Inside The Meatball, a beloved family recipe that Rich Leone loves to cook and share. Photo by Rich Leone

The meatball – every Italian-American family has a recipe for one, some have several. In my family, a proud Sicilian American family, our meatballs come from the matriarch of the family.

Francesca Battaglia made her meatball with lots of garlic, parsley, parmesan, a mixture of ground pork and beef, breadcrumbs, red pepper flakes and eggs. The ingredients are simple, but its cooking techniques elevate the dining experience. She shaped her meatballs into oblong shapes, reminiscent of footballs, and she always fried them in a mixture of canola and olive oil. The pan-fried oval meatballs had a crispy outer shell and a soft, juicy interior full of garlic and cheese.

Francesca Battaglia, the great-grandmother of Richard Leone, meets Pope John Paul II. Photo courtesy of Rich Leone

Although most of my family base their version of meatballs on his recipe, they have largely abandoned the pan. Instead, they simply cook the meatballs in the oven. They also avoid shaping the meat into footballs, opting instead for the usual spherical ball shape. But cooking the meatball doesn’t get the crust that frying does, and the even, indirect heat of the oven won’t seal in the juices like frying will. With the oven-baked version, more of the moisture in the meat escapes, resulting in a drier meatball.

Leone kept the traditional spherical shape of the meatballs in his adaptation of the recipe. Photo by Rich Leone

Leone kept the traditional spherical shape of the meatballs in his adaptation of the recipe. Photo by Rich Leone

I kept the shape and technique of Francesca Battaglia’s meatballs, but deviated from her recipe, out of necessity, in one major point. I replace the regular breadcrumbs she calls for with gluten-free breadcrumbs. I became gluten-free in 2013 and since then I have worked to adapt my family recipes – the various Sicilian American foods and other important foods from my childhood and family history – to be gluten-free.

I took inspiration for my adaptation from the origins of the meatball. Meatballs were born from the need to use everything and stretch the amount of meat needed to feed large families. Originally, stale bread was just a filling. This also gave the meatballs a spongy texture, depending on the bread to meat ratio. The more bread there was, the more spongy the meatballs became. My great-grandmother was known for her high bread-to-meat ratio, but that was because she started making the recipe during the Great Depression, when she really had to stretch the food she had.

Gluten-free bread doesn’t go stale the same way regular bread does, so I cut my gluten-free bread into cubes, toast it in the oven until dry (but be careful not to burn it! ) and then pulverize it into crumbs in the food processor. The resulting meatball is indistinguishable from the original.

These meatballs are great on their own. That said, when given a little time to simmer in the sauce, a simple tomato sauce made with basil, olive oil and garlic, they transform into the ultimate meatball: the crust becomes slightly tender and chewy, while the interior absorbs the sweetness. and the acidity of the sauce.

Francesca Battaglia’s Family Meatballs

I prefer Pastene or Cento brand crushed tomatoes. If you’re not making gluten-free meatballs, just use 1 cup bread crumbs. Enjoy the meatballs on their own, with pasta or in a sandwich.

Yield: 30 to 50 meatballs, depending on the size of the meatballs you form

For the meatballs:
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef, 75 or 80 percent lean
2 eggs
2 cups finely ground gluten-free bread crumbs (usually about ½ loaf of Udi’s or Trader Joe’s gluten-free white bread
1 cup Parmesan Reggiano
1 bunch of chopped Italian parsley
4 to 6 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
Black pepper, red pepper flakes and salt to taste

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 to 5 garlic cloves, chopped, crushed – whatever suits you
1 can (28 ounces) peeled and crushed tomatoes
4 to 5 fresh basil leaves or 2 tablespoons dried basil
Salt and pepper, to taste

To prepare the meatballs, combine all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer and mix. If you are doing this by hand, I recommend wearing food safety gloves. Mix the ingredients until the mixture is uniform and the ingredients are well combined.

Use an ice cream scoop or other tool to break up even amounts of meatball mixture. Roll the mixture into a football shape and place them on a pan or plate before frying.

Fill a large skillet one-third of the way up with a mixture of two-thirds canola oil and one-third olive oil. Add a piece of garlic to the oil. Turn the burner on to medium temperature. When the piece of garlic starts to sizzle, the oil is hot enough.

Remove the piece of garlic and add the meatballs, one at a time, to the pan, keeping a little space between them. Fry until a nice crust forms, 3 to 4 minutes per side, then flip the meatball to fry the other side. Once a nice crust has formed on both sides, remove the meatballs onto a cloth or paper towel to absorb the surface grease.

Add to sauce or eat plain.

To make the sauce, add the oil and garlic to a saucepan or saucepan over medium heat. When the garlic sizzles, add the canned crushed tomatoes. Add ½ can of water (using the can of tomatoes) to the sauce. Tear fresh basil (or use dried) and add. Season with salt and pepper. Let the sauce cook for 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently and being careful not to let it burn. Then turn the burner to the lowest setting until you are ready to serve meatballs.

Optional: Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer over low heat for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Rich Leone with his wife Jess and the couple’s daughter, Emerson. Photo courtesy of Rich Leone

MEET THE COOK, RICH LEONE

I love cooking. I started cooking when I was young and learned by watching my parents, grandparents and great-grandmother cook. When I left home, I wanted to eat these familiar foods and share them with my friends. So I learned how to prepare our family meals.

Today, I stay connected to my family through food. We have a family thread that is all about the meals we make and the delicious foods we eat. Other topics are not allowed. We share techniques, tips, tricks, and stories about the foods we prepare or eat, and at the end of the year, we make a calendar that recaps the culinary adventures of the past year. Each member of the thread receives one as a Christmas present.

Although I still adapt my favorite foods to be gluten-free, my daily cooking routine now focuses on what our 18-month-old daughter will eat. Our goal is to cook one meal that we can all enjoy, instead of two. It can be a challenge, but it’s very rewarding when I find something she enjoys so far, broccoli, rice, potatoes, salmon, cod and blueberries – so it’s a good start. For now, she prefers her meatballs without sauce; apparently, so did I when I was his age.

I find cooking to be a good way to connect with people, past and present, and I love making someone smile through food. I work in the insurance industry. We recently moved from Old Orchard to Portland, so I’m learning a new cuisine and am excited to continue adapting family recipes and discovering new ones to share.

Copy story link