Meatballs!

Sooooo....10th Street Italian closed and it was (is) a minor disaster for me. Besides being a generally reliable place to eat downtown they served quick, good food but personally I found their meatball sandwich to die for. Spicy. Since there closure I have been seeking out meatball sandwiches that are comparable and I have been totally striking out. Most of the acclaimed meatball sandwiches I have been eating on the hill all see to be sweet rather then spicy. I hate that. So last night I had the whole family over (17 people I think) and decided that I was going to make spaghetti and meatballs. I did my normal internet search for recipes and cobbled this one together. The most important tip I got was not to use bread crumbs but soak a few pieces of bread in milk and use that to bind it, it keeps it fluffy and moist. They turned out great and next time I will likely add some more red pepper flakes to spice them up some more. It took about an hour start to finish. Enjoy.

Meatball Recipe 3/7/10
1 lb. Hamburger
1 lb. Ground Pork
3 Pieces of bread (soak them on a plate with milk when you start)
1 tbs. Kosher Salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 egg
2 onions
5 cloves garlic
Quarter cup grated parmesan

Put garlic and 1 onion into word processor and grate it fine into a paste.

Mix it all together in a big bowl, very gooey, have lots of paper towels to wipe hand on. Knead it with your hands. If you pull everything out of refrigerator it will be very cold. Knead it very thoroughly. After kneading let it set up for a couple minutes in the bowl. Grab a large pinch and roll between both palms into a ping pong ball size. Set on a plate, do another one. When that plate is full...

Heat large cast iron skillet and coat liberally with Pam. You will need to brown meatballs 1/2 at a time due to skillet limitations. Set the meatballs in there and if they start sizzling lightly you are at right temperature. Do not use a spatula but let them brown a second and flip em around with a fork. Put half of second onion chopped in with the meatballs in the skillet.
Go make a second plate of them while that one is browning. Flip em around first batch and cook em thoroughly. They should be moist enough that you cannot burn. Brown second batch the same way.

Serve in red sauce (I just doctor up some Ragu with beer onions and more garlic) with spaghetti or get some cheese and good bread and make a meatball sandwich.