Tyler and Agdah's meatballs

By Patricia_Scarpin

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed*
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley leaves
• a handful of basil, chopped
• 1 cup (240ml) milk
• 2 very thick slices firm white bread, crusts removed – I used whole wheat bread
• 1 kg ground beef
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 200 g mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks – I used the yellow mozzarella we have here, made from cow’s milk and used as pizza topping

Details

Servings 10
Adapted from agdah.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and parsley and cook until the vegetables are soft but still translucent, about 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let cool.

Pour enough milk over the bread in a bowl to moisten and let it soak while the onions are cooling. Combine the meats in a large bowl. Add the egg and parmesan and season generously with salt and pepper. Use your hands to squeeze the excess milk out of the bread and add that to the bowl along with the cooled onion mixture. (Hang onto the pan - you'll need it to cook the meatballs.) Gently combine all the ingredients with your hands or with a spoon until just mixed together. Don't overwork or the meatballs will be tough. Divide into 10 equal pieces and shape them into 10 nice looking meatballs.

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF.

Heat a bit of olive oil in the frying pan over medium heat and brown the meatballs on all sides, about 10 minutes – be careful not to tear them apart. Put them into a baking dish and bake until the meatballs are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

* instead of the cloves, I used a garlic infused olive oil I made a couple of weeks ago (I got the idea from one episode of "Nigella Express")