GMA Recipe: Frankie's Meatballs

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Frankie's Meatballs
From Rao's restaruant, Frank Pellegrino
November 2, 2004

Frank Pellegrino of New York's famous Rao's restaurant, joined Good Morning America to share the latest recipes from his new book, "Rao's: Recipes From The Neighborhood." Here's one of the fabulous recipes he shared with GMA.

This recipe is the same one Frank's aunt Anna would use for the restaurant. She inherited the recipe from her mother, Frank's grandmother, Paolina. Everyone in the family makes the meatballs the same way. Instead of buying separate ground beef, veal, and pork, try using 2 pounds of meat loaf mix from the supermarket.

Frankie's Meatballs

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 pound ground veal

1/2 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

1/2 to 1 small garlic clove, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups plain bread crumbs

2 cups water

1 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic, lightly smashed

Directions

With your hands, combine the beef, veal, and pork in a large bowl. Add the eggs, cheese, parsley, minced garlic, and salt and pepper to taste and blend the ingredients together. Add the bread crumbs and blend into the meat mixture. Slowly add the water, 1 cup at a time, until the mixture is moist. Shape the meat mixture into 2 1/2 to 3-inch balls.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Saute the whole garlic until lightly brown to flavor the oil, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and discard. Add the meatballs and fry in batches, being careful not to crowd the pan. When the bottom half of the meatball is well browned and slightly crisp, about 5 to 6 minutes, turn it and cook the other side for 5 minutes more.

Remove the meatballs from the heat and drain them on paper towels.

Makes 14 to 18 (2 1/2 to 3-inch) meatballs.

Recipe from Rao's: Recipes From The Neighborhood by Frank Pellegrino, St. Martin's Press, copyright © 2004

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