Raisin Meatballs Recipes

RAO'S MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Combine beef, veal and pork in a large bowl. Add eggs, cheese, parsley, garlic and salt & pepper to taste. Using your hands, blend ingredients together. Blend breadcrumbs into meat mixture. Slowly add water, 1 cup at a time, at a time until the mixture is quite moist.
• Shape meat mixture into 6 oz. balls.
• In a large sauté pan, add oil and heat over medium-high heat until hot, but not smoking. Fry meatballs in batches. When bottom of meatball is very brown and slightly crisp, turn and cook top half. Remove from pan and place on paper towels to drain.
• Once meatballs have drained any excess oil, place meatballs into simmering Rao's Homemade® Marinara Sauce and cook for 15 minutes or until meatballs are hot through and through.
• If serving a meatball sub, while meatballs are cooking in the Rao's Homemade® Marinara Sauce, horizontally slice Italian bread and remove inner bread by hand and lightly toast, add 3 meatballs, placing a dollop of sauce over each meatball and serve.

MEATBALLS: THE SPUNTINO WAY

Steps:

• 1. Heat the oven to 325°F. Put the fresh bread in a bowl, cover it with water, and let it soak for a minute or so. Pour off the water and wring out the bread, then crumble and tear it into tiny pieces.
• 2. Combine the bread with all the remaining ingredients except the tomato sauce in a medium mixing bowl, adding them in the order they are listed. Add the dried bread crumbs last to adjust for wetness: the mixture should be moist wet, not sloppy wet.
• 3. Shape the meat mixture into handball-sized meatballs and space them evenly on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The meatballs will be firm but still juicy and gently yielding when they're cooked through. (At this point, you can cool the meatballs and hold them in the refrigerator for as long as a couple of days or freeze them for the future.)
• 4. Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce in a sauté pan large enough to accommodate the meatballs comfortably.
• 5. Dump the meatballs into the pan of sauce and nudge the heat up ever so slightly. Simmer the meatballs for half an hour or so (this isn't one of those cases where longer is better) so they can soak up some sauce. Keep them there until it's time to eat.
• 6. Serve the meatballs 3 to a person in a healthy helping of the red sauce, and hit everybody's portion-never the pan-with a fluffy mountain of grated cheese. Reserve the leftover tomato sauce (it will be super-extra-delicious) and use it anywhere tomato sauce is called for in this book.

SPICY LAMB MEATBALLS WITH RAISIN PESTO

Steps:

• Place a rack in upper third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Combine egg, panko, cumin, red pepper flakes, turmeric, finely chopped parsley, 2 Tbsp. oil, and 1 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl. Finely grate 1 garlic clove into bowl. Add lamb and mix with your hands until evenly distributed.
• Gently roll lamb mixture into 1 1/2"-diameter balls (about the size of a golf ball; you should have about 20). Place on a rimmed baking sheet, spacing evenly apart. Bake meatballs until browned and cooked through, 8-10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, purée mint, raisins, parsley leaves with tender stems, remaining garlic clove, remaining 1/2 cup oil, and a big pinch of salt in a blender until smooth. Taste pesto; season with more salt if needed.
• Spread yogurt over plates and divide pesto and meatballs on top.
• Do Ahead
• Pesto can be made 2 days ahead; cover and chill. Meatballs can be formed 2 months ahead; freeze on baking sheet until firm, about 2 hours, then transfer to a freezer bag and keep frozen.

ITALIAN MEATBALLS WITH RAISINS AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Put all the above ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand until well blended.
• Roll the meat into meatballs the size of golf balls.
• Brown in skillet with olive oil or bacon fat.
• Once meatballs are browned, place in a saucepan with tomato sauce and simmer 1-2 hours. Serve over pasta.

MEATBALLS WITH RAISINS

Steps:

• PREPARATION:.
• Soak bread in milk then drain it well.
• Soak the raisins in warm water for a half hour to revive them. Grind the meat and combine it with the bread, eggs, cheese, and parsley, seasoning to taste with salt. Make your meatballs, including a couple of raisins in the heart of each one. Sauté the meatballs in the olive oil, turning them so they brown on all sides, and when they're done stir in a cup or so of tomato sauce and heat through. Serve accompanied by broccoli rabe, and a moderately tannic red wine.

BEST EASY MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray foil lightly with cooking spray.
• Combine onion, bread crumbs, half-and-half, Parmesan cheese, eggs, egg yolk, garlic, basil, parsley, and oregano in a large bowl; stir until well combined. Add ground round and sausage and sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Mix well until just combined.
• Dampen hands with water and form mixture into 18 golf ball-sized meatballs. Arrange meatballs on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Transfer meatballs to a large pot and add marinara sauce. Simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours before serving.