Mom’s meatballs recipe
3 lbs ground beef (or substitute for 1lb. pork for 1 lb. beef), preferably 80/20
1 1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
1 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
3 gloves garlic - finely minced (can use garlic pressS)
4 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
In a large bowl, place meat, add rest of ingredients, except milk. Mix with hands. Add a little milk to lighten consistency of mixture (mixture should not be too moist or too dry). Add more milk accordingly. Do not overwork the meat mixture.
Moisten palm of hands with small amount of oil. Shape mixture into bite-size balls and set aside. Place 1/4 cup oil into frying pan. When oil is hot, working in batches, fry meatballs and cook without moving or turning meatballs until golden on bottom. Turn meatballs over and brown lightly on other side. Keep cooking until golden brown on all sides but not cooked through. Do not overbrown. Place meatballs on platter. Add to previously prepared tomato sauce. Sauce should not be too thick and should completely cover meatballs. Bring sauce to soft boil, reduce heat to low and continue cooking for 30 minutes more. Stir gently so as not to break meatballs. Do not let sauce become too dense, add water if necessary.
If meatballs are just being fried, simply fry until a dark brown on each side and check for doneness.
