Green Onion Sausage Meatballs with Ricotta Cheese

What's fun about making meatballs is that you can flavor them however you want.  Again, it's one of the dishes I love because it allows you to be creative.  Pork is often added to beef and veal in Italian cooking so I figured the green onion pork sausage with be a nice touch.  Also, I had some ricotta cheese left over from the last time I made lasagna so I decided to throw that in as well.  You can make these in a pot the whole way if you like, frying off the meatballs first in a little olive oil.  I chose to bake them off a little first because they seem to brown better in the oven.  You'll still get the flavor in the sauce by deglazing the baking dish with red wine and pouring that excess into your sauce. Anyway, we made oven baked meatball po-boys with Sargento Mozzarella Provolone cheese.  That's what I would recommend, but these meat balls with your favorite pasta would work just as well.  

GREEN ONION SAUSAGE MEATBALLS WITH RICOTTA CHEESE

PREPARATION MEATBALLS

1 LB GROUND ROUND

1 LB FRESH GREEN ONION PORK SAUSAGE (REMOVE FROM CASING)

2 EA EXTRA LARGE EGGS

1 CUP RICOTTA CHEESE

1/4 CUP GUIDRY'S FRESH CUTS CREOLE SEASONING (TRINITY)

2 OZ LEA AND PERRIN'S WORCESTESHIRE SAUCE

2 OZ MILK

1 TSP SALT

1 TSP BLACK PEPPER

1 TSP GRANULATED ONION

1 TSP GRANULATED GARLIC

1 TSP DRIED BASIL

1 TSP DRIED OREGANO

1 TSP SUGAR

1 CUP PROGRESSO ITALIAN BREAD CRUMBS

PREPARATION SAUCE

2 EA 15 OZ CANS HUNT'S TOMATO SAUCE

1/4 CUP RED WINE

1 TSP SUGAR

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

• PRE HEAT OVEN TO 400 DEGREES
• COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS EXCEPT BREAD CRUMBS INTO LARGE MIXING BOWL
• MIX WELL USING YOUR HANDS UNTIL ALL INGREDIENTS ARE WELL BLENDED
• ADD BREAD CRUMBS AND MIX THOROUGHLY
• ONE BY ONE, PORTION MIXTURE TO 4 OZ EACH
• ROLL THE MIXTURE IN YOUR HANDS MAKING A BALL
• PLACE ON A GREASED 11X9 BAKING DISH THREE TO A ROW
• PLACE MEATBALLS ON COVERED IN OVEN AND BAKE FOR 30 MINUTES
• IN MEDIUM SAUCE POT OR DUTCH OVEN HEAT TOMATO SAUCE OVER MEDIUM LOW HEAT
• REMOVE MEATBALLS FROM OVEN
• REMOVE MEATBALLS FROM BAKING DISH AND PLACE IN SAUCE
• REMOVE EXCESS FROM BAKING DISH BY ADDING RED WINE AND SCRAPING WITH COOKING SPOON
• POUR EXCESS INTO SAUCE
• COOK MEATBALLS IN SAUCE ON LOW FOR AN ADDITIONAL 30 MINUTES

PREP TIME - 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES

YIELD - 12 MEATBALLS