Meatballs With Beef And Sausage Food

ITALIAN RAGU WITH MEATBALLS AND SAUSAGE

Steps:

• In a large sauce pot (8-quart size minimum), heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil on a very low flame. Add the diced onion and cook slowly until it has turned translucent. Do not brown the onion, but allow it to almost melt away. Add the garlic cloves and very lightly cook them in the oil until golden before adding the tomatoes and all their juices. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the basil leaves and set the heat on low. Allow the tomatoes to cook at very low heat for at least 2 hours before adding the meat.
• Make the meatballs: mix the ground beef and veal together in a large bowl. Combine the bread and milk and mash together to form a paste; add the bread to the ground meat. Add the eggs, garlic, parsley, cheese, salt, and pepper to the meat mixture and combine all the ingredients using your fingers to mix uniformly, but do not over mix or the meat will dry out when cooked. Pick up 2 tablespoons of the mixture and roll it into a ball shape, between the palms of your hands. Do this until you have used all the meat. This should yield approximately 24 meatballs.
• Place the remaining olive oil in a heavy skillet and heat over medium flame. Add the meatballs in 1 layer and brown on all sides before removing. Do this to the remaining meatballs until all are browned to a caramelized color. After all the meatballs have been browned and removed from the skillet, add the sausage links and brown well, following the same method as the meatballs. When all the meat has cooked, add to the tomato ragu, which has been cooking for 2 hours and cook an additional hour. Serve the tomato ragu over rigatoni pasta cooked to manufacturer's directions. Serve the meats on another plate as a second course.

OLD-FASHIONED MEATBALLS IN RED SAUCE

Steps:

• Remove ground round and sausage from refrigerator 30 to 60 minutes before cooking, if possible. Place bread crumbs in large bowl and stir in 1/3 cup water. When absorbed, blend together with eggs, garlic, 1/4 cup grated Romano, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Preheat oven to 425°F. Add meats to bread crumb mixture and combine well with fork. Form into 12 even balls. Lay in 1 layer in 8 x 14-inch baking dish so each is separated by about 1 inch.
• Stir 1/4 cup water into crushed tomatoes and season with 1/8 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Pour tomatoes over and around meatballs. Sprinkle tops with remaining 1 1/3 tablespoons grated Romano. Bake in center of oven until meatballs are just cooked through, about 18 minutes. Serve hot.

GROUND BEEF AND SAUSAGE MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Line shallow baking dish with foil and oil.
• Combine all ingredients and mix, using enough water to meld.
• Shape into meatballs 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter.
• Broil the meatballs 8 inches from broiler for 10 minutes. Turn over meatballs and broil for 10 more minutes.
• I had 50 meatballs so you may have to broil in two batches. I used my Holland grill and cooked them on there which helped eliminate them sitting in the grease.

BAKED BEEF & ITALIAN SAUSAGE MEATBALLS

Steps:

• In a large bowl combine ground beef with italian sausage and mix well. Add beaten egg, onion, salt, pepper and seasoned bread crumbs. Mix together and shape into meatballs - about 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" round.
• Place in a lightly greased 9" x 13" baking pan or casserole dish; Bake, uncovered, at 375º for 30 to 35 minutes. Drain off fat before serving.