To my friend Carol who taught me how to make Sicilian pasta sauce again I say thank you for also schooling me on her meatballs. I have adapted the recipe to ingredients readily available where ever I may be. These are sure to please any appetite. I often make them in large batches and use them in pasta dishes as needed for easy weekday dinners or last-minute hosting.

Serves: 30 small meatballs, 15-10 large meatballs

Tools:

mixing bowl

spatula

2 rimmed baking sheets

Ingredients:

1 kilo ground beef, fresh not frozen meat seems to produce a better textured meatball

1 onion, finely diced, or 2 tsp onion powder

2 garlic cloves, finely minced, or 1 tsp garlic powder

1 TBSP dried oregano

1 TBSP dried basil

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup +/- filtered water

Canola oil for baking

For the meatballs:

Put the beef in the mixing bowl with the egg and onion, garlic and dried spices. Mix together. Add bread crumbs and water intermittently until all ingredients are combined and texture of meat mixture is very moist.

Pour enough canola oil in the bottom of your baking pans to just cover.

Roll the meatballs by hand sized to you liking and place on the baking sheet in rows with space between each meat ball.

Heat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn each individual meat ball to make sure they cook evenly. Bake for another 20-25 minutes until golden brown on every side.

Remove from oven and place on a brown paper sack to drain the oil.

To serve immediately place in stock pot of simmering pasta sauce or store in freezer in airtight container for up to two months. These meatballs are delicious with a bowl of pasta and breadsticks.