Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

It's been raining off and on here all week---you'd think we lived in Kansas. Something about the rain always inspires me to try something new, usually in the kitchen. So this week I made homemade meatballs, courtesy of my increasingly popular food diva, Alice Waters. They are delicious with homemade tomato sauce and freshly grated parmesan.

Italian Meatballs

Season:
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork shoulder
with:
Salt
Fresh-ground black pepper

In a small bowl, combine:
1 cup torn-up pieces of day-old country style bread, crusted removed
1/2 cup milk

Set aside to soften. grate, using the large-holed side of a box grater:
1 small yellow onion, peeled

Squeeze most of the milk out of the bread and put the bread in a large mixing bowl with the seasoned meat and the grated onion. add:
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled)
1 Tbs. chopped parsley
A pinch of Cayenne pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Fresh-ground pepper

Combine ingredients with your hands, gently but thoroughly. Overworking the mixture will make the meatballs tough.Fry a little meatball in a small skillet and taste.(This was the fun part--my mom says "you're not cooking unless your tasting as you go!"). Adjust seasonings as needed. Gently form the mixture into meatballs, either by hand or with a small ice-cream scoop. Bake the meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet in a 450 degree oven until just cooked through, about 6 minutes. Or fry them in a little oil in a cast-iron pan, turning them occasionally for even browning.
I tried each method of cooking the meatballs, and by far I preferred the frying in a cast-iron skillet method.

Songs And Their Stories

As work in process, Nathan just added the first recording of one of my songs, Edge of the Earth, (Psalm 61) on the side bar. I hope to share more songs in the future. But for now, have a listen, and keep in mind that this recording, and all subsequent recordings are very "raw" and are single-track recordings with absolutely no touch-ups...hopefully you can still enjoy.