The BEST Meatballs

I never order meatballs in a restaurant.

And I’ll tell you why.

Nine times out of ten they are dense. Dense and relatively flavorless. They just float around in whatever sauce they are served with being all meaty and ball like.

So when my mom suggested a Sunday night of spaghetti and meatballs, I set out on a quest.

A quest to discover the most moist and delicious of all the meatballs.

I scoured high and low.

And by that I mean I did a Google search.

But none of the recipes I found looked that different from one another.

And then I got a sign.

Actually, an email.

I get email blasts from a kitchen website every so often, and it just so happened to be a recipe for meatballs.

A recipe with something special. Ricotta.

If you have been paying any attention to me lately, or even trying to ignore me, I’ve made it really clear that I am currently obsessed with ricotta.

I don’t care for it much on its own, but it makes dishes you mix it with so light and fluffy and AWESOME.

As soon as I saw there was ricotta in this recipe, I knew it was the one.

It was freaking awesome. The meatballs were so juicy and flavorful on their own that they didn’t really need a sauce. But they would be a great addition to any dish.

You will need…

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 medium white onion, diced

3 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano leaves

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 eggs

1½ cups fresh whole milk ricotta

2½ pounds of ground beef, preferably grass-fed

1 cup finely ground fresh breadcrumbs

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Kosher salt

Start by preheating the oven to 400°.

Then, in a medium skillet set over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and add the onion and garlic.

Cook until tender, about 8 minutes.

Add the thyme, oregano and parsley and cook for 1 minute.

Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs together.

Then fold the ricotta cheese into them.

Using your hands, mix the cheese-egg mixture with the beef, the reserved onion mixture, breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese until just combined. 

Season with salt.

Using your hands, scoop the meatballs into rounds; roll each scoop into a 1½-inch ball in between the palms of your hands.

In a medium skillet set over medium heat, add the remaining tablespoon of the olive oil. Add in the meatballs.

Cook, turning, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Place the meatballs on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of each meatball is 140°.

Serve warm or in your favorite sauce.

Heaven.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela