Meatballs appeared in Italian recipe books around the fifteenth century with the affirmation of the cuisine of Maestro Martino da Como. In this historical moment, the meatball is not yet designed to use minced meat, but a slice beaten with the edge of the knife to enervate and flatten it. A fragrant filling was put inside and then folded, closed and roasted on a spit, taking care not to let them dry too much.

Meatballs are good with any cooking method: pan-fried, stewed, baked, gravy, steamed and roasted.

Meatballs are a simple and very tasty second course, a great classic of the Italian tradition. They are prepared with ground pulp, eggs, breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, grated cheese and, once you have obtained medium-sized balls, these are fried in boiling olive oil, until lightly browned. The end result is crunchy bites of meat on the outside and soft in the heart.

The same meat mixture can be used for meatloaf, or to make hamburgers.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Kg. Lean ground beef.
or
750g. Lean ground veal.
250g. Ground chiken.
2 Eggs.
75g. Grated ParmiggianoReggiano cheese.
3 Slice of toast bred.
75ml. Milk.
1 Stalk of celery.
1 Carrot.
1/2 Yellow onion.
1 Tablespoon of oil.
Salt and Black pepper.
If youlike, you can add finely sliced and chopped cooked ham to the mixture.

Meatballs preparation:

Put a tablespoon of oil in the pan, add the chopped carrot, celery ① and onion, and toast it over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes ②.

Remove from the stove and allow to cool.

Take the toast bread ③ and remove the crust ④ and chop it ⑤.

In a bowl, put the meat, the eggs, the Reggiano Parmesan cheese, the previously chopped slices of bread, the milk, salt ⑥, pepper and finally the toasted carrots, celery and onion ⑦.

Use a spoon or a fork at your convenience, or your hands, and begin to mix all the ingredients so that you have a perfectly blended soft and homogeneous dough that comes away from the parts. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

Put some breadcrumbs on a plate ⑧. Take some meat and with your hands form a ball which will then be flattened and rounded. At this point, bread it and place it on a plate ⑨. Continue until you reach the desired number of meatballs.

Put a finger of corn oil in a saucepan, and bring it to about 180°C – 356°F and place the meatballs one by one, and make sure that the oil temperature remains moderate.

Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, drain, put them on a paper towel to remove any remaining fat ⑫, and bring to the table ⑬.

Do not crush the meatballs during cooking, it will not increase cooking, but they will absorb more oil inside.

Meatloaf preparation:

If you don’t make meatballs, and you want to make meatloaf, take the already mixed meat compost ①, put it in parchment paper and roll it tightly as if to form a candy ②.

Turn on the oven at 180°C – 356°F, place the meatloaf in a baking pan ③ and cook in the middle part of the static oven ④ at 180°C – 356°F for about 1 hour. After the indicated time, check the cooking. the meatloaf has pulled out some liquid, but it will be cooked to perfection evenly.

Then remove the parchment paper ⑤, place in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes to give them a browning on the surface ⑥.

Remove it from the oven and bring it to the table.

Burger preparation:

I want to propose an eggplant burger, that is, we will replace the bread with the eggplant.

Take an eggplant and cut slices of at least 2cm – 3/4 “. At this point we can bread them and fry them, or grill them.

For the breading, we will pass them in the flour, in the egg white, and then in the bread ①.

At this point we can fry the eggplant ②,the previously breaded amburger and then drain them of any residual oil and serve them.

For grilling, I will brush them with oil, salt and pepper, and then grill them.