Meatballs, a Valentine's Tale — My All Around Kitchen

Valentine’s Day is different for everyone. It is my experience that we all have a love/hate relationship with this holiday depending on where we are in life. Some of us can admit this, others can scoff at this and I have certainly done both in my 42 years.

Ten Valentine’s days ago, I spent the holiday still single and out with a single friend, but I was in a great mood because I was going on my first date with my now husband in two days, the 16th. We had been friends for a long time, so I really was looking forward to it, and thrilled that we both adamantly agreed that the 14th would NOT be our first date.

I spent many a Valentine’s Day alone prior to my husband, I was a professional singleton, a staunch anti-Valentine’s Day-er. But, I also had my Dad my whole life, and if I happened to see him on that holiday, I was getting a rose from him. Or a card, chocolates, a scratch off ticket, something. He probably only received an eye roll or silly speech from me in return. Did he care or would he ever stop? No way.

I moved into my first apartment in Astoria around Valentine’s day and my roommate Kelly and I were home, single, eating takeout, unpacking and he came by after work with roses for us. This was something I would never remember but she always did. She who was away from home, really appreciated the gesture. Now that my Dad is no longer here treating me like gold, I’m hearing all of the ways he touched people and made people happy and feel good. Don’t get me wrong, I always knew what a special person he was and I always appreciated him, especially in adulthood, but now I just am gripping a little tighter because it’s all I have left of him.

Anyways, I’m writing about my Dad, my original Valentine because the last meal we shared together before he got sick, was on Valentine’s Day 2021. I made us heart shaped meatballs over polenta, and it was the last normal Sunday dinner we shared together eating, drinking and being merry.

Meatballs are a sacred food for me. My father’s mother, Nonna made the BEST meatballs, and unfortunately you will just have to take my word on this one. There are of course, many schools of thought on the subject of what makes the best meatball and everyone thinks that they are right. Part of me feels like I should watch what I say, but the other part of me is like, these are MY “recipes and ramblings”, I’ll say what I feel. For example, if you call sauce “gravy”, keep going, I don’t need to hear your meatball opinion. Totally harsh and judgmental of me, I agree! Especially since some people think that if you don’t call them ‘polpetti’ it’s not Italian, but my Nonna, who hardly spoke English always called them: Meat-a-Ball-e, seriously…so it really has nothing to do with what you call the sauce or meatballs, but it has everything to do with technique. Some people use a combo of veal, pork and beef, some just beef, some pork and beef, which is what my Nonna did, but she used varying levels of coarseness in her ground meat. Then there’s the question of dried breadcrumbs verses real bread. I could go on and on…but perhaps the biggest argument in the great meatball debate is: fried, baked or right into the sauce?

Nonna ALWAYS put the meatballs right into the sauce, so I have always been a believer. I believe they stay the most moist and tender, that the sauce flavors the meatball and meatball more importantly flavors the sauce when it goes in raw. The fried meatball has a barrier surrounding it, therefore the sauce won’t penetrate it. When I was a child, say around 7 years old, my grandfather on my mother’s side, a very competitive person by nature (and a wonderful cook), heard that Nonna’s meatballs were my favorite food…naturally, he made meatballs one Sunday, picked me up, brought me to his house and made me try them. I told him, sorry but Nonna’s are better. It took him years to get over my decision, and I will tell you why he lost: his were fried.

A few months before Valentine’s Day 2021, my Dad filled me in on another secret of Nonna’s fabulous meatballs: she used to ladle some of her meat sauce into the meatball mixture. I tried it, and wow this is a game changer. It was early 2021, my parents had just gotten their covid vaccines, they were coming over for dinner, it was very exciting to finally do something normal and together. So I decided I would love to make my Dad, who had just had hernia surgery the week before, some meatballs. I thought it would be cute to shape them into hearts with a cookie cutter (Mom moment) and serve them over polenta. I did the sauce in the meat mixture trick, I formed them, had them laid out on a sheet pan and was hit with a conundrum. Hmmm…if I put these in the sauce, they will never hold their shape. I decided I would bake them just enough so they would remain heart shaped, say about ten minutes at 350. So that’s what I did. They were slightly browned on the outside and still raw on the inside. Into the sauce to simmer they went.

Well. These meatballs were heavenly. Soft and tender, with the slightest hint of a crust in all the good ways. So, there you have it, and it is what I do now. A ladle of sauce into the meatball mix, bake for ten minutes and simmer in the sauce for the rest of the time. I highly recommend this method. I remember my Dad LOVED the meatballs, we had a great meal together. He brought some red wine from his cellar, we laughed, we told stories we have all heard before, my parents enjoyed their granddaughter that they waited many many years for. It felt like normal times, it felt like the past and the future all at once. When my Dad had his hernia surgery the week earlier, there was a dark spot way at the top of the CT scan. His pulmonologist took a look at it and brought him in for testing, and the rest is history. Just like that.

Eat the meatballs however YOU want. Celebrate Valentine’s Day however YOU want. Just always appreciate every moment with the people you love, and laugh as much as possible. Happy Valentine’s day to anyone reading this.