Owner/ Winemaker Brad Beard from Mercury Wine walks you through making a special meatball recipe that is a favorite of ours created by our neighbor here in Geyserville, Dominica Catelli. They make a great appetizer, you can make meatball sliders with them or add them to your favorite pasta dish!
Prep time: 25 minutes.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450°
Servings 20 – yields 40 meatballs.
Ingredients:
One egg, lightly beaten.
1 pound of ground beef.
1 pound of bulk Italian sausage (mild or spicy).
1 1/2 cups of ricotta cheese.
1 cup panko Japanese style breadcrumbs.
1/2 cup finally chopped onion.
1/2 cup grated/shaved Parmesan cheese plus 2 tablespoons garnish.
Five or six garlic cloves, minced.
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme.
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley and 1 tablespoon garnish
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning.
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt.
Two large cans stewed tomatoes with garlic and basil or your preferred tomato / pasta sauce.
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 450.
In a large bowl combine beef, sausage, ricotta cheese, panko, onion, the 1/2 cup of Parmesan, garlic, thyme, 1/4 cup parsley and salt… mix with your hands… try not to overwork the meat but ensure that it’s mixed properly for compacting into 40 1/2 inch meatballs.
Heat your stewed tomato’s with garlic and basil or warm up your pasta sauce in a saucepan.
Brown meatballs in an extra large cast-iron skillet with olive oil. Brown meatballs about 10 to 20 at a time in the hot skillet without crowding about 10 minutes per batch then cover with sauce place all in the oven and bake for 10 minutes!
Place meatballs into a serving dish, garnish and serve!