mozzarella stuffed meatballs

If you've ever met me you know that handling raw meat does not rank high on my list of favorite things.  If I've had to deal with raw meat to make you food, be happy.  It means I must really like you.  This could not be truer than when I decided to make this dish for Jeff tonight.

Add all your ingredients except the mozzarella into your bowl and mix until just combined.

Just mixed.  Grab small handfuls and fill with mozzarella.

The meatballs should be as round and evenly sized as possible.

Pasta and meatballs is the obvious choice, but Jeff is also planning to enjoy them in a meatball marinara sub.

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mozzarella stuffed meatballs

by Liesl July-12-2014

Cheese inside of meat. What's not to love?

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 2 tsp garlic
• 2 tsp basil
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 cup mozzarella, cut into small chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Add all the ingredients except for the mozzarella in a large bowl and stir with a large wooden spoon until just combined. This shuld still feel soft, not hardened.2. Grab small handfuls of meatball mixture and place a mozzarella piece in the middle. Try to get the cheese as close to the middle as possible so the cheese won't escape the meatball in the oven. Then form it into a ball. I made the balls about 2". This size made about 2 dozen meatballs. Place the formed balls on a lipped sheet lined with foil. Separate each meatball by 2" and bake for 15 minutes. If the cheese does bubble out, it's okay. They will still have plenty left inside, and taste great. Serve hot.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: about 2 dozen

update:
Here are some more options.  I made tons of meatballs, really just for Jeff so he's had several choices of how to eat them.  These are his favorites.  Basically many meatball subs.

egg bake

I can see why these are so popular.  I don't eat them myself because honestly, I don't eat a single ingredient in this one in particular.  But I can see why others with "normal" food likes would love this.  First off, it's easy, fairly quick, and contains only a small amount of ingredients.  Intrigued?  You should be.

I used a square pyrex dish for this and served out what I thought was a decent sized piece, but then Jeff inhaled it and went back for another square.

I decided to go super basic and not add seasonings, to let the flavors of the food speak for themselves.  I tend to go crazy on seasonings, so I thought I should try making a dish or two without going overboard.

Without trying to sound gross, there is no need to prep the pan for this dish because the sausage grease will do the job for you.  When you cut into the egg bake to serve, it should easily separate from the pan.

ingredients:
1 roll of prepackaged frozen breakfast sausage
2 C thawed O'Brien potatoes
4 eggs
1 C cheddar cheese

directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the sausage in a skillet until browned and crumbly, then dip it out into the square pyrex, covering the bottom as evenly as possible.
2.  Evenly pour out the potatoes over the sausage.
3.  Whisk the eggs lightly and pour them evenly over the sausage and potatoes.
4.  Grate the cheddar and sprinkle it over the top of the dish.  Place it in the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the eggs appear to be cooked fully and the cheese has melted.  Let sit for 10 minutes, then serve.  It will still be rather hot.

Serves 2-4