Meatball sliders combine American and Italian comfort food, perfect for a New Year’s Eve buffet, a family Wii tournament or the “big game.” Just pile high in a few large baskets or platters and your crowd will be pleased.
Surprisingly, these worked beautifully for a ladies luncheon, when paired with nutty pasta haystacks. We put them on a variety of different sized cake dishes. Sudden elegance for hearty food!
The challenge was to serve them “light” enough, and “easy enough to eat” without making a mess. As a big crusty bread fan, I found yeast dinner rolls to be a surprisingly good option, as they are perfect “slider” size, and yet hold their shape without getting soggy or making a crumb mess. Easy to eat, one, two or three… and that’s the point of a slider.
The recipe is pretty straight forward; tomato sauce, meatball, roll. and a sprinkle of cheese.
The Perfect Meatball
The meatball can be one of the best bites of food in life or, sadly, the worst. Too many things can go wrong to reduce the meatball to a status a little lower than a school cafeteria surprise. Compromised meat quality, too much salt, canned cheese, too much garlic, garlic salt, onion, cracker crumbs. There are many intrusive ingredients that don’t belong anywhere near a meatball.
After years of making meatballs, and having long discussions with different family members who each having something different to say, this is my recipe for what I believe is a perfect meatball.
Recipe for Meatball Sliders
- 1 1/2 pound ground chuck
- 1 pound of ground pork (use beef if you don’t eat pork)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 slices of stale bread crusts removed
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup (loosely packed) freshly grated pecorino cheese or parmigiano reggiano
- hand full of finely chopped Italian flat parsley
- sea salt
- ground pepper
- Take meat and eggs out of fridge for 30 minutes before starting.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. - Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease or spray pan.
Pour milk over meat, mix through with hands.
Add remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly. - Using a scoop, make a consistent sized group of meatballs to ensure even cooking.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning once. (This may vary, depending upon size). Meatballs should be browned, but not overly cooked. If you are placing them in a tomato sauce to cook for an hour or so, you can reduce cooking time. A perfect meatball is moist and browned.
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 2 fresh garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 onion, chopped in big pieces
- 1 carrot
- Canned Italian Tomatoes with juice
- Add water to sauce (ration 1 water to 2 cans tomato)
- parsley or basil
- Salt and Pepper
Ingredients
- Saute onion in olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot.
- Add garlic, saute, careful not to burn.
- Remove both garlic and onions
- Strain tomatoes with hands and add with juice to the oil.
- Add salt, pepper, parsley or basil a bit of sugar or a carrot.
- Simmer on very low, while the meatballs are in oven.
Yeast Dinner Rolls
I used Sister Schubert’s Whole Wheat Yeast Dinner Rolls – bake according to package directions.
Assemble:
You may need to slice meatballs in half to fit rolls.
Place 1-2 Tablespoons of sauce over meat, sprinkle with cheese.
Note: These work well sitting out for up to an hour. After that, refrigerate by wrapping in foil. Heat as leftovers in oven.
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