Meatballs

[bks92II]

If you could go any where and get the best meat balls where would it be at?

Also can chime in and add some delicious recipes of meatballs.

[waborat]

Trattoria's in Little Italy...

Silvestro's in Painesville...

Sterle's tiny meatballs in their Wedding Soup...

Barb & Patty's Swedish Meatballs...

My Grandmother's recipe...

The trick is, the more eggs the better

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Iacono's has some of the best meatballs i've ever had, their meatball sub is superb.

Benito's in Old Hilliard also makes some great meatballs.

My wife's are my favorite though, she makes alot and freezes some. I like to take frozen ones and reheat them in alittle veggie oil till their crisp and roll them around in some Frank's Hot Buffalo Sauce and just eat 'em like that.

[Larvell Blanks]

Damn, and I was hoping this was a thread to discuss Bill Murray movies.

With that said,try
Bucci's of Berea
Geraci's
Johnny's Downtown (veal meatballs)

[waborat]

Damn, and I was hoping this was a thread to discuss Bill Murray movies.

"Alright, virgins to the left, non-virgins to the right"

[davemanddd]

Damn, and I was hoping this was a thread to discuss Bill Murray movies.

"Alright, virgins to the left, non-virgins to the right"

loved that movie. hard to believe it's been over 30 years ago when it first came out. i still remember quite a few of the lines, especially the one you just nailed above. my favorite exchange was when murray was talking at the dance to his female love interest in the movie and he says "is that a bra you're wearing, or you expecting an assassination attempt???" and the woman's reply was "is that a roll of quarters in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me???". funny stuff. remember now, it just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter . . .

[Lubber]

homemade and healthy ones

Pound of ground turkey
garlic
oregano
onions
fat free cheese (mozz or pepper jack)
olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and form your meatballs. Coat each meatball with the olive oil, pan sear for a few minutes to get a good crunchy core, put in oven on 400 for 15-20 minutes

Can serve by themselves or with any pasta. Also good if broken up and tossed into a salad.

[jb]

My crib. Seriously.

The key is water, water, and more water. Start with the bread crumbs and just water the bejesus out of them. Super saturate. Drown them. Just don't leave any visible non-soaked up water. have at lest half as many watered bread crumbs as you do meat. Then you need to use a blend of two parts lean grd chuck to 1 part ground pork and one part ground veal. Then keep the rest simple.... Add a significant amount of koshar salt, any italian seasonings you like such as oregano, basil and rosemary, some grated romano you buy at an italian grocery - not too much cheese, and more garlic than you need to scare away a town of vampires. You never hav too much garlic.

Mix it together fighting off the pain of your hands freezing. Bake at 350 in an overn on a rack with a pan for the drippings. About 35 minutes should so the trick.

Serously, I got the water thing from a tip by an old nanna type working the register at a small groceria in Ytown. Much like Colt 45 and Billy Dee with the ladies, it works every time.

Other than that, I've been partial to Larocca's in Poland and cafe capri in Boardman .

[jb]

Damn, and I was hoping this was a thread to discuss Bill Murray movies.

"Alright, virgins to the left, non-virgins to the right"

loved that movie. hard to believe it's been over 30 years ago when it first came out. i still remember quite a few of the lines, especially the one you just nailed above. my favorite exchange was when murray was talking at the dance to his female love interest in the movie and he says "is that a bra you're wearing, or you expecting an assassination attempt???" and the woman's reply was "is that a roll of quarters in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me???". funny stuff. remember now, it just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter . . .

Brutaly bad sound track.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Damn, and I was hoping this was a thread to discuss Bill Murray movies.

"Alright, virgins to the left, non-virgins to the right"

loved that movie. hard to believe it's been over 30 years ago when it first came out. i still remember quite a few of the lines, especially the one you just nailed above. my favorite exchange was when murray was talking at the dance to his female love interest in the movie and he says "is that a bra you're wearing, or you expecting an assassination attempt???" and the woman's reply was "is that a roll of quarters in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me???". funny stuff. remember now, it just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter . . .

Brutaly bad sound track.

No worse than Caddyshack.

[waborat]

Great tip with the breadcrumbs JB...

I always soak mine in olive oil and garlic before using

[motherscratcher]

My crib. Seriously.

The key is water, water, and more water. Start with the bread crumbs and just water the bejesus out of them. Super saturate. Drown them. Just don't leave any visible non-soaked up water. have at lest half as many watered bread crumbs as you do meat. Then you need to use a blend of two parts lean grd chuck to 1 part ground pork and one part ground veal. Then keep the rest simple.... Add a significant amount of koshar salt, any italian seasonings you like such as oregano, basil and rosemary, some grated romano you buy at an italian grocery - not too much cheese, and more garlic than you need to scare away a town of vampires. You never hav too much garlic.

Mix it together fighting off the pain of your hands freezing. Bake at 350 in an overn on a rack with a pan for the drippings. About 35 minutes should so the trick.

Serously, I got the water thing from a tip by an old nanna type working the register at a small groceria in Ytown. Much like Colt 45 and Billy Dee with the ladies, it works every time.

Other than that, I've been partial to Larocca's in Poland and cafe capri in Boardman .

1. what does soaking the bread crumbs do?

2. When you say "half as many watered bread crumbs as you do meat" does that mean by weight? If I have 2lb of meat I should use 1lb of bread crumbs after they've been soaked?

I ask because when looking up meatball recipes online I've yet to run across any that mention soaking the breadcrumbs. And damn near all of them want you to add parmesan cheese.

[Orenthal]

My crib. Seriously.

The key is water, water, and more water. Start with the bread crumbs and just water the bejesus out of them. Super saturate. Drown them. Just don't leave any visible non-soaked up water. have at lest half as many watered bread crumbs as you do meat. Then you need to use a blend of two parts lean grd chuck to 1 part ground pork and one part ground veal. Then keep the rest simple.... Add a significant amount of koshar salt, any italian seasonings you like such as oregano, basil and rosemary, some grated romano you buy at an italian grocery - not too much cheese, and more garlic than you need to scare away a town of vampires. You never hav too much garlic.

Mix it together fighting off the pain of your hands freezing. Bake at 350 in an overn on a rack with a pan for the drippings. About 35 minutes should so the trick.

Serously, I got the water thing from a tip by an old nanna type working the register at a small groceria in Ytown. Much like Colt 45 and Billy Dee with the ladies, it works every time.

Other than that, I've been partial to Larocca's in Poland and cafe capri in Boardman .

Damn sounds yumm. JB I have used an almost identical recipe but have been told to use milk to soak the crumbs. Gonna mix it up and see how it affects the flavor.

[motherscratcher]

I'm making some meatballs tonight. I'm not a cook, but I'd like to be. I have no idea what I'm doing; just kind of winging it. My main problem is not really knowing ratios of ingredients.

I have 1.8lb of meat. How many bread crumbs? Cup? Half a cup? And if I soak them in water do I not use milk? How much Parmesan cheese is right? How much salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, etc?

See?

This has disaster written all over it. Yet I proceed.

[swerb]

Instead of breadcrumbs, what I do is take 4-5 pieces of fresh italian bread, soak em in water, wring em out, and then rip em up into little pieces and put them in the meat mix.

I use the veal/pork/beef meat trio, ground. Add fresh minced garlic, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, grated parmesan, fresh cracked pepper, and fresh parsley. And then fry the balls in hot EV olive oil.

[Orenthal]

Instead of breadcrumbs, what I do is take 4-5 pieces of fresh italian bread, soak em in water, wring em out, and then rip em up into little pieces and put them in the meat mix.

I use the veal/pork/beef meat trio, ground. Add fresh minced garlic, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, grated parmesan, fresh cracked pepper, and fresh parsley. And then fry the balls in hot EV olive oil.

Yeah I should have been more specific. I never use store bought bread crumbs, the bread crumbs, can't speak for JB but I'd assume its the same, are what you describe Rich. And ya, I squeeze the milk out before mixing all that goodness together.

The meat combo is a must IMO. Pork!

[mattvan1]

My main problem is not really knowing ratios of ingredients.

Then you need this book, authored by Clevelander Michael Ruhlman

[furls]

My crib. Seriously.

The key is water, water, and more water. Start with the bread crumbs and just water the bejesus out of them. Super saturate. Drown them. Just don't leave any visible non-soaked up water. have at lest half as many watered bread crumbs as you do meat. Then you need to use a blend of two parts lean grd chuck to 1 part ground pork and one part ground veal. Then keep the rest simple.... Add a significant amount of koshar salt, any italian seasonings you like such as oregano, basil and rosemary, some grated romano you buy at an italian grocery - not too much cheese, and more garlic than you need to scare away a town of vampires. You never hav too much garlic.

Mix it together fighting off the pain of your hands freezing. Bake at 350 in an overn on a rack with a pan for the drippings. About 35 minutes should so the trick.

Serously, I got the water thing from a tip by an old nanna type working the register at a small groceria in Ytown. Much like Colt 45 and Billy Dee with the ladies, it works every time.

Other than that, I've been partial to Larocca's in Poland and cafe capri in Boardman .

JB has nailed it. One word of caution, you need to be ever vigilant that you do not "crisp" the outside of the meatballs. Better to bring them out just a hair under cooked and allow them to finish cooking on the stove top as they cool.

[furls]

My crib. Seriously.

The key is water, water, and more water. Start with the bread crumbs and just water the bejesus out of them. Super saturate. Drown them. Just don't leave any visible non-soaked up water. have at lest half as many watered bread crumbs as you do meat. Then you need to use a blend of two parts lean grd chuck to 1 part ground pork and one part ground veal. Then keep the rest simple.... Add a significant amount of koshar salt, any italian seasonings you like such as oregano, basil and rosemary, some grated romano you buy at an italian grocery - not too much cheese, and more garlic than you need to scare away a town of vampires. You never hav too much garlic.

Mix it together fighting off the pain of your hands freezing. Bake at 350 in an overn on a rack with a pan for the drippings. About 35 minutes should so the trick.

Serously, I got the water thing from a tip by an old nanna type working the register at a small groceria in Ytown. Much like Colt 45 and Billy Dee with the ladies, it works every time.

Other than that, I've been partial to Larocca's in Poland and cafe capri in Boardman .

JB has nailed it. One word of caution, you need to be ever vigilant that you do not "crisp" the outside of the meatballs. Better to bring them out just a hair under cooked and allow them to finish cooking on the stove top as they cool.

[furls]

Anyone have a good recipe for a banging arrabiata sauce? I have been trying to nail this one down for a while and I have whiffed each and every time. I ate this penna arrabiata at Sofia's on Mulberry St in Manhattan about a year ago and I have been trying to recreate it since, to no avail.

[RickNashEquilibrium]

Anyone have a good recipe for a banging arrabiata sauce? I have been trying to nail this one down for a while and I have whiffed each and every time. I ate this penna arrabiata at Sofia's on Mulberry St in Manhattan about a year ago and I have been trying to recreate it since, to no avail.

My homemade sauce - here's what ya need

1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes or 2.5 LBS of blended roma/plum tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 serranno and 1 ancho chile, stems/seeds removed. For the ancho, I like using the dried kind then reconstituting and removing the seeds
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon regular paprika
2 teaspoons onion power
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of pancetta or thick cut bacon, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh chopped Italian parsley, not curly

Here's the how:

If you have a big mortar and pestle, blend the peppers, garlic, sugar, salt, paprikas, onion power until it is a fine paste (add a little water to get a sticky yet still thick consistency). If not, use a food processor and only blend until everything is homogenous - do not blend too much.

In a deep saucepan or saute pan, at medium heat lightly fry the pancetta/bacon until fat runs but not too brown, about 6-7 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes/tomato paste and pepper/garlic paste then stir in olive oil until blended well together. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce to simmer and leave uncovered for about 20-25 minutes. The longer the better in my experience.

Toss with choice of pasta and top with chopped parsley. My favorite pasta for this sauce is either fusilli, penne or cavatelli.

Also, like Swerb's red sauce recipe found here http://www.theclevelandfan.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10848, you can add a red wine. For this recipe, I would recommend no more than 1/2, more likely a 1/3 of a cup so as not to overpower the spice/smokiness of the paste. I've never added wine to this recipe, but if I did, it would probably be something a bit sweeter (thus reducing the added sugar to 1 tablespoon) like chianti or amarone if you're going full Italian or a fruitier California Cab.