Meatballs
This recipe was inspired by a meatball recipe I used to love to make, using breadcrumbs as in most “traditional” meatball recipes. I have also discovered Passata and now only use that for my sauce. Here is a great link talking about one woman’s family tradition of making Passata. Passata is an uncooked tomato purée that has been strained of seeds and skins, some brands chunkier than others. Of course if you buy it in bottles (I get mine from Whole Foods) it has been processed in order to stay fresh and safe, but it is not cooked the way sauce is. When I served this dish my husband said that the difference in the sauce was so noticeable that I only use Passata now. If you do not have it available, you can use tomato sauce with a bit of tomato paste added to it. You are also welcome to make this recipe with either crushed tomatoes or fresh diced tomatoes added to the sauce to make it a bit thicker. The beauty of this recipe is that if you follow the instructions for making the meatballs you can make whatever sauce you like — including a lovely Alfredo!
Ingredients for meatballs
1 lb ground lamb (you can use beef, pork, or a mixture — but oh my, it was so yummy with lamb!)
1 large egg
1/4 cup almond meal or almond flour*
1/4 cup finely grated (like powder) Parmesan cheese
1 TBS dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder or 1 heaping tsp of granulated garlic
2 TBS avodado or olive oil for frying
Ingredients for sauce
2 cups Tomato Passata
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic powder or 1 heaping tsp of granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Topping
1 cup Mozzarella cheese grated
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine everything for the meatballs (except oil for frying). I used a tablespoon measure for the meat, then rolled the balls, wetting my hands every half dozen. The recipe made exactly 28 meatballs doing it this way.
Heat the oil and fry the meatballs about 8 minutes, turning halfway through so they get browned on two sides. If you shake the pan once in a while they will brown a little bit more evenly all over.
Move the fried meatballs into an 8 x 8 baking dish and set aside.
Use the same pan to combine the sauce ingredients and simmer for about five minutes.
Pour the simmered sauce over the meatballs and top with the mozzarella cheese.
Place baking pan in the oven and heat for 15 minutes.
Turn the the broiler on high for the last 5 minutes to turn the cheese golden brown.
Serve with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.
*A quick thing that I get asked a lot: What is the difference between almond flour and almond meal, and is almond flour the same as blanched almond flour? First, almond flour and blanched almond flour can be used interchangeably and sometimes it is just how the manufacturer decided to label it. The skins have been removed (by blanching, that is, dropping them in boiling water so that the skins slip off) and hence only the white nut meat has been ground into flour. For almond meal, the skins have been left on and some brands might have a coarser grind than their almond flour counterpart. For this recipe use whatever you have. However, for baking you do want to look for almond flour that does not have specks of brown or red because the texture is different and might be a bit heavier, making a difference in cakes and pastries.