Basic Meatball Recipe

Meat Recipes

Yield: Serves 6 for dinner, 8 for buffet

• 1-1/2 cups bread crumbs soaked in 3/4 cup milk or tomato juice, or 1-1/2 cups dry stuffing mix soaked in 3 cups liquid
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 large onion, chopped and sauteed in 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 pounds ground beef, or 1 pound beef, 1/2 pound ground pork, and 1/2 pound ground veal
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• butter for sautéeing meatballs
• Optional Additions (use only 1 per batch); 4 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese with 1 tablespoon mixed Italian seasoning; 1 cup applesauce with 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, mace, or allspice; 2 tablespoons steak sauce or Worcestershire sauce

Mix soaked bread crumbs, eggs, and onion in large bowl. Mixture will be runny. Mix in all the ground meat, salt. pepper, and any optional addition you choose to use. If mixture is too stiff, add a little more liquid until manageable. Roll into small meatballs, using about I rounded teaspoon of meat for each Swedish meatball, 1 rounded tablespoon for Italian meatballs. Sauté in large frying pan in butter, turning frequently to brown evenly and to keep them rounded. (It will probably take 3 pansful to use up all the meat. It makes a LOT, but you will be amazed how fast they disappear.) Lift out meatballs carefully when done and do next panful in the same butter, especially if you are going to freeze them.

If you want to freeze them raw, paper plates work well as a base, but be careful not to freeze them in a lump - they'll be almost impossible to get apart. Put the raw meatballs in a bull's-eye pattern on the plate, slip into a freezer bag or cover with transparent wrap, and freeze. Makes 48 small meatballs.

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