how to make sausage meatballs
In this recipe I used parsley, garlic and nutmeg and pork, but feel free to experiments with the flavorings and ground meat of your choice. I’ve adapted this recipe from Italian Country Cooking: The Secrets of Cucina Povera by Loukie Werle. This recipe creates meatballs that are a little on the firm side. Should you desire them to be slightly softer, add a small grated onion to the mix and add 5 additional slices of bacon.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoons Kosher salt
- 2 cloves garlic, with the inside green little sprouts removed
- 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
- 1 lb. of ground pork, if it’s ground coarsely it’s even better
- 5 slices (6 oz. or 250 grams) of hickory smoked bacon
- 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
- a pinch of freshly-ground nutmeg
How To:
Grind the bacon slices in a food processor until they resemble ground meat.
Now prepare the homemade sausage.
Place 1 tablespoon of salt and garlic in a mortar.
Crush into a paste.
Add the apple cider vinegar and mix well.
In a large mixing bowl, add the ground pork meat and the ground bacon along with the parsley, chili flakes (optional), nutmeg, the other tablespoon of salt, and the garlic, salt and vinegar mixture and mix well.
You may want to taste-test at this point, which you can do by frying a small patty in a pan. Adjust as needed with extra salt.
When the seasoning is right, makes small balls out of the meat mixture. The easiest way is just to nip a little of the mix and roll it between the flattened palms of your hands. They should be approximately 2/3 of an inch.
Heat just enough olive oil to fully cover the bottom of a 10-inch frying pan. When the oil starts swirling but is not yet smoking, add about 1/3 of the meatballs to the pan.
In all likelyhood, you’ll need to work in 2 or 3 batches. You don’t want to add too many meatballs at once because they’ll drop the temperature of the oil too much and then they won’t brown as well. You also risk having them steam cooking instead of pan frying if they don’t give them a little room to breathe.
Stir them around with a wooden spatula until they are nice and golden on all sides. Remove them and place them on a plate lined with paper towels, to absorb any excess oil.
You are now ready to either pop them in your mouth or to use them in pasta dishes, pasta sauces or soups.
