🍽️

(Ricotta) Goodbye Meatballs

Course
Dinner
Servings

6

I absolutely love the way Alison Roman wrote this recipe. It's like she is right there in my kitchen, glass of wine in hand, walking me through each step. I've kept her wording exactly and only added a few notes from me between the square brackets - [Casi's Notes]. Although I found this recipe on her website I love her cookbook, Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over. Her Focaccia Pizza is the only way I make pizza at home, and the Tiny, Salty, Chocolatey Cookies are insane!

Tips & Tricks:

  • 🔪 Skip steps with knife if you completed the prep ideas!
  • 🍝 Sauce ingredients are not included in the grocery list. This sauce is great so I definitely suggest making it, but to save time and focus on the delicious meatballs just buy your favorite jar sauce. I love Rao's Marinara!
  • ☄️ The raw meatball mixture freezes well, so you could always make half and freeze the rest for later. - Note from Alison Roman
  • ❌ Purchase gluten free panko or bread crumbs if desired.

Ingredients:

For the Meatballs

  • 1 cup whole milk, full fat ricotta cheese (I have also used cottage cheese and it worked perfectly, surprise, because cottage cheese is perfect!)
  • ½ cup parsley
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • ⅓ cup panko bread crumbs (I call for panko because this is what I always have on hand and I find them texturally closer to real bread crumbs, but fresh bread crumbs would of course work, too— just avoid the Italian style, too sandy IMO)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • ½ medium yellow or red onion (you’ll use the other half of the onion for the sauce)
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more
  • Freshly ground black pepper and/or crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 (40 oz) jar of your favorite marinara sauce or DIY
  • 1 baguette or your favorite pasta for serving

For the Sauce (not on the grocery list)

  • 1 ½ medium yellow or red onions, finely chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper
  • A few anchovies or couple of dashes of fish sauce, if you want
  • 2–3 tablespoons tomato paste, if you’ve got it
  • 1 22 ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes
  • 12 ounces fresh tomatoes, whole if small, halved if medium, chopped if large (these can be cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, whatever tomatoes you have, really)

Directions:

  1. 🔪 [Veg and Cheese Prep (can be done up to 3 days ahead)
    1. Finely chopped the parsley.
    2. Grate parmesan cheese (if needed).
    3. Mince garlic cloves.
    4. Finely chop 1/2 yellow or red onion.]
  2. Meatballs
    1. Mix ricotta, parsley, parmesan, bread crumbs, eggs, garlic and onion in a medium bowl.
    2. Season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes if you like and let sit for 10 minutes or so (this will hydrate your bread crumbs, which will make the meatballs v tender).
    3. Add beef and pork and remaining 2 teaspoons salt. I have never had good luck with mixing this with a spoon, so I just get in there with my hands. Feels kind of good, IMO.
    4. Once everything is well-mixed (it should look like...sausage or something), roll one tiny sacrificial meatball.
    5. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
    6. Add the sacrificial meatball and cook until it’s well browned on all sides and is cooked through.
    7. Take it out of the pot and eat it. Does it taste amazing? Salty? Meaty? Tender and juicy without falling apart? Do you want it spicier? Go ahead and adjust seasoning as needed (occasionally I’ll add more salt or decide this is when I want them spicy).
    8. Roll the rest of the mixture into balls about 2-inches in diameter. This is my preference, so if you enjoy a LARGER meatball, then be my beautiful guest. I get roughly 24 meatballs from this mixture, more or less.
    9. Working in batches, brown the meatballs on all sides. This is not a round meatball contest, it’s a brown meatball contest. Nobody will say “damn, these taste good but I wish they were just...a little rounder?” This will take about 3–4 minutes per batch. They will not be cooked through, that’s fine-- they will finish cooking in the sauce.
    10. Once the meatballs become browned, transfer them to a large bowl and continue with the rest of the meat. Once they are all browned, congratulate yourself on a job well done and let them hang out while you make the sauce [if making].
  3. Sauce [if making, otherwise skip to step 4]
    1. Without wiping out the pot, add onions and garlic to the pot and season with salt and pepper.
    2. Cook, stirring occasionally until they’re translucent and tender but not yet browned, 8–10 minutes.
    3. Add anchovies if you’re using them and tomato paste if you have it and stir until the anchovies are melted and the tomato paste has begun to caramelize and turn a darker shade of red, 2–3 minutes.
    4. Add the fresh tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
    5. Cook until they burst and jammy, 5 minutes or so.
    6. Add the canned tomatoes, fill the can halfway with water, swirl to get all the tomato bits and pour into the pot.
    7. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Final Simmer
    1. Bring to a simmer [the DIY sauce or the store-bought jar of sauce + 1 cup of water swished around in the jar to get every last drop of sauce in the jar] and adjust for salt, knowing the sauce will reduce a bit and become a bit saltier once you add the meatballs.
    2. Add your meatballs and all the juices that have collected at the bottom of the bowl.
    3. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the meatballs in the sauce (uncovered) until the sauce is thickened and impossibly delicious and the meatballs are cooked through and perfectly tender, 30–40 minutes.
  5. Serve
    1. [Serve with cooked spaghetti and/or a toasted and buttered baguette to sop up all of the saucy goodness.]