Servings: 4
Preheat:
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Source: The Classic Italian Cookbook, Marcella Hazan
NOTE
The meatballs can be prepared entirely ahead of time and refrigerated for several days.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup milk
1 slice firm, fine-quality white bread, crust removed
1 pound lean beef, preferably from the neck, ground
1 tablespoon finely chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 egg
A tiny pinch of nutmeg or marjoram
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Vegetable oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper, 3 to 4 twists of the mill
Fine, dry unflavored bread crumbs
1 cup canned Italian tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
Directions:
Put the milk and the bread in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Mash the bread with a fork and blend it uniformly into the milk. Set aside and let cool before proceeding with the next step.
In a mixing bowl put the chopped meat, onion, parsley, egg, nutmeg or marjoram, grated Parmesan, 1 tablespoon of oil, the bread and milk mush, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the pepper. Mix everything thoroughly but gently by hand.
Gently, without squeezing, shape the mixture into small round balls about 1 inch in diameter. Roll the meatballs lightly in the bread crumbs.
Choose a skillet, large enough to hold all the meatballs in a single layer, with a cover. Pour in oil until it is ¼ inch deep. Turn on the heat to medium high, and when the oil is quite hot slip in the meatballs. (Sliding them in with a broad spatula is a good way of doing it. Dropping them in will splatter hot oil over you and your kitchen floor.) Brown the meatballs on all sides, turning them carefully so that they don’t break up or stick to the pan.
When well browned turn off the heat, tip the pan slightly, and remove as much of the fat that floats to the surface as you can with a spoon. Turn on the heat to medium, add the chopped tomatoes with their juice and 34 teaspoon of salt, and turn the meatballs over once or twice with care, so that they don’t break up. Cover the skillet and cook until the tomato has thickened into sauce, about 25 minutes. While cooking, turn the meatballs over from time to time, and taste for salt.