If you’d told me as a spaghett-and-meatballs loving kid that in Italy, these two things are never served together, I wouldn’t have believed you. The oven will be set to 400 degrees F. But the inside (internal) temperature for a finished meatball would be about 160 degrees F. So, if you have a meat thermometer and inserted it into the middle of the meatballs when they are supposed to be done, you should see a temperature of about 160 degrees F./fd43e5e0-79eb-456e-b863-9c88ec549903.jpg)
From this one recipe for meatballs, we have made an Italian meatball soup, meatball subs with marinara sauce, spaghetti with meatballs, meatballs in cream sauce, and then these Spanish meatballs with peaches that is so simple to make but absolutely delicious.
Last month, I had a breakthrough which I realize will not sound like anything wild, but the simple act of more than doubling the amount of egg I usually put in made a meatball that stayed together even if not fried first but that was still tender and completely amazing at the end.
You can serve them with anything that makes you happy — alone with a side of greens or salad, tossed with spaghetti but whatever you do, please do not do either of the following (unquestionably authentic) things: 1. Bake them parmesan”-style the way you son likes from a local pizza place, i.e. with mozzarella and crunchy crumbs on top or 2. Find out what they taste like with a side of garlic bread or 3. Both, scooping one onto the other to form something of an open-faced meatball sub.
And Dana, since this recipe is so fantastic and your photography is so stunning and the quality of your writing is so good, you are forgiven for not calling them by a cutesy name like neatballs!” 🙂 I can live with them being called meatballs—I know they are vegan!