Believe me when I tell you, these meatballs are special. I’ve never been a fan of meatballs at any restaurant or any other recipe I’ve tried to make. Nanna’s meatballs were an extra special treat and if you were her favorite grandchild she’d make these for dinner for you then send you home with a big pot of the leftovers. When Nanna would finish making meatballs she would admire her handy work for how cute her little polpette looked sitting in a big pot of sauce.
I’ve tried this recipe using beef, half pork half beef, half pork half chicken, and I can confidently tell you that using ground pork only makes for the best meatballs, just like Nanna’s! We hope you enjoy these meatballs that we would fight over as kids, and as adults if we’re being honest!
Wise words from Nanna
Measuring- This is another recipe that Nanna never measured out. She would tell us that there was a feeling you were looking for when adding the water. The meatballs should feel super soft in your hands with no excess water at the bottom of the bowl. The bread crumbs should all be soaked through.
Bread crumbs- Week old bread makes the best bread crumbs for meatballs. Use a food processor to grind into fine crumbs.
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 15 miinutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
1 lb or so of ground pork
2 eggs
1 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 tbsp chopped parsley
½ cup of warm water
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Make a red pasta sauce (Sunday Sauce is perfect!)
- While sauce is simmering prep meatballs. In a medium-large mixing bowl add pork, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, parsley and salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix everything until well combined
- Slowly add in the warm water, a little bit at a time while mixing using your hands. Continue to add in the water until the mixture feels very soft, and all the bread crumbs are soaked. There shouldn’t be so much water that there is water at the bottom of the bowl that hasn’t been absorbed.
- Using your hands roll the mixture into balls about the size of a scoop of icecream or timbit. Have a small amount of olive oil to keep your hands greased with for rolling.
- Once you have rolled all of the mixture into balls, add the meatballs to the simmering sauce and cover. The meatballs will cook with the sauce. This should take about 1.5 hours. Make sure they are fully cooked by taking one out and cutting it in half. They should be super soft with no pink in the centre.
- Enjoy over your favourite cooked pasta, or on their own!
Buon appetito!
With love,
M & A xo