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Make a Mess of These Meatball Sliders

I am always on the lookout for different meatball recipes. It is just one of those meal items that I like to tinker with and I am looking to add new flavors to meatballs to jazz them up a little bit. Whether it is for a simple meal with spaghetti in tomato sauce, as an appetizer for a buffet or party, to have in gravy over rice or noodles or to make a nice sub or sandwich meatballs are one of those things that you can do a lot of things with and make them in wide variety of ways with many different ingredients. I came upon this recipe from Alton Brown for meatball sandwiches on Parmesan parsley biscuits and thought it sounded great, but to me they are perfect meatball sliders for an appetizer, party or dinner. it’s a very easy recipe that gives you some basic meatballs with great tasting biscuits and a nice spaghetti sauce to boot.

Alton Brown’s Meatball Sandwiches (Meatball Sliders)

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1 egg
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan Parsley Biscuits, recipe follows
Spaghetti Sauce, recipe follows
Provolone cheese, thinly sliced

For the Parmesan Parsley Biscuits:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or chives
1 cup whole milk, chilled

For the Spaghetti Sauce:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
20 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

For the meatballs,in a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, veal, egg, onion, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix all of the ingredients until they are well combined. Scoop the mixture into mini muffin tins or onto a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the meatballs until they are browned and cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.

For the Parmesan parsley biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Whisk until everything is well blended. Add the butter and combine the mixture with your fingertips until a coarse meal forms. Mix in the parsley. Gradually add the milk, tossing the mixture with a fork until moist clumps form. Add extra milk if the mixture is too dry. Put the dough on a floured work surface, folding 8 to 10 times until it becomes firm. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes under a damp towel. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Using a 2-inch-diameter biscuit ring, cut out the biscuits and put them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the biscuits with the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and bake until the biscuits are puffed and golden, about 15 minutes.

For the spaghetti sauce, in a medium pan set over high heat, saute the onion and the garlic in olive oil until both are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and allow the mixture to simmer until it is slightly reduced and thickened, about 25 minutes. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving.

To build the sliders, slice a biscuit in half and place a meatball on the bottom half of the biscuit. Cover the meatball with as much spaghetti sauce as you like and top each meatball with a slice a provolone cheese. Place the biscuit top on top of the meatball and continue until all of the biscuits are filled.

I have to say I really liked these. While the meatball recipe is very basic, it does taste good and produces a moist meatball that goes well with the sauce. The real star of this one I think is the Parmesan biscuit, which comes out perfectly and goes really nicely with the meatballs as a slider. The biscuit has great flavor and is really easy to make so you can make this to go with other meals besides this one. we even used some to make breakfast sandwiches with some bacon or sausage and egg. Of course the meatballs and sauce can be for anything that you would use meatballs for as well besides just sliders if you want a nice, basic and easy meatball recipe.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Another Great Holiday Appetizer – Meatball Sliders

15 Nov

There are some things you may not think of as a great holiday appetizer unless you just happen to have everything fall into place as far as ingredients and what you have on hand. This was one of those recipes for me. I had some meatballs on hand already that I had made and frozen, so it really just became a matter of putting them together with the rolls and some cheese and we were all set. Now, if you wanted to make this recipe ahead of time and use it for a holiday appetizer, it is certainly easy to do. This is the meatball recipe that I use most often, but you could easily use any meatball recipe you prefer or even use some frozen meatballs you may have on hand to make things even easier.

Meatball Sliders

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium carrot, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

6 cloves garlic

1 cup fresh parsley leaves

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 28-ounce cans tomato puree

2 large sprigs basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Slider rolls

Brush a baking sheet with olive oil. Pulse the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and parsley in a food processor to make a paste. Transfer half of the vegetable paste to a bowl; add the ground beef, ground pork, eggs, breadcrumbs, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix with your hands until it is just combined. Form the mixture into about 24 two-inch meatballs; transfer the meatballs to the prepared baking sheet. Bake the meatballs until they are firm but not cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes.

To make the sauce, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the remaining vegetable paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until it looks dry, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato puree; rinse each can with 1 cup of water and add it to the pot. Stir in the basil, oregano and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then add the meatballs and simmer until the sauce thickens and the meatballs are cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the basil.

Place 1 or 2 meatballs and sauce inside each of the slider rolls and top each with mozzarella cheese. Serve.

It is a very simple recipe to put together and the sliders were devoured when I made them in no time at all. You could easily do the same thing with sausage and peppers if you had some on hand or wanted to make some ahead of time and then simply re-heat the sausage and peppers and put them into slider rolls. For me, it was just a matter of warming he meatballs and sauce on the stove top for about 5 to 10 minutes just to heat them through and then assemble the sliders.

That’s all I have for today. Keep checking back as there is plenty more along the way leading up to Thanksgiving. I have lots of side dishes to share, some desserts, breads and even things to do with leftovers. Keep checking back to see what is next. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!