Tailgate Recipe of the Week: Oven Meatballs

From The Juice

 

This recipe is tweaked from one of Alton Brown’s. He’s a mega-douche, but some of his food is straight awesome.  Make them a few days (refrigerate) or weeks (freeze) ahead of time and reheat in a crockpot with your favorite sauce on gameday.  This recipe is also easy to double, triple, etc., if you're feeding a lot of folks (or three NFC North fans).

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground lamb
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 5 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained thoroughly
• 1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano
• 1 whole egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, divided

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

OK, seriously, grinding the meat yourself makes this, and all other ground meat dishes, one hundred times better. It tastes fresher, it’s safer, it’s cheaper, and it’s twice as manly. Your wife probably has a large electric mixer. Buy a $25 grinder attachment, and this will take you 5 minutes. Use a chunk of lamb leg, or pre-cut lamb marked as “stew meat.” Any non-stringy, not-too-lean cut of beef will do, but a fatty piece of ribeye is best, and leaner pork is good here, maybe a piece of loin. If anyone else is around while you’re preparing the meat, be sure to say: “Shit, I haven’t ground this much meat without coming since Junior Prom.” My wife finds this joke funnier each time I use it.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground meats, spinach, cheese, egg, spices, and 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs. Using your hands, mix all ingredients until well incorporated, grunting an moaning if possible. Use immediately or place in refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Place the remaining 1/4 cup of bread crumbs into a small bowl. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into something bigger than a golf ball and smaller than a racquetball, roll in the bread crumbs and place the meatballs in the indentations of a miniature muffin pan, if you have one, or on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Serve smothered in your favorite red sauce, or with a brown gravy if you’re an NFC North fan.