Meatballs and Dinner Parties!

I love gathering my friends and making a giant meal for us all to enjoy. A week ago I made a huge meatball dinner for 15! The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, I used this and added a few things of my own. My  key for success when having so many people over is to do as much prep as you can the night before, so you're not left scrambling around when people start to arrive, or worse starving and there's no food on the table.

Meatballs

This recipe serves 15-20 depending on appetites (in total I made about 70 meatballs, approx 1/5")

Here they are the night before... All ready to go into the fridge.


1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal (I just used some extra pork since I couldn't find veal)
2 pounds ground beef
2 cups bread crumbs
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 + 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten

If serving a smaller crowd this recipe is easy to half!

1. Pour 1 + 1/2 cups warm water and bread crumbs into a bowl. Let the bead crumbs absorb the water for a couple of minutes. Add ground meats, parsley, salt, pepper, onions, and egg into the bowl. Combine with a fork, and if need be (which it will be) finish mixing with your hands. Make sure to comine all ingredients thoroughly.

2. Use your hands to form 1-2 inch meatballs. I found it easiest to roll the balls between two hands, but not smash them together.
If using the next day, line them up on a GIANT baking sheet and cover. Don't let these sit around for  more than one day.

3. When ready to bake you can either pan fry them or bake or both! I opted to try a quick pan fry so they would be nice and brown on the outside but not over cooked.

To fry: pour a 1:1 ratio of olive oil and vegetable oil into a frying pan. It should be no deeper than 1/4" deep. Cook meatballs in batches and have a sheet pan ready with the oven set to 400 degrees. Finish them off in the oven for about 20-30 minutes depending on how many you made. Mine took closer to 30)

To bake: Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place meatballs spaced apart on a baking sheet.

4. While your meatballs finish cooking, make pasta and your favorite sauce. Enjoy!