I have finally made the ultimate Italian meatball. My mom has made meatballs before, but they always fell apart really easily and were rather bland (sorry if you're reading this, mom...). I have had really good meatballs a few times at some Italian restaurants, so I wanted to try to create a knock-your-socks-off meatball recipe myself. These meatballs literally melt in your mouth. I seriously ate like four after just pulling them out of the oven. The milk makes them so incredibly moist, and the flavors blend wonderfully well together. They have a nice balance of flavors that will only get better once the flavors develop even further in a homemade tomato sauce (the meatballs are superb alone, though). I served this over spaghetti with home made tomato sauce (I'm still working on a killer tomato sauce recipe, and I'll post it as soon as I can!), freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and crusty French bread. It was wayyy better than any spaghetti and meatballs I've ever had in any restaurant. I used 80, 20 ground beef and 2% milk, but 90,10 and 95, 5 will also work for the beef, and any low fat milk will certainly work. These make awesome left overs, and freeze well too. Bon Appetit!
Yield: about 12 meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 large onion (or 1 small onion), finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup low fat milk
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
Directions:
- Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Place the beef into a mixing bowl, and season with salt, onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Add the milk, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. Mix until evenly blended, then form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs, and place onto a baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, remove the baking sheet, and gently flip (more like roll) the meatballs to the opposite side. The side that was first on the bottom should now be very lightly brown. Bake in the oven for another 8-12 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center (I suggest testing one at 8 minutes).
This is the best chicken Parmesan ever. I won't order it in restaurants because I never like any other nearly as much as this one. My mom makes this every week, and it's always perfect. I think the secret is that the chicken breasts are thick and juicy, instead of pounding them thin. I hate when chicken Parmesan has breasts that are really breaded...and then the chicken is really thin. It makes the breaded part way too overpowering and you can't taste the chicken as much. In this recipe, every bite is a thick, juicy, full of flavor, cheesy chicken chunk slathered in tomato sauce. Mmm-Mmm!
Ingredients:
6 skinless chicken breasts - about 1 inch thick
Tomato (Spaghetti) Sauce
Shredded Mozzerella cheese
Italian seasoning
3 cloves of crushed garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
Italian bread crumbs
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Your choice of pasta (I usually use penne, angel hair, spaghetti, or bow tie)
Instructions:
1. Cover chicken breasts with bread crumbs in a thin coat until evenly coated.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and 3 cloves garlic in a large skillet. Fry chicken breasts 2 minutes on each side. Place on paper towels to remove excess liquid.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Place chicken breasts in a greased baking dish. Pour spaghetti sauce on top of breasts, and coat evenly. Sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese on top so it covers nearly all of breasts.
5. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and add a generous amount of Parmesan cheese. Cook for 5 more minutes (until cheese is completely melted).
6. Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes.
7. Cook pasta according to manufacture's instructions and serve chicken breasts over pasta.
