This is another recipe from Mandy Rivers. She wrote the South Your Mouth cookbook series and I am really enjoying her books! She suggested serving these with a green vegetable and bread. I decided to make meatball hoagies with the Italian meatballs and, omg, soooo good!! The meat and marinara, with the gooey cheese and crusty garlic bread is a match made in Heaven. Pair this with her fried zucchini sticks. A terrific meal!
1 (24 oz.) jar marinara, I used Rao’s
20-24 Italian Meatballs, precooked (recipe below)
8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
Hoagie rolls, buttered (or spray with olive oil cooking spray), sprinkled with garlic salt, and toasted
Italian Meatballs:
1 onion, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Worcestershire
1 T. Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 pounds ground beef (80/20)
1/2 cup Italian dried bread crumbs
For the Baked Meatballs with Mozzarella, spoon half of the marinara sauce into a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Arrange precooked meatballs in pan, then cover with remaining sauce. Cook, uncovered, 10 minutes at 375 degrees or until sauce is heated through. Remove from the oven, and top with mozzarella. Cook an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.
Serve with pasta or hearty green vegetables as suggested by Mandy… or…put them into your toasted hoagie rolls.
Serves 4-6 or yields 6 hoagie sandwiches.
For the Italian Meatballs, combine onion, eggs, Parmesan, Worcestershire, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, in a large bowl.
Crumble ground beef into mixture, and mix with your hands until just combined. Add bread crumbs, and continue to mix until just combined. Add more bread crumbs, if necessary, util the mixture holds together.
Turn mixture out onto a cutting board or clean counter, and shape into a rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut mixture into 20-24 squares. Roll each square into a ball.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup), and spray with cooking spray. Place meatballs onto baking sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
COOKING THE BOOKS, YA’LL!