Holiday Recipe: Meatball Appetizer
Cooking holiday appetizers is one of my favourite winter activities. Since Christmas is almost here, I wanted to share my bite-sized meatball recipe! Last Saturday, I hosted a little Christmas party / White elephant for a small group of our friends. Though there were many super easy-to-make hors d’oeuvres, I didn’t properly document them all (and I also forgot to serve one, heh)! Perhaps I’ll save those goods for a later date. Until then, here’s my bite-sized meatball parm recipe. Let me know in the comments below how you did — these appetizers are always a big hit at my parties!
Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yields 24 meatballs
Ingredients:
250 grams of lean ground beef
250 grams of ground pork
4 slices of bacon
1 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
3/4 cups of bread crumbs
splash of milk
tablespoon of oregano (or teaspoon of dried oregano)
tablespoon of fresh thyme (or teaspoon of dried thyme)
salt & pepper, to taste
dash of vegetable oil
fresh basil
marinara sauce - I used Cucina Fresca’s marinara
gruyere cheese
fresh rosemary (to garnish)
bamboo toothpicks
Food Processor: Click here
Directions:
In a food processor, process one whole onion (cut into quarters, skin & ends removed) as well as the 4 skinned garlic cloves. Pulse until they are less than half a centimetre in size.
Add the 4 slices of bacon and pulse till they’re fairly grounded
Add the 250 grams of pork & 250 grams of beef, pulse till smooth
Add the 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs - I personally like getting breadcrumbs from a butcher, but any type is great (especially if they have Italian seasoning)
Add a splash of vegetable oil, salt & pepper to taste, oregano, thyme & splash of milk
Pulse all the ingredients until fully blended and smooth
Assembling the meatballs
Set the oven to bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper & scoop out about 2 tablespoons worth of the mixed meat blend & roll into balls
Lay them out about 2 inches apart - should yield about 24 meatballs
Put the sheet of meatballs into the oven - let them back for 20 minutes and turn them over for another 15-20, the bottom of the meatballs should have a bit of a brown charring/tinge
Buy the marinara sauce: here
After about 35 minutes of baking, take the meatballs out and spoon gently the marinara sauce - I used Cucina Fresca’s marinara for this recipe
Cut up the gruyere cheese into 1 inch cubes and lay them on top of the marinara, put the sheet back into the oven and let it bake again for about 7 minutes (or until the gruyere has melted nicely)
Adding marinara on top of the meatballs
Take the sheet of meatball parm out & rest
Using a large serving spoon, spoon out some heated marinara (you can heat it on the stove or microwave to save time) and spoon out the marinara in an “S” shaped pattern - I spooned it into one side of the dish and then used the back of the spoon to spread the marinara to gain more control of how it looked
Gently use tongs & put the meatballs on top of the marinara spread, using one bamboo toothpick and 1 large basil leave, fold the basil leaf and have the toothpick go through it and then through the meatball
Highly addictive appetizer - a definite crowd pleaser!
Garnish the plate with a bit of rosemary & ta-dah! Bite-sized Meatball parm!
Happy hosting!
with love,
Veronica