Two weeks ago I told you how to make tiny meatballs and freeze them. Now here are 10 easy things you can do with them.
- Add them to spaghetti. This is obvious, but so what...it's a classic!
- Put them on top of pizza. Tiny meatballs are especially good on pizza, since the big ones are just too big. You can even cut them in half and make them like meatball mounds.
- Add them to soups. Any kind of soup! When we were first married and my in-laws were young enough to cook and try to impress me, they added tiny meatballs to their turkey noodle soup with ring noodles and sprinkled it with Romano cheese, and my kids will tell you that it was one of their happiest food memories from LeRoy, NY. There was always a hot bowl of soup waiting for us when we got there. In fact, now that I think about it, when we were in Italy visiting family many, many years ago, Marissa served us a soup of chicken broth, tiny meatballs, and homemade crêpes...yum. There might have been cheese in it, too.
- Make Italian wedding soup*. This will be a future recipe only because the tiny meatballs are already made and it's Eve's favorite soup, so I must learn how to make it.
- Make "Abruzzi Spanish Rice."* Another Cinquino classic, which is basically a rice casserole with tiny meatballs, crushed tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. Again, recipe to come.
- Add them to lasagna or ziti. Why not?
- Put them on a stick and serve them as an appetizer. You can make a spicy dipping sauce or not.
- Put them in a sandwich. A tiny meatball sandwich! Take a roll, heat the meatballs, add some sauce, top with some cheese, and voilà. If you are feeling really ambitious, heat up the whole thing, even the roll.
- Make them part of an antipasto salad or platter. After all, they are good cold, too. Just make sure they are thawed.
- Serve them in sauce with bread and butter. One of my favorite neighborhood restaurants in New York is Co. pizza on 24 Street and 9 Avenue. They have an appetizer of meatballs in sauce that comes with a hunk of awesome bread and good butter. It reminds me that one of my all-time flavors is good bread with lots of butter and tomato sauce on top. The meatballs are just a bonus!
Got any other ideas?
* Recipe to come!
For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com