Mmmm. Meatball Subs (9.7 out of 10)

I’ve been out of town in the past week and am really in the mood for yummy comfort food. So, Tues. night, I made my favorite meatball subs that I really only have 2 or 3 times a year b/c I try to stay away from red meat… Why does so much comfort food require red meat?? I love it.I developed my meatball recipe after reviewing a number of different recipes, but settled on the skeleton Tyler Florence set up in this episode of his show. My meatballs are never the same and I play it by ear with whatever seasonings and things I have around but I always fry them and always place them in the oven afterward topped with mozzarella.

1. Caramelize a lot of chopped onions in a skillet and place half in a bowl that will be used to mix the meatballs. Add diced onions and diced garlic to the bowl. Then add: garlic powder, onion powder, Greek seasoning or meatloaf seasoning, dried oregano, pepper, grated or shredded parm. cheese, and 1 egg per lb. of meat you use. Mix all together.
2. Then add the meat to the bowl. I usually combine ground beef or chuck and ground pork. Depending on the size of meatball you make (mine are a little bigger than golf balls), 1 lb of meat makes four normal size subs. Form the meatballs and roll them in Italian bread crumbs and place on a plate.
3. Heat a 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet and fry brown the outsides of the meatballs, which keeps the juices and flavor in while they’re in the oven. The meatballs could break apart a bit during this step and that’s cool, they’ll still taste fantastic.
4. Place the meatballs in an oven-proof dish, topped with a cube or slice or grated mozzarella cheese and place in the oven at 375° until the cheese is all melty and a little golden. When they are finished, let them sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

For the topping:

1. I do this before I make the meatballs so that it can cook and reduce while the meatball making is going on. I take that skillet with the rest of the caramelized onions and add some more olive oil, a bit of diced garlic and then chopped fresh tomatoes (usually roma). Then I diced a bunch of sweet peppers from a jar and add those and some juice and season it and let it cook down. Too awesome.

For the sub:

1. I buy those uncut hoagie rolls and cut a trench in them and rip out a lot of the bread in it so all the filling will sit nicely upright tucked in the bread as this makes it easier to eat. Then I place long slices of mozz. cheese in the trench and put the bread in the oven. Yes, this is a lot of cheese, but it’s COMFORT food, so I’m down with the cheese.
2. After the bread is out, I coat the bottom of the trench in the bread with the topping and then top that with meatballs. Another yummy thing to do is make a little parm/ranch salad and put that on the sandwich as well before you add the meatballs. This can make the sandwich too loaded, though and hard to eat, but it’s really good.

The leftovers of this dish are just as good and the meatballs can obviously be used in many other Italian-style dishes. I just loooovvvve meatball subs. They’re a gift.