tomas2351
- Jul 27, 2021
- 4 min read

You don’t need to be Italian to make awesome meatballs.

Updated: Mar 25, 2022

Actually, if you look in any kitchen of an Italian restaurant, you will find Hispanics. Maybe they are Mexican or Puerto Rican, or Cuban, or Dominican, but they aint Italian. Yes I know aint isn’t a word.

Having grown up in New Jersey, dad’s family was of Italian decent, mom was born in Cuba. I always loved when mom made meatballs. She learned from my dad’s mom. Since this was my only exposure to it, I thought they were awesome, and make no mistake, I still hold them in high regard, but when I finally had better, I started asking questions.

I had a lot of Italian friends, and had the opportunity to have dinner at some of their houses. Not naming names, I can tell you that not every Italian mom is a great good cook. But, I did get to sample.

One of my friend’s sister married into a family that owned a well known Italian restaurant. The food there was excellent, but I would never have considered having meatballs at such a place because they had other things that held my interest.

In my late 20’s I recall a conversation with my friend’s father in law, who, when I asked how his wife made a certain pastry, his reply was, “you can’t make that”. My reaction “in my head” was, you dumb guinee bastard, are you telling me that I am genetically incapable of following your wife’s recipe, or is it that you are too stupid to write or explain it?

Now much older, I’d like to believe that what he really meant is, this is a family recipe that we serve at gatherings, since you are always invited, there is no need for you to make it yourself.

Don’t ever tell me what I can’t do.

Several years ago we went to Atlantis in the Bahamas. We ended up at Carmines (of little Italy), of all places. I must admit, these meatballs were among the best I’ve ever had. I also highly recommend “The Meatball Shop” in NYC.

Sometime after returning, you guessed it, Lea had a craving. I found the Carmines recipe online. Some of it puzzled me because the proportions did not seem right, but I followed it, and the result was fantastic. I had no way of verifying that this was the actual real Carmines recipe, but it was really good.

Recently, we ended up in Atlantic City, and guess where we went? I purchased the Carmines cookbook and to my surprise, the recipe that I found online was a copy right out of this book.

I can’t recommend the book enough as I’ve made several other dishes from it and all turned out really well.

The recipe below is the Carmines recipe, but with my changes. You should buy this book. It is a minimal investment in a whole lot of happiness.

· 2 pounds ground beef (85% lean)

· 1 pound ground veal

· 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

· 1 cup Carmine’s bread crumbs - below

· 4 eggs beaten

· 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

· 2 tablespoons finely chopped basil

· 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

· ¼ teaspoon fresh grated black pepper

· 1 cup of milk

· 6 slices of white bread

· 1 cup grated Romano cheese

1) Tear up the bread and let it soak in the milk in a small bowl.

2) Beat the eggs in a large bowl with a whisk and then add the garlic, parsley, basil, salt and pepper and mix it together.

3) Mix in the beef and veal.

4) Mix in the Romano cheese and the bread crumbs

5) Work in the soaked bread, but don’t over work it

6) Refrigerate the mixture for at least one hour

7) Roll the meat into 3 ounce balls *

8) Refrigerate the balls for at least one hour

9) Using a nonstick skillet, simmer the balls in olive oil until brown on all sides

Using the nonstick skillet allows you to turn these puppies without breaking them. Notice also that I used the word simmer, not fry or sauté. I use a bit more olive oil and cook at a lower temperature to enhance the texture and cook through more evenly. You cold cook them all the way through and eat them just like this, or throw them into your marinara sauce. Yes there is a Carmines marinara sauce, and yes it is awesome, but this post is about the meatballs.

Carmines Bread Crumbs – this is ½ the recipe so you don’t have too much left over. You will have enough to make 1 dozen baked clams if you like. Oh yeah, they are in the book as well.

· 3 slices White Bread turn up

· 1 table spoon finely chopped garlic

· 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

· ¼ cup grated Romano cheese

· ½ teaspoon dried oregano

· Salt and pepper to taste

Put the bread in a food processor and pulse it until it looks like bread crumbs. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse a few more times to mix well.

* yes I use a postage scale. Does not need to be exactly 3 ounces, but if they are all uniform, they will cook at the same rate. Also, when packing lunch, I know how much to pack because it is pre-measured.

The marinara sauce

I doubled the recipe and cut the salt.

6 28 oz cans of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes

OR 2 90 oz cans

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup crushed, finely chopped garlic

3 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon dried basil

4 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil to soften. Over medium / low flame. Don’t let it brown, but a little color is ok.