Baking
Italian Mini-Meatballs
After many bouts of recipes that required spicy Italian sausage, we found that some of the sausages we bought tasted a bit “off”, and were probably composed of meat that was on the edge of turning, but with the comment of “picking toenails out of my food” met my ears…. well, the decision was made to make our own.
The first requirement was a satisfactory spice mix to use, and the second requirement was learning how to make the meat mixture.
The meat mixture we used was a one to one mixture of lean ground beef to regular ground pork. Our first attempt used a pound of each, with our own spice mix, to which was added 1 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper to get the “spicy” dialed in.
Spicy Italian Sausage Spice Mix
General spice used for sausage, or meatballs as it were.
Spicy Italian Sausage Mix
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley
- 1 Tbsp basil
- 1 Tbsp oregano
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2-3 tsp red pepper flakes (3 if you like it super spicy!)
- 2 tsp fennel seeds (crushed)
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne pepper (totally optional (if like it super spicy! I left this out))
Meatballs
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound regular ground pork
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 3 tbsp Italian spice mix
- 1 1/2 -2 tsp cayenne pepper
Seasoning Mix
- To a small bowl or jar (recipe makes ~9 Tbsp of seasoning), add all spices (salt – cloves) + cayenne if you want it spicy.
- Stir or shake to combine. Store and use to make sausage as needed!
- TIP: ~3 Tbsp (depending on optional add ins above) = 1 lb of sausage
Meatballs
- Place both ground pork and beef into a large bowl. Crack three eggs into it being sure no shell chunks fall in. Add the bread crumbs and begin to mix, either with dough beaters or by hand.
- Once this is generally mixed, begin to add the Italian spice mix, and finish with the cayenne pepper. By the time you are done, you will have your hands in it….
- Continue until thoroughly mixed, then remove from the bowl onto plastic. Wrap and cool for an hour or two to make division easier and less sticky. A scale came in handy for making 7 g balls.
- Put parchment paper on two cookie sheets, and and fill them up. Slightly flatten the balls for easier freezing.
- Cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then remove to paper towel lined bowl. Repeat until all are cooked.
- Separate into whatever divisions seem suitable. We made freezer packs of 300 g (after some got eaten).
The first dish we tried this in was our Spinach Sausage Pasta recipe, which tasted a bit different, but was close enough to use again. The other recipe so far is Jumbalaya, and I expect the same results there. Over time the cayenne and pepper flakes will need some adjusting, but all in all, this was a bit of work for a wild success.