Being given the honor of The Best Dish of the Year 2010 by Bon Appétit is not something to be taken lightly friends. But yes, the humble yet comforting and delicious meatball has been given this honor and if you think about, with its versatility, many uses in many cultures and plain awesomeness it’s no surprise. Let’s hear what the magazine has to say for itself.
“With a return to homey, comforting cooking this year, meatballs made it big, appearing on restaurant menus and kitchen tables everywhere. They’re affordable, easy to make and absolutely delicious – and have inspired cooks from all over the world. Discover just how good (and versatile) meatballs can be with these five wonderful recipes.”
As mentioned, I’m testing and tasting three cover recipes for an all-out recipe smackdown and this Spaghetti and Meatballs Alla’Amatriciana might have already won without me trying the other two (although the other two look lovely thank you very much). THIS WAS THE BOMB. First, take a look at step one to make the meatballs…you make a bacon paste. Bacon paste. I think I said “this is so awesome, I’m making BACON PASTE” about three times as the delicious applewood smoked bacon spun around in the food processor. Bacon paste.
One would think that with so much bacon, about 12 slices in all, you would just taste bacon. No, no people. This sucker was layers of lovely delicious flavor upon delicious flavor upon delicious flavor. I tested this recipe to its full potential and will have leftovers for days, lucky me huh? I would also like to point out the Pork Meatball Bahn Mi (I love Bahn Mis!) looks awesome and I’m going to have to try that next.
This recipe flowed nicely but note it is a lot of steps and lengthy in its process (hence why I was eating dinner at 8:00 p.m.) so I would recommend making this on a Sunday so you can eat the leftovers all week. The bit o’labor is worth it so seriously give this dish a try.This might be my last post for a week and half or so since I’ve got an intense period of time coming up and won’t have the opportunity to cook. With that I leave you with two things. One: TEXAS FIGHT! Can you believe the game is tomorrow night? Let’s all focus our energy on super happy, positive burnt orange thoughts towards a Texas win in Pasadena. Ready….do it now! Second, if you got this far, you must love meatballs so what is your favorite meatball dish? Let’s vote (up to your right on this page 😉
Wow, you had me at bacon paste. I'll put this recipe on the schedule to make next week – it looks delicious! I love making meatballs, but don't have a standard recipe yet, so I'm excited to try a new one.
GO HORNS!
Lindsay this has your name written all over it. Bacon paste.
to update my comment, I did in fact make this yesterday, and it totally lived up to the hype! I think I piled up 7 meatballs on my plate (I ended up eating 5 and forcing Luke to eat the rest
) – thanks for inspiring me to make it!
My husband is 1/2 Italian and he puts pine nuts and raisins in his meatballs. SO good! We toast the pine nuts first. And it is so awesome to bite in the meatball and get a sweet surprise from the raisins! We usually use 1/2 beef, 1/2 pork and then add parsley, parmesan, salt, pepper, Italian flavored bread crumbs, eggs, pine nuts and raisins!
Laura that sounds awesome and I've never even heard of that before! YUM!
you know my favorite meatballs dish because it's so fun to say: albóndigas
This sounds delicious but I still need a food processor to make that BACON PASTE. What size do you recommend? I don't want to spend a fortune, but I also don't want to buy something I will soon replace. Thanks for the insight!
If you go with a good investment piece like a CuisineArt you will have it forever. Thankfully mine was a gift (you know who you are) and I love it so much!