I’m not a big fan of meatballs but Keith and Samantha enjoy them. When I saw a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa that served meatballs over polenta, I was intrigued. We all love polenta. With the extra hour in the day yesterday from “falling back”, I decided to do some cooking ahead yesterday. That made tonight’s dinner a quick and easy one.
Rosemary polenta
- 2 TB butter
- 2 TB olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp minced rosemary
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 4 TB grated Parmesan cheese
Melt butter and olive oil. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and rosemary and saute for 1 minute. Add milk and chicken stock and boil. Add cornmeal and whisk, stirring over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese.
Meatballs
- 2 lbs meatloaf mix (a combination of ground beef, pork and veal
- 1 3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 TB chopped parsley
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup red wine
- olive oil
- Jarred marinara sauce
Preheat the oven to 400 and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. (This will make cleanup much easier!)
Put the meatloaf mix in a large bowl and toss with your fingers. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese and seasonings in a separate bowl and add to meat mixture. Add the eggs, wine and 3/4 cup water. Mix with your hands until well combined.
Roll into balls about 2 oz each and place on parchment. (Samantha said mine weren’t evenly shaped and were more like meat blobs but they still tasted good.) Brush with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool and then refrigerate if making ahead. They can also be frozen.
Heat marinara sauce and add meatballs to heat through. Serve on top of polenta. Doesn’t it look good! I’m now a convert.
There were a little more than 30 meatballs so I’m freezing some.