How to Make a Mouth Watering Meatball

As an Italian girl growing up in Westchester, NY, I was accustomed to eating authentic Italian foods. At the time, I took it for granted until I hit college. Prior to college, I never tasted canned food, macaroni and cheese or jarred sauces to name a few American cupboard staples. The food at college was so bad that I actually craved my Mother's food even more. My mother always cooked with natural and fresh ingredients. This made all the difference in the world in taste and quality.

Here it is 20 years later and I still miss the smell of my mother's meatballs cooking on a Sunday morning. The smell of her cooking literally makes you salivate. When she cooks, you can smell the glorious scent all the way down the street. As a kid I was embarrassed, as other kids on my street were mostly Irish and the aromas of good food was foreign to them. They made fun of me because I was Italian, and to them so ethnic in traditions that the smell of my mother cooking was seen as 'stinky food'. They didn't understand the aroma's they smelled. Fresh Garlic, parsley, Pecorino cheese, olive oil were ingredients their mothers didn't buy and prepare their food with back then. How stupid they were for making fun of me. I would have gladly invited them over for one of Mom's dinners to sample the goodness of her freshly prepared meals. I am sure all along they wished they were sitting down at my mother's table eating that glorious food that they were smelling.

I have a great meatball recipe that smells and tastes like my mothers. My mother's hands are the unique tool that is different in the recipe. I swear she can make rock soup taste like the best soup in the world. My mother thankfully is still making her meatballs and so many other wonderful dishes, but her meatballs are still my favorite.

Here are ingredients that yield approx. 12 large meatballs:

One pound package of beef, pork and veal

½ cup freshly chopped Parsley

1 cup Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

2 Large eggs

1 Loaf of 'day old' Italian bread

Salt & pepper

1 Full head of Garlic Cloves

2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Caraway seeds (optional)

Take the meat and put it in a large bowl and combine the salt & pepper and eggs. Set aside. Take the bread and break it in pieces and lay them in a dry large skillet. Pan toast the bread without burning it. Once that it done put the bread in a food processor and make bread crumbs and put in a separate bowl. Then get the parsley and chop in the food processor and then do the same with the garlic cloves. Add this in with the bread crumbs you made and incorporate them well with a small sprinkling of caraway seeds (optional). Take a cup at a time full of the bread crumb mixture and add to the meat and mix until it's all combined.

Wipe down the skillet you toasted the bread in and add the oil. Turn on the burner to medium and add the meatballs. To make the meatballs, I always take a dinner spoon and scoop the mixture into the palm of my hand and form a ball.

You will cook them on medium heat for about ½ hour, turning them on every side every few minutes so it all gets golden in color. You can put the lid on the skilled in between turns so the center cooks faster. As you take them out of the skillet, have a plate with a paper towel ready to put them on. The aroma will make everyone in the house drool. These meatballs when they are cooked are great to eat hot without sauce too. Or you just add them to your 'fresh" tomato sauce for an even better addition to your pasta dish. I hope you enjoy my recipe.