These tender meatballs will become part of your weekly rotation. They are lovely served over pasta, tucked into hoagie rolls with some arugula, or sliced and placed on top of pizza.
Braised Ricotta Meatballs
Braised Ricotta Meatballs
Category
main course
Author:
Fiona Kennedy
Servings
Makes 24 meatballs
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
3
Ingredients
Sauce
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3 26-oz. containers crushed tomatoes (about 9 3/4 cups)
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1 large yellow onion, skin removed and halved
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3 Tbs. unsalted butter
Meatballs
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1 lb. ground beef
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1 lb. ground pork
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15-oz. container ricotta cheese
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1 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
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3-oz. diced pancetta
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2 large eggs
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1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
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1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
Directions
To Make Sauce:
Place tomatoes, onion, butter, and a pinch of salt in a large pot over medium heat and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Turn off heat and discard onion.
To Make Meatballs:
Place ground beef, ground pork, ricotta, breadcrumbs, pancetta, eggs, seasoning, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Italian parsley into a large mixing bowl. Mix ingredients together with your hands until well combined.
Heat oven to 400F. Grease a 9x13-in. baking dish. Form meatballs that are about 3 Tbs. each. Place meatballs in baking dish and bake 30 minutes, or until browned on top.
Remove meatballs fro the oven and reduce heat to 300F. Set aside 1.5 cups of sauce and pour remaining sauce over the meatballs. Return meatballs to oven and bake for 2 hours. If it looks like the meatballs are getting too dark, cover dish with parchment or foil. Serve meatballs with extra sauce over pasta or tucked into hoagie rolls with some arugula.