Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

This idea intrigued me. I had seen it so much on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" that I knew I would be trying stuffed meatballs at some point in my life. I was intimidated since I barely got my original meatball recipe perfected, and I knew this would have to be more dense to keep whatever the filling was trapped inside. So I went simple, I love cheese, it seems quite apparent from my previous posts. I just wanted good ol' mozzarella. I found some bomb posts on Pinterest about it (and p.s., if you haven't discovered Pinterest....go, GO NOW, look at the food category and waste WAY too much of your life). I found a great recipe for slow cooker meatballs, and I essentially tweaked the amounts and the method of cooking, here's the original recipe Slow Cooker Mozzarella Meatballs. I only needed to use three quarters the amount of the ingredients, which you'll see later on, and I altered some ingredients. 

I'll just tell you, glad I made these. They were absolutely delicious and not nearly as much fuss as I thought it would be. These would be absolutely great for company because the meatball can be made ahead of time and I don't cook the low and slow way with these guys, they went hot and fast in the oven. Very impressive meal, dress up some store bought pasta and you're set!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

Ingredients:

3/4 pound spicy sausage

3/4 cup bread crumbs (panko or regular, Italian seasoned or plain)

1 egg + 1 egg yolk (divided, see instructions)

Splash of milk, 2 or 3 tbsp

1 teaspoon minced garlic 

1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
3/4 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 mozzarella cheese sticks (string cheese)

Preheat oven to 425. Okay, first things first, SAUSAGE. Not the norm, I know. Two reasons why, 1) I was going to cook these in a really hot oven for not a long time, and this gave me the fat to brown nicely in that time, and 2) this recipe has a fair amount of binder so it holds the cheese in, and the fat would help that it wouldn't dry out while maintaining the structure. Cut the string cheese sticks roughly in quarters, the size I went for was about the size of my thumb just past my knuckle (so from your knuckle to the tip), does that make sense? I think a quarter was a little big, but it was pretty close. Stick these in the freezer until your meat is ready. Mix your eggs together and pour 1/4 of it down the drain (unless using the recipe in the link and you're using the full pound). There was no way to measure this but by eyeball, sorry kids. Now, mix all your ingredients (except the cheese sticks), by hand until you have a cohesive mixture.  I split my mix into eight balls, so I quartered my ball, then halved each quarter. You take a ball, and a piece of cheese (now out the freezer), after pushing the cheese into the center, pull the meat mixture up the sides and over the top until you can't see any cheese. Roll the ball enough until you cant see any cracks or seams in the meat, pinch with your fingers and smooth it over with your hands if you have to. These will shrink, so any imperfections will just amplify during cooking. Stick these on a foil lined baking tray or casserole dish on the top rack of the oven and bake until nicely browned, about 15 to 20 minutes (my meat mix was room temperature, and ovens will vary). I had two of my eight split open, but the small bit of cheese that leaked out got all nice and crusty, and didn't mind that one bit! I went over the top and melted a little butter and put some fresh chopped herbs and salt and pepper and brushed it on just before serving, but that's just me! They are soooooo good. Stop wondering how good, and just make them. You know you want to :)