Italian meatballs

My mom's recipe for classic Italian meatballs. Makes about 16 to 18 meatballs

Course Main Meal

Cuisine Italian

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours

Servings people

Calories 400kcal

Author Marie

2 pounds ground meat (can use combination of beef, veal, and pork or all beef) (fresh is best, try not to use frozen)
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
½ small onion
1 handful fresh basil
1 handful fresh parsley
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup breadcrumbs (or 2 slices white bread, crumbled)
½ cup Parmesan cheese , grated
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
oil for frying
marinara sauce for cooking and/or serving

Place ground meat in a large bowl and set aside
In a food processor or blender, add garlic, onion, basil, parsley and egg and process until smooth (note the photo shows large pieces of herbs, which I forget to process!)
Add this mixture to the meat followed by oil, cream, bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper
Lightly combine (try not to compress mixture too much when mixing)
Let sit in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 1 hour or overnight if possible to enable flavors to marry
Form into 16 to 18 balls (golf ball size) and set aside.
Heat about 1 inch of oil in non-stick skillet over medium high heat and then lightly brown the meatballs in batches (they can also be baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes depending on size)
Place browned meatballs in a pot of spaghetti sauce and cook over very low heat (or in crockpot on low) for 3 to 4 hours.