By Sally Ketchum
eDiets Contributor
Though meatballs have been a staple in Italian households for generations, America's passion for them is relatively young but growing, and I'm not sure that the peak is in sight.
Until last year, my personal experience with making meatballs was limited, if nonexistent. My mother was a terrible cook. The few times she made meatballs, she put some grisly meat through her old iron grinder and rolled globs of it on her breadboard. Seasoning was salt and pepper, three shakes each.
But a few years ago, I found the recipe, the best ever Magical Meatball recipe, which I share with you. It's healthy, it's spinach, it's lean meat, and it's your choice of low-fat, reduced-sodium sauce. But most of all, it's delicious.
I make it often and in double batches -- one to freeze. I came upon the recipe accidentally. While visiting my brother in California, we toured a winery near Gilroy that offered a small assortment of gifts, and among them was Italian-American Favorite Recipes, Vol.II: Italian Catholic Federation, Gilroy Branch #28.
I brought one home, and since I was busy, tucked it away in my cookbook collection. There it stayed, until one night I asked my daughter "to make those meatballs we had at your house last summer."
"Meatballs?" she said. "I don't remember making meatballs."
"Well, you did make them. I remember, and we loved them. Now, I really am hungry for meatballs!" So I perused my row of cookbooks, found my Gilroy book and made the magical recipe for the first time.
As I said, these meatballs freeze beautifully. They might break down a bit, lose some form, but the taste seems even better -- flavors melded. We had them the other night over a little thin spaghetti with a large salad of greens and a baguette. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Magical Meatballs Recipe 1 large bunch of spinach, washed and torn (about 3 cups). Cooked until tender and chopped.
2 medium onions, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste.
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over low heat until soft. Add onion-garlic mixture to remaining ingredients and form golf-ball size balls. Saute, turning gently, until brown on all sides. Add your favorite gravy (spaghetti sauce). Cook gently for 40 minutes.
Note: I prefer to cook over a very low heat for two hours.
Sally Ketchum is a popular food columnist and prize-winning author of short fiction.
Labels: healthy recipes, healthy-recipes, Italian, meatballs, recipe, recipes, spinach
Comment: September 26, 2008 11:11 AM - 
said...
Nutritional information? calories, fat, cholesterol, carbs?
Comment: September 26, 2008 11:58 AM - said...
Two questions:
1. Can the amount of onions be scales back to perhaps one onion?
2. Instead of pan browning the meatballs on top of the stove, can they be baked in the oven for 30 Minutes at 350? This removed more fat from the meat.
3. Or can the meatballs be covered in sauce in the oven and baked to coat the meatballs, then place them in the sauce to cook?
Comment: September 27, 2008 7:41 AM - said...
Scale back your onion if you dont care for onions. Or if you are like me and dont like "raw" onion the baking method below should help make sure they get done. Or cut or scale down the onion completely and use onion powder.
There is no reason that you cant bake these in the oven. We have done this with some bulk breakfast sausages. We used a cooling rack placed in cookie sheet and you lose alot of the fat. Another tip to make it much lower fat is to use Extra Lean Turkey Burger. When baking / roasting meat we use the BBQ methodology of "Low & Slow" Bake / Roast on a lower temp setting for a longer time. This maintains the moisture. Say 225 - 250 degrees. Of course just check the temperature to verify that your meat is cooked.
Comment: November 9, 2008 10:56 AM - said...
The recipe sounds great and i am going to try it, but i had made meatballs once a long long time ago and hadn't since because my "meatballs" turned into meatcubes. How do i get them to stay ball shaped when browning? If i were to put them into the oven, wouldn't it get dry?
Thanks for your suggestions!
Comment: January 25, 2009 8:58 AM - said...
I agree with the comment from Sept 26,2008. I am diabetic and need to know the fat, cholesterol, and carbs for this and all recipes!!!
Comment: January 25, 2009 3:32 PM - said...
Could a person use these meatballs with saurkraut or use in cabbage roll ups? How about putting them in a crock pot?
Comment: January 25, 2009 4:22 PM - said...
I would like the nutritional information also. Can you use frozen spinach?
Comment: January 26, 2009 7:31 PM - said...
depending on what computer platform you are on look for recipe management software that will give you nutritional values and you can plug any recipe into it and scale and change at will to fit your needs. Master cook used to have both a nutritional breakdown and scaleability to it for PC side the Mac side has proven to be more difficult. I too am diabetic.
my curiosity is 2 hours - 40 minutes seems like a long time to cook meatballs
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