Milanese Into Meatballs

I do suggest cooking your meatballs... and I did. 

I just forgot to take an "after" photo.

I don't know about you, but whenever I'm breading anything I tend to have a ton of leftover flour and breadcrumbs in my assembly line.

I came up with a solution the other day when I was making Pork Milanese: meatballs!

I got the hubs to pick up a pound of pork and a pound of beef on his way home, and once I was done cooking our dinner, I mixed up a batch of meatballs with the leftover breadcrumbs (complete with grated pecorino), beaten egg, and used the leftover flour to dust the outsides before cooking.

Ready to go.

Start by mixing all your breadcrumbs, cheese, herbs, and optional egg together before adding the meat, so you do not overwork the meat and make it tough.

These meatballs were made entirely off the cuff, so I have no measurements.

Luckily, it all worked out and they were quite tasty.

I chose to bake these in the oven since I made so many (and then they could bake while I was digesting my dinner instead of having to cook them in sauce on a stove and then clean even more pots and pans.)

I think it was about 20 minutes or so at 400º and they were nicely cooked through without being dried out.

Hint: roll the meatballs in flour and shake off excess before pan-frying. If you do that before baking in the oven, you will just have white crusty crud on the outside. Either douse with olive oil before baking, or skip the roll in the flour completely.

No matter how you cook them or how you season them, meatballs are a great solution to excess breading station leftovers!

(Just make sure to make them all the same day.)