This is the recipe for the meatballs I use in my spaghetti and meatballs, one of my kids' favorite meals.
- 1.5 # Ground Beef
- Alternate for zestier meatballs
- 1# ground beef
- 1/2# ground Italian sausage
- 1/2 cup minced onions
- 3/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
- I've been using Progresso Italian Style crumbs lately
- 1 T minced parsley
- 1 1/2 t salt
- 1/8 t black pepper
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 t Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup milk
This recipe is "linear", meaning if you want to use 1/3rd more meat (2 pounds as opposed to the called-for 1.5 pounds), you should use 1/3rd more of everything else. If you want to double the amount of meat used, then double the use of every other ingredient. And so on....
Mix ingredients 1-6 in a large mixing bowl. Combine 7-9 together, beat with a fork, and add to beef mixture. Mix thoroughly. Shape into balls approximately 1 inch thick.
Many people fry their meatballs before adding them to their favorite sauce. I don't like to do this because I always seem to burn one side of the meatballs. So to keep from burning them and to cook them more-or-less symmetrically, I used to boil mine in beer and then add them to my marinara sauce. But that got spendy.
Now I prefer to put them into my sauce raw and cook them in the sauce. This imparts more of the meatballs' flavor into the sauce and the sauce's flavor into the meatballs. I usually cook the meatballs in the sauce over low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally so the sauce doesn't burn.
The given measurements are sufficiently large, for me at least, to be added to about 2 quarts of marinara sauce.