THINGS I LIKE: Meatballs

When I was a teenager, I had two best friends, Kivy Gordon and Bob Roberti. Bob's parents were immigrants from Naples in southern Italy and, while they had been in the US for many years, they still retained some of the "Old Country" traditions. Among them was the, after church, Sunday "dinner"  at about three in the afternoon. The multi - course meal, the main part of which Mrs. Roberti had "simmering" for several hours, consisted of 1) antipasto, a small plate with  Italian salami's, prosciutto, provolone cheese, or similar items, 2) macaroni* (NOT PASTA) covered with the tomato - based  "GRAVY" **  in which  meats (beef chunks, pieces of pork, sausage, brasiole, and meatballs) were cooked, 3)  the  meats cooked in the "GRAVY", as a separate course,  4) some salad or vegetable, eg. broccoli or spinach sauteed in garlic and olive oil and, finally, 5) some biscotti or Italian cookies. Kivy and I were lucky enough to be invited to these "dinners" on numerous occasions. Mr. Roberti's home made wine was served to the adults throughout the meal while the boys had their wine diluted in  half with Coca Cola. They were all memorable meals but for me the best part, the thing I still  remember most, were Mrs. Roberti's meatballs - light, juicy and delicious. Subsequently, I have eaten huge amounts of  meatballs in peoples homes (Italian and non- Italian) and in restaurants but have never had one equal to Mrs. Roberti's. I have researched meatball recipes, extensively, and, finally, using  ideas from several recipes, have come up with one that comes close, but never equals, those from my youth. With that in mind, the recipe follows.
INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 lb ground meat (1/3 each, beef (80/20), veal, pork)
3/4 C fresh bread crumbs (Country White or baguette)
1/2 C fresh whole milk, more if needed
1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 garlic clove, mashed
1/2 C grated Parmesan or Romano cheese***
2 tsp dried oregano
TT salt and freshly ground black pepper

PROCEDURE

Heat oven to 375 F.

Have sauce(gravy) simmering.

Soak bread crumbs in milk until all milk is absorbed. Gently, squeeze milk out of bread, then  mix everything together.. I use my CLEAN, WET hands to get thorough mix. Form into balls the size a golf ball or whatever size you choose.**** Place on baking sheet or other heat proof container and bake for 10 minutes. Drain any fat that has accumulated and add meatballs to whatever sauce (or gravy) with which you are going to serve them Cook until the meatballs are fully cooked;  20 -30 minutes. Serve with sauce/gravy over the pasta (macaroni) ))of your choice

.ENJOY!

* The modern word, "macaroni" derives from the Sicilian (southern Italy) term for kneading dough vigorously since early pasta making was a laborious and long procedure. Perhaps this was why some southern Italians referred to the pasta dish in Sunday dinner as "macaroni" rather than “pasta”

 **In Italian, the word "salsa" translates, in English, to "sauce" as in "Salsa di Marinara" (Italian); Marinara sauce (English). Salsa (sauce) has a light, fresh flavor, frequently using garlic, olive oil and tomato. The word, "sugo" translates to "juice" or “gravy" when meat is cooked in a sauce and their juices blend into the sauce. Gravy takes much longer to cook, has a more dense consistency, is more complex and, frequently contains meat. Thus, the “Sunday Dinner” sauce in which meats were cooked may have been considered, “gravy” not sauce by many southern Italians. An alternate suggestion was that when southern Italians first arrived in the US, they wanted to assimilate and started calling their "sugo" the same thing as other Americans called their meat sauces – gravy.

*** If you are using Romano cheese instead of Parmesan, remember that Romano is more salty than Parmesan so adjust your final salting accordingly.

**** Before forming the meat mixture into balls, take a small portion, flatten it into a patty, fry and taste. By doing this you will know, better, how to adjust the final seasonings before completing the making of the meat mixture into balls.