Recipe: Mushroom and Beef Meatballs
Summary: It is rare that meatballs can be described as light, but these are. You bake them in the oven at a low temperature and the result is a very tender tasty meatball.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cubed Italian bread (2 ounces)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 medium carrot (about 4 ounces), cut in 1/4 inch dice
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 pound roasted mushroom base or soup (just under 1/2 recipe, about 1 1/3 cups)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Salt to taste (about 3/4 teaspoon)
- Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the bread in a bowl, toss with the milk (add a little more milk if 1/4 cup isn’t enough to moisten all the bread) and let soak for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile toss the carrots with 2 teaspoons olive oil on a parchment-covered sheet pan and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until tender and lightly browned (you can also make the mushroom base at this time).
- Squeeze the milk out of the bread and crumble the bread into a large bowl. Add the beef, mushrooms, carrots, onion, egg, parsley, salt, and pepper and mix together well.
- Turn the oven down to 300 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment. Working in batches, pulse the meat and vegetable mixture in a food processor fitted with the steel blade until pasty. Return to the bowl. Fill a small bowl with water for dipping your hands, then with wet hands form 1-ounce balls, which will be about the size of a golf ball, and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet. You will need to keep wetting your hands.
- Bake 40 minutes, or until the meatballs are nicely browned. Remove from the oven and if desired, simmer for up to an hour in tomato sauce. I like to serve these with spaghetti.
Quick notes
Advance preparation: The roasted mushroom base will keep for three days in the refrigerator. The shaped meatballs will keep for a day in the refrigerator and freeze well. The cooked meatballs will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator.
Preparation time: 20 minute(s)
Cooking time: 40 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
Calories: 186
Fat: 3 g
Protein: 11 g
Recipe and Photo Courtesy of NY Times
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