Italian Meatballs
Deeply flavorful Italian meatballs!
Servings Prep Time
20-25pieces 1hour
Cook Time Passive Time
10.5hours 24hours
Servings Prep Time
20-25pieces 1hour
Cook Time Passive Time
10.5hours 24hours
Ingredients
Day 1 – Ingredients
Day 2 – Ingredients
Spice Mix
Instructions
Day 1- Procedure
  1. Remove bones from meat, trim and cube the meat.
  2. Roast the beef bones for 45 minutes at 190ºC ( 375ºF ).
  3. Using a coffee grinder grind spice mix and stir in coarse salt and MSG. Sprinkle spice mixture over the meat, add red wine and then toss and rub thoroughly. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
  4. Into 3 liter braising pot add roasted bones, garlic, Bay leaf, beef stock (or water) and canned whole tomatoes in their own juices. Braise for next 6-8 hours at 120ºC ( 240ºF ).
  5. Pass it through a sieve and store strained juices in a fridge, in airtight container.
Day 2 – Procedure
  1. Grind marinated meat two times. The second grinding will insure more consistent fat distribution.
  2. In a food processor add: onion, garlic, basil, Parmesan and bread crumbs. Once finely ground, transfer the mixture to a medium size mixing bowl. Add and stir in cream and egg yolk.
  3. Add the ground meat, and using your hands, gently combine in a homogeneous mixture. Don’t over mix it! You want everything fairly evenly mixed but avoid heavy squeezing and kneading since that will result with tough meat balls. Cover and let rest in the fridge for 2 hours.
  4. Using the palms of your hands and a kitchen scale, make 20 – 25 meat balls. Lightly dust the balls with flour.
  5. In a preheated 25 cm (10″) non stick pan, add a generous amount of olive oil. You want to have enough to brown two batches of meatballs and also for the rest of the process. Heat setting is at the medium high or 7 out of 10.
  6. Brown half of the meatballs in the first batch. As you place meatballs in the pan move it in a circular pattern causing balls to roll and coat with oil. To prevent burning, avoid the middle of the frying pan and keep meatballs around the edge, arranged in circle. Deep browning of the meatballs is a key to their good flavor. Take the meatballs out and put aside.
  7. Pour in tomato sauce (passata) in a controlled, slow and continuous stream. Pour it in a circular motion trying to cover full surface. Do not stir!!! That is very important. If you stir it up you will cause tomato sauce to burn. Cover the pan with splatter guard and let it cook for 10 minutes.
  8. After 10 minutes, stir the tomato sauce for the first time and reduce heat to a medium or 5 out of 10. Cook for 10 more minutes and stir occasionally. The goal is to concentrate the tomato sauce and achieve a paste consistency.
  9. Add the braised tomato mixture from refrigerator and stir to combine. Taste it and add salt if required.
  10. As the sauce is heated up add the meatballs to the pan, put the lid on and reduce heat to low or 1-1.5 out of 10. Let the balls simmer for 2 hours. Occasionally turn the balls in the sauce. They are very delicate, so be careful they don’t fall apart. At the end sprinkle with red wine vinegar.
  11. For the best flavor, let the balls rest in the sauce for a day or two. Serve warm, preheated in the oven at 180ºC (355ºF). Add a little water to prevent drying out. Add approximately 1 tbsp of water per meatball.