Cook the Book: Frankies' Meatballs

Name: Cook the Book: Frankies' Meatballs
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 18
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 4 slices bread (2 packed cups worth); 118 milliliters dried bread crumbs; 4 larges eggs; 59 milliliters finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 907 grams ground beef; 59 milliliters grated Pecorino Romano, plus about 1 cup for serving; 15 turns white pepper; 59 milliliters pine nuts; 59 milliliters raisins; 2 teaspoons fine sea salt

One serving contains 198 calories, 12g of protein, and 13g of fat. This recipe serves 18. Many people made this recipe, and 384 would say it hit the spot. If you have bread, ground beef, turns pepper, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes about 45 minutes.

Instructions

Heat the oven to 325°F.

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Oven

Put the fresh bread in a bowl, cover it with water, an let it soak for a minute or so.

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Bread

Water

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Bowl

Pour off the water and wring out the bread, then crumble and tear it into tiny pieces.

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Bread

Water

Combine the bread with all of the remaining ingredients except the tomato sauce in a medium mixing bowl, adding them in the order that they are listed.

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Tomato Sauce

Bread

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Mixing Bowl

Add the dried bread crumbs last to adjust for wetness; the mixture should be moist wet, not sloppy wet.

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Breadcrumbs

Shape the meat mixture into handball-sized meatballs and space them evenly on a baking sheet.

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Meatballs

Meat

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Baking Sheet

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The meatballs will be firm but still juicy and gently yielding when they're cooked through. (At this point, you can cool the meatballs and hold them in the refrigerator for as long as a couple of days or freeze them for the future.

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Meatballs

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Oven

Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce in a sauté pan large enough to accommodate the meatballs comfortably.

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Tomato Sauce

Meatballs

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Frying Pan

Dump the meatballs into the pan of sauce and nudge the heat up ever so slightly. Simmer the meatballs for half and hour or so (this isn't one of those cases where longer is better) so they can soak up some of the sauce. Keep them there until it's time to eat.

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Meatballs

Sauce

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Frying Pan

Serve the meatballs 3 to a person in a healthy helping of read sauce, and hit everybody's portion—never the pan—with a fluffy mountain of grated cheese. Reserve the leftover tomato sauce (it will be extra-super-delicious) and use it anywhere tomato sauce is called for in this book.

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Tomato Sauce

Meatballs

Cheese