I had this craving for something just as fresh as bruschetta, but a little more hearty and filling. Josh and I came up with the perfect solution; meatballs. We chose to eat the meatballs on top of a remaining loaf of our homemade French bread. A meatball sub, if you will. 

We stuffed our meatballs with fresh mozzarella cheese, and used a ground pork and beef combo. These meatballs, covered in a homemade tomato sauce with grated parmesan, are sure to have you craving more. 

What You'll Need:

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

-1 Large Clove of Garlic

-1 tsp Fresh Parsley (flat leaf or curly will work)

- 1 pinch of Rosemary

-1/2 of a Large White Onion 

-1/2 of a ball of Fresh Mozzarella

-1/2 lb Ground Pork

-1/2 lb Ground Beef

-1 Large Egg

-1/2 cup Panko Breadcrumbs 

-1/2 cup Milk

-1 tsp Salt

-Pepper to taste

Tomato Basil Red Sauce

-1 Large Clove of Garlic

-Handful of Basil (I probably used about 10 large leaves)

-1 Tbsp Fresh Parsley

-1 tsp Rosemary

-1 tsp Oregano

-1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (optional)

-1 Tbsp Olive Oil

-1/2 of a Large White Onion

-8 Oz Can of Tomato Sauce

-14.5 Oz can of Diced Tomatoes

-2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar

-1 tsp Salt

-Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Start by prepping the meatballs, while you're chopping, make it easy on yourself and chop up all the herbs so you won't have to do it when you start the sauce. Mince the parsley, garlic, and chiffonade the basil so that you don't bruise it! We used fresh rosemary, so chop that too if you're going with the fresh route... dried will work just fine!

2. Put the milk and breadcrumbs in a small bowl, and allow the breadcrumbs to soak up the milk - you want a good binding for your meatballs. 

3. Cut the mozzarella into 1/2 inch cubes, set aside.

4. In a larger bowl, add the egg, all the fresh herbs, and salt and pepper, whisk until mixed. Add in the ground pork and beef, as well as the soaked breadcrumbs and onion, mix with your hands.

5. Form the meatballs, and stuff with the mozzarella. You should be able to get 18 medium/small meatballs from the mixture. Make sure the meat is completely covering the cheese!

(Feel free to choose to either pan fry or bake your meatballs. We baked our meatballs and focused on our sauce while the meatballs were in the oven!)

6. Preheat the oven to 325° F. It took our meatballs about 30 minutes to cook, but all ovens vary so try to keep an eye on your meatballs! To bake, I used a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and a wire drying rack on top to allow the grease to drip. If you're using this method, don't forget to either spray your wire rack with cooking spray, or wipe it down with olive oil. 

7. Once your meatballs are in the oven, start your sauce. Add a Tbsp of olive oil to a medium/large sauce pan over medium heat, wait till the oil is hot. Then add garlic and cook until fragrant (this takes no time at all), then add the onion cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Wait for the onion to change color, add the can of tomato sauce, and the can of diced tomatoes. 

8. Add the basil, parsley, rosemary, oregano, crushed red pepper if you so choose, 1 tsp salt, and balsamic vinegar. Allow your sauce mixture to come to a boil, and then reduce to simmer. You should let your sauce simmer for at least 15-20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

9. Once your meatballs are cooked, you should be good to go. Make sure your meat is cooked to about an 140° F internal temperature, till slightly browned on the outside, and no pink on the inside. This ensures that your binding and meat has cooked evenly. If it feels kind of grainy, it's probably a little undercooked. If your mozzarella cheese oozes out, it's not a big deal, it'll still be delicious. 

10. If you decided to eat this on slices of bread like we did, toast the bread in the oven for about 5 minutes on each side, and then top with a meatball and some sauce. Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese.

We had our leftover meatballs and sauce with spaghetti noodles the next day, if you're more of a fan of spaghetti and meatballs go for that right away. You can't go wrong with a classic.