"Honeymoon" Meatball Sub

By LeeBoruchow

This is a recreation of an open-faced turkey meatball sub that Sashi and I had in Healdsburg on our honeymoon. The meatball technique is Italian, but the sandwich isnt something you'd see at the Italian table.

Ingredients

• Meatballs:
• 2.5 cups fresh bread cubes
• 1 lb ground dark meat turkey
• 1 lb turkey sausage (filling only, casings discarded)
• 1/4 cup grated parmigano regiano
• 1/4 cup pecorino romano
• 1/2 medium spanish onion, fine dice
• 2 cloves garlic, fine dice
• 1/4 cup italian parsley, chopped
• heavy greating of nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• The Rest:
• 1 recipe of basic tomato sauce
• Crusty Italian bread, thickly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, cut in half
• Basil leaves, torn by hand
• Fresh mozarella, torn by hand
• Grated parmigano regiano and pecorino romano
• Fresh arugula leaves
• Red chili flakes

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Make the meatballs:
In a large bowl, add all ingredients and mix with your hands until combined.
Form meatballs (slightly larger than golf balls, but smaller than tennis balls) and place on a baking sheet. Cover baking sheet and refridgerate for at least one hour, no more than 24 hours.

Heat 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil in large skillet and sear meatballs until dark brown on all sides, but not fully cooked through. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.

Heat tomato sauce in a large pot. Add seared meatballs to pot with sauce, and cook, covered, for 15 minutes or until meatballs are done.

Toast slices of bread, and immediately rub with the cut garlic clove when done. Tear basil leaves in a thin layer onto each bread slice. Place two meatballs and a spoonfull of sauce onto each bread slice. Top with fresh mozarella, grated cheeses, a sprinkle of chili flakes, and a large stack of arugula, and serve open-faced.