Meatball Subs

In an earlier post about chicken parmesan I “hinted” that I don’t like spaghetti and, I don’t ha. Whenever I tell people this I always get the same response/questions. First surprise “Really!?!?” Then the questions: “Do you like any pasta?” Yes. “Is it the spaghetti or the marinara?” I think its mostly the marinara, but its also the combination, I don’t really like the pasta spaghetti. “So, do you like marinara on anything else like lasagna or breadsticks or pizza?” I do like lasagna, I like breadsticks, but not really with marinara and I LOVE pizza, but hate pizza with too much sauce. I will also eat baked ziti, which is essentially spaghetti with different noodles and lots of cheese.

So, where am I going with this? Meatball subs. I used to not like meatball subs, of course because of the marinara, until I made my own and could adjust the amount of marinara vs cheese ratio! If you go to a sub place there tends to be more marinara less meat and the bread gets soggy and its just a mess. Me and the boyfriend really wanted meatball subs tonight, so we got all the fixings and made ourselves some delicious subs.

This recipe is adapted from the How to Cook Everything The Basics By Mark Bittman

Ingredients

1 tblspoon olive oil

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (preferably homemade)

1/2 cup milk

2 pounds ground beef

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 onion chopped

half a green bell pepper chopped

salt and pepper

Marinara Sauce

Parmesan or other cheese

French bread loaf sliced into sandwich size pieces

1. Heat oven to 350 and grease a sheet pan with oil. Begin soaking the bread crumbs in the milk for 5 min.

2. Add the meat, egg, parmesan, parsley, garlic, onion, bell pepper, bread crumbs, salt and pepper in a bowl and fold until everything comes together in the bowl.

3. Shape the mixture into balls about 2-inch in diameter. Place them on the pan.

4. Bake the meatballs for 25-35 min or until they are cooked through.

5. Heat marinara in a pot and add the meatballs.

6. Place the meatballs into the bread and top with parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Tips and tricks:

1. You can also use this recipe to make meatloaf. Instead of the 3 stage you would turn the meat mixture onto the sheet and gently form it into a round dome log. Bake for 45-60min. Brush occasionally with the pan juices.

2. If you can you should try your hand at making your own marinara sauce!

3. Add these meatballs to spaghetti or any other dish.

4. You can use leftover meatballs for a pasta dish, chopped into a salad (if they don’t have dressing on them), or make another meatball sub tomorrow!

Hope you guys had a good weekend and will have a great Monday! Here is a picture from 4th of July!