Italian sausage. Then I either make the sauce or pour in the jars of sauce that I’ve already canned. If making fresh sauce, I let it simmer most of a day. If using canned sauce, I’ll add a jar of tomatoes since I put the sauce up in concentrated form. Once the sauce is reay, I put in the frozen meatballs and simmer very slowly for an hour or more.

And here’s a post about how I freeze the meatballs.

I don’t measure anything for meatballs but next time I make them, I’ll try to pay more attention to measurements. The proportions of everything can be adjusted to suit your own tastes. Basically, here’s what I do:

Start with bread crumbs. I make my own using whatever bread we have. Sourdough makes great breadcrumbs and around here, we can get it as day old bread at Wal-Mart. Any dense bread will do. Put it through the food processor to make crumbs. Pour milk over it and stir while the crumbs absorb the milk. You want the crumbs to be . . not pasty thick and no runny . . kinda in between. Got that?

Add the bread crumb mixture to:

5 – 6 pounds ground beef (can substitute ground pork or turkey for some of the ground beef)
1 onion grated
chopped garlic – I use the chopped garlic you buy in a big plastic container and I use probably 4 tablespoons
Salt – maybe 2 tsp.
Black pepper – maybe 1 tsp.
2 or 3 eggs
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
ground dried oregano — maybe 1/4 cup
basil – if using fresh, maybe 1/4 c. chopped. If using dried, maybe 2 tablespoons
Fennel seeds – maybe 1 or 2 tablespoons

Shape into balls and fry.

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