Pat's Standard Meatballs
"Nothing fancy -- just dang good eating using common ingredients that you already have."
- Ready In:
- 2hrs
- Ingredients:
- 16
- Yields:
-
50 meatballs
ingredients
- 2 lbs lean ground chuck
- 1 lb ground sausage (I use Bob Evans or Jimmy Dean brands)
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 3⁄4 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- 3⁄4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3⁄4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1⁄2 teaspoon curry powder (make sure it's fairly fresh!)
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons sea salt or 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
- 2 1⁄2 cups breadcrumbs (I make my own)
- 1 cup olive oil
- 60 ounces spaghetti sauce, canned (I use Hunt's brand)
- 15 ounces chicken broth
directions
- Beat the worcestershire sauce into the eggs.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend all ingredients well with your hands, EXCEPT for the olive oil, spaghetti sauce, and chicken broth.
- Make up the meatballs, about 1 1/2" in diameter each. Set them aside on cookie sheets covered with wax paper.
- Over medium heat in a large skillet (I use an electric skillet), heat the olive oil.
- Brown all the meatballs on all sides. This will be about 3 batches. As they are done, set them on a platter to allow oil to drain.
- In a roaster pan, pour in the spaghetti sauce and chicken broth and blend with a whisk. Put all the meatballs in the sauce and bake, covered, at 300-degrees F. for 90 minutes.
- Either serve over spaghetti (garnish with fresh parsley), or, store the cooled meatballs and sauce in freezer-type zip-lock bags and freeze for later use.
- You can add 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese to the meatball mix as an option if you wish. Also, for a more mellow sauce, add 1/2 cup dry red wine.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
