So there is a little bit of an unofficial meatball debate, do you use the tri-pack that seems to only be available in New York and its surrounding areas or do you improvise? We always made the meatballs with ground pork, veal and beef (tri-pack) but after we moved far away from New York, it became really hard to find that combinations. Especially when we moved to North Dakota, we could not find ground veal anywhere, until almost a year after living there. We would just make the meatballs with ground beef and pork and you know what? They tasted amazing! So minus the veal, lets just call these the poor man’s meatballs. They might be poor but they are tasty and super simple to make! They are an Italian classic that both kids and adults love, well except if you are a vegetarian. Serve these meatballs with your favorite pasta or make a meatball sub sandwich. You can even make mini meatballs to use in a lasagna.

Another unique thing about these meatballs is they are baked! We used to fry them in a pan with some oil. One time we made baked turkey meatballs from the Barefoot Contessa and you really could not tell the difference, so moving forward we decided to bake, not fry. Baking is better for you and creates less of a mess to clean up.

All you have to do is combine all the ingredients, roll them into balls (any size you like) and bake. After that you just plop them into your tomato sauce, until you are ready to eat.

Baked Meatballs
1.5 lbs         ground beef, 80% lean
1 pound     ground pork
1/4 cup       Italian parsley, finely chopped
12 leaves   basil, finely chopped
1 TBS          garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup       Italian bread crumbs
1                    egg
1/3 cup       milk
1/4 cup       grated parmesan, such as Locatelli
1/4 tsp        kosher salt
1/4 tsp        ground black pepper
1/2 tsp        crushed red pepper
Olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 400℉. Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil or parchment paper. Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl, roll into 2″ balls (or any size you like). Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops with olive oil and bake for 35-40 minutes or until brown. Place meatballs in red sauce, until ready to eat. Serve this with Fredo’s Red Sauce!

P.S.- Sorry for all the so to speaks. I know they are there, you know they are there, we all know they are there! 😜