New in the Kitchen

This is the recipe for meatballs that I have been using since I first started cooking. I have changed certain things about the recipe over the years, so you should be assured that they are delicious!  It’s great because you bake the meatballs and so they really stay moist, especially when you put them in spaghetti sauce! They would also be great for meatball sandwiches or even served with toothpicks and marinara sauce as an appetizer. This recipe will give you about 15-20 meatballs, depending on size.

Ingredients:
½ pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
½ cup grated Parmesan
2 eggs
½ cup ricotta cheese
½ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 onion, grated (using a cheese grater)
½ of a carrot, grated
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup bread crumbs

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400º.  Spray several muffin tins with cooking spray.

2. Combine all ingredients, mixing well until blended. However, be sure not to overmix.

3. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into small rounds and place them in a muffin tin, each meatball in a different muffin hole.  This will allow them to cook faster and more thoroughly.

4. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Jen’s Meatball wisdom:

• Be gentle when you’re forming meatballs–too firm a hand makes them dense and tough.
• These meatballs can be frozen in two ways, cooked (in sauce) or raw.  To freeze raw meatballs, put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer.  Once frozen, transfer them to resealable plastic bags. Cooked-in-sauce meatballs can go into plastic containers and put straight into the freezer.
• To test what your meatballs will taste like, brown up a spoonful of the raw meat mix in a pan. Once it is fully cooked give it a taste. Adjust seasoning as needed then proceed with the recipe.