Homemade Italian Meatballs
Soraya Lane's family recipe for homemade Italian Meatballs are delicious, made from scratch, and sure to delight your book club. If you are looking for food ideas for The Italian Daughter, look no further!
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 600 grams pork mince approx 1.3 lbs ground pork
- 2 slices toast crusts removed
- 1/3 cup of milk
- 2 gloves garlic crushed
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg or powdered nutmeg if unavailable
- Pinch of chili flakes
- Handful of basil finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano chopped
- 1 egg
- Sea Salt & ground pepper
To finish the dish:
- 3 cups tomato passata
- 2 gloves garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 balls of fresh mozzarella* in whey drained
- Extra oregano for serving
- Parmesan for grating
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 390 F (200 Celsius) fan bake
- Rip the bread into small pieces and place in a large bowl with the milk. Mix together so the bread is wet and leave for 5 minutes
- Add all the remaining meatball ingredients, season generously with salt and pepper and combine well. The mixture will be quite soft.
- Form into large walnut sized balls. You should get about 18.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large sauté pan and cook the meatballs until golden and just cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to an ovenproof baking dish.
- Add the passata, garlic sugar and cinnamon to the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes, scraping the base of the pan to lift off any sticky bits. Pour over the meatballs.
- Top with ripped pieces of mozzeralla, then bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and golden.
- To serve, top with grated parmesan & extra oregano. A warm loaf of crusty bread is ideal for mopping up the leftover juice on your plate, or serve over fresh spaghetti.
Notes
*I used about 4 oz fresh mozzarella, but up to 8 oz could be used if you want a cheesy dish.
