Homemade Baked Meatballs

Author: @Jasamgurlie  Serves: 4   Time: 30′

Difficulty: moderate

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

Meatballs
1/2 pound (250 g) Italian sweet sausage

1/2 pound (250 g) ground  beef

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 large egg

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, or parmesan cheese

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons fresh basil (or parsley), finely chopped

1/2 cup milk, (or water)

Marinara sauce

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, (optional — adjust to your preference)

28 oz (800 g) crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning1

tablespoon fresh basil or parsley, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup red cooking wine

To serve

Fresh parsley, chopped

Fresh basil, chopped

Parmesan cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated

Procedure

Heat oil in a medium-sized pan over medium heat. Sauté onion until soft, (about 2 minutes). Add garlic and sauté for a further minute, until fragrant. Set aside.

Baked meatballs

Preheat oven to 410°F (210°C).

Line a large baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine half of the sautéed onion and garlic mixture with the ground meats, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, egg, cheese, breadcrumbs and basil (or parsley).

Add half of the milk, mixing a little with your hands, then add the rest of the milk. Mix again until all ingredients are just combined (don’t over mix or meatballs will be hard/tough).*

Scoop out 1-tablespoonful of meat per meatball and roll into balls, placing meatballs on lined baking pan as you go.

Spray generously with cooking oil spray and bake for 12 minutes, or until just cooked though.Broil (grill) on high heat in the last 2 minutes of cooking time to get them crispy and browned.

While meatballs are baking, make your sauce.

Sauce

Return the pan with the remaining onion/garlic mixture to the stove over medium heat.

Stir in the crushed red pepper flakes, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, red cooking wine, Italian seasoning, herbs, salt, pepper and sugar.

Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes, while stirring occasionally.

Taste test and adjust salt and pepper, to your taste.

Transfer baked meatballs and pan juices into the sauce.

Stir to evenly coat and let simmer for about 2-3 minutes to let the sauce infuse into the meat and completely cook the meatballs.

Notes

The meatball mixture should still be moist in consistency, but hold its shape when rolled into meatballs.

Serve over spaghetti.

Garnish with additional fresh herbs and parmesan cheese.

The story behind the recipe

(Ghost writer:@bkmalegamwala)Once Upon A time in the tweeter land, among the many mystical creatures good & bad.there lived the legendary squad – “THE SUSSEXSQUAD”. (KAKIIIIII {aunty)screamed the little one-.”I don’t believe in fairy tales & could you please give me the 5 minute version to a history mamoth of a tale.” No respect for elders these little idiots these days) OK! One late night after a fierce battle of debunking trolls & the fake news a legendary sussexsquad warrior tweeted
“I made homemade spaghetti & meatballs earlier & it was delicious & I’m so full.” Who but reads it. A sussexsquad food club apprentice. Swallowing its fear & before second thoughts brought sanity, it quickly tweeted back”I may just troll you for pics & recipe on behalf of sussexsquadcookclub”As it went OMG I am going to get BLOCKED Blah!Blah!Blah!The legendary squaddie replied back “I semi used this recipe for the meatballs, except I used Italian sweet sausage & Italian bread crumbs. And for the sauce I also used red cooking wine.OH!  and ground beef instead or pork/beef.I used a lot more seasonings too but yeah I used that recipe as a template. “
EPIC  apprentice.was so happy but what about pics,story & emailing”Let’s not push our luck here apprentice”Tweeting a quick “Thank you”Apprentice Ghostwrote the sussexsquad warrior’s recipe for @Sussexsquadcoo1(KAKIIII trooling your own team BAD kaki very bad. Ok i know that look who is next?????Kaki timidly whispered: There is THE LEGENDARY PROFESSOR with an air fryer…)

Bon Appétit