Italian Meatball Sandwich
Submitted by wolf'es
Italian meatball sandwich: pork-and-beef meatballs simmered for an hour in a long-cooked red wine tomato sauce built on salt pork, garlic, basil, and marjoram. Piled in a crusty roll with Parmesan and roasted peppers for a proper Sunday sub.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
2 hrsThis is an old-school Italian-American meatball sandwich, the kind that takes a whole afternoon and tastes like it was worth every minute. The sauce starts with salt pork rendered in olive oil, an Italian grandmother move that builds a deeper, meatier foundation than butter or oil alone can give you.
The meatballs are a mix of ground beef and ground pork with milk-soaked breadcrumbs to keep them tender. The milk is the secret to meatballs that don’t turn into hockey pucks in the sauce. Use as much as the mixture will take and still form balls.
Browning the meatballs before they hit the sauce is key, the crust that forms gives the finished sub its savory depth. Then they simmer for another hour in the marinara, absorbing flavor while releasing their own juices into the sauce.
Chef Tips
- Use an ice cream scoop for evenly sized meatballs, uniform size means even cooking.
- Broil rather than pan-fry if you want to cut the grease, the finished meatballs absorb plenty of fat and flavor from the sauce during the second hour.
- Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for a few minutes before mixing, this creates a panade that keeps the meatballs tender.
- Choose a crusty hard roll with a soft interior, a soft bun soaks through and falls apart. Italian or ciabatta rolls work best.
- Add a splash of water to the sauce if it gets too thick during simmering, the meatballs need liquid to keep braising gently.
Variations
- Add mushrooms, chopped eggplant, or roasted peppers to the sauce per the recipe’s note for more depth.
- Top with fresh mozzarella and run under the broiler for a cheesy pressed-melt version.
- Swap marjoram for oregano for a more classic pizza-sauce flavor profile.
Ingredients
Directions
(Optional ingredients: cubed eggplant, mushrooms, fresh sweet red pepper pieces, dried crushed hot red chili, black Italian olives-chopped, green Greek olives-chopped---and anything else you can think of or want)
Prepare the sauce: Put 2 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy large pot. Cut two slices from the salt pork about ¼ inch thick each and trim off the rind (skin).
Cut up the salt pork into small pieces. Heat up the olive oil to medium-high and add the salt pork. It should just barely sizzle.
Finely chop up the onion and add it to the pot. Sauté until the onion becomes translucent.
Add the minced garlic and sauté just until the garlic begins to turn golden.
At this point you can add any of the optional stuff--chop it up to small pieces and stir the mixture in the pot well.
Add one good handful of crushed dried basil, 1 medium handful of crushed dried marjoram and stir everything well. Sauté all for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the can of tomato paste.
Clean the can out with the wine and add two cans of the wine.
Stir well and add the whole tomatoes.
Salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste and let this cook for about 10 minutes until everything is mixed well and bubbly.
Add the sauce--adjust the seasonings if you like.
Reduce the heat to simmer and let cook for about 1 hour.
Prepare the meatballs:
Place all ingredients, except the milk, in a large bowl and mix well.
If the mixture seems to be very sticky add ½ cup milk and mix well again. We like very soft meatballs and the more milk you add the softer the final product will be, so you will have to decide how soft you want the meatball to be and adjust the milk. I would add all of it.
Mix well. Form a small portion of the meat mixture into a ball about 2” inch diameter. Form the rest of the meatballs in the same manner. An ice cream scoop makes them just about the right size.
You can either fry or bake the meatball (add lots of flavor) or you can broil it (removes most of grease and fate). Whichever method you use, makesure you cook them to a nice crust on the outside.
Drop the meatballs into the sauce and simmer for one more hour. Add a little water to the sauce if it seems to be real thick.
To make the sandwich - use a crusty roll--hard roll (crusty on the outside, soft on the inside)--slice in half. Cut one or two meatballs in half and put on one slice of the roll. Spoon a little sauce over all, sprinkle with some Italian cheese (parmesan or romano) add a hot roasted chili pepper or a sweet roasted pimento--put the other half of the roll on top.
Open mouth very wide and bite into sandwich. Enjoy!
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