Great Balls of...Meat!

The other day I had meatball-apalooza at my house. Right after we first got married I tried out a recipe for homemade meatballs and made spaghetti and meatballs (complete with homemade marinara sauce, I might add). Adam loved the meatballs and I had made waaaaaay too many, so we froze the leftovers. As I recall, we put 5 or 6 in a Ziploc baggie and added a ladle-full of the sauce (as I recall, we filled about 8 baggies total). We discovered that this made for super simple weeknight suppers, whether we were in the mood for pasta or a meatball sub. I've made the recipe several times since then, but never got around to blogging about it. So, after last weekend's record-setting meatball-making, here I am...

It all started on Thursday night. Adam ate the last baggie of meatballs for a late dinner. He mentioned that we needed to make more of them for easy dinners (that wouldn't heat up the kitchen too badly) during the summer. I happened to have some ground chuck and sirloin in the freezer, and so took it out to thaw. In total, I thawed about 6 pounds of meat and so made a triple batch of meatballs on Saturday morning. Below is my recipe...I started with Ina Garten's recipe from foodnetwork.com and then made modifications to add depth of flavor.

Meatball Ingredients:
1 lb. ground chuck
1 lb. ground sirloin
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 sandwich slices, crusts removed)
1/4 cup Italian dried bread crumbs
1-2 tablespoons dried parsley
1-2 tablespoons dried oregano
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 teasoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 ground nutmeg (grate it fresh, it matters)
1 extra-large egg, beaten (let the egg come to room temp., about 30 minutes...again, it matters)
Olive oil

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the following ingredients lightly with a fork (try not to mash the mixture, as this will make the meatballs tough and hard):
-ground meats
-fresh bread crumbs
-dried bread crumbs
-parsley and oregano
-parmesan
-salt and pepper
-nutmeg
-egg

After mixing thoroughly, I used an 1 1/2 inch ice cream scooper to scoop even amounts of the meatball mixture, then rolled them lightly into balls and set them aside on a tray.

Pour about 1/4 inch of olive oil (I used classic olive oil for this instead of extra virgin because I think it gives the meatballs more flavor) into the largest skillet you own. Heat oil over medium heat. Brown meatballs in small batches (be careful not to overcrowd the skillet!) and turn the meatballs carefully with a spatula or fork (I used a large off-set spatula that I also like using to frost cakes...but I digress). Each batch takes about 8-10 minutes to brown. Drain the meatballs on a paper towel-covered plate and then transfer to a slow cooker to finish cooking. I pour in a small amount of marinara and then a layer of meatballs. Continue layering meatballs and sauce until the slow cooker is full (or you run out of meatballs). =] Let simmer on low heat for at least 2 hours.

**These are delicious fresh, but also keep very well in the freezer for up to 3 months (impressive, yes?) =]