Veal/Pork Cilantro Meatballs

I went through a meatball-making phase about a month ago, venturing out beyond my regular beef meatballs and turkey meatballs I’ve made in the past.  One of the new versions of the meatball I made was a veal/pork one.  The basic method of making the meatball is the same — but the change-up in the ingredients makes for a new meatball tasting experience.  The veal/pork combination tastes a little sweeter and perhaps more tender in some ways than straightforward beef — we particularly enjoyed the cilantro/habañero pairing with the meats in this variation of the meatball .  (If you are not a fan of cilantro, you can use parsley.)

VEAL/PORK CILANTRO MEATBALLS

• 1 lb. ground pork (80% meat 20% fat)
• 1 lb. ground veal (85% meat 15% fat)
• 2 red onions, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• About 1 1/2 cups shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1/2 habañero pepper, finely minced
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
• 3 pasture, free-range organic eggs

Preheat the oven to 30 minutes.

In a food processor, finely chop the red onions and garlic.

In a large bowl, place the ground veal and ground pork.  Add the chopped onions, garlic, thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms, and finely habañero pepper to the ground meat.

Add cilnatro, season generously with salt and pepper.  Add the eggs, and mix together well.

Roll into balls, and lay them out in a baking pan.

Bake the meatballs for about 30 minutes.  (A lot of fat will have rendered out — I like to transfer the meatballs onto a plate, so that they don’t sit in the excess fat/juices that have cooked out.)

Plate in a bowl, pour some heated tomato sauce, top with some greens — in this instance, I cooked up some raipini and heaped a serving over the meatballs — and enjoy!  (You gotta love dinner in a bowl!)

Tags: meatballs, pork, veal