{"id":4048,"date":"2018-02-09T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=4048"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:47","slug":"marisas-mystical-meatballs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/09\/marisas-mystical-meatballs\/","title":{"rendered":"Marisa’s Mystical Meatballs"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 9, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

These meatballs are really mystical if you consider the sway they hold on my husband, his brother, and his father.\u00a0 They go wild for these meatballs.<\/p>\n

Well, wild in that very restrained Northern Italian way.<\/p>\n

If they were Southern Italian, where a dinner conversation can seem like a minor riot, their meatball response would barely register on the scale.\u00a0 It would signal almost utter disregard for the meatballs.<\/p>\n

But that, in fact, is not the case.\u00a0 The meatballs hold some sort of magical, mystical charm.<\/p>\n

Marisa, of course, is my mother-in-law and these are her meatballs.\u00a0 She considers them quite unusual, having learned to make them from her mother and basically not remembering any other relatives or friends making something similar.<\/p>\n

And, as meatballs, they ARE unusual!<\/p>\n

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But here\u2019s a secret that I haven\u2019t told anyone yet.\u00a0 They really AREN\u2019T meatballs.\u00a0 They\u2019re croquettes!\u00a0 Crocchette in Italian.<\/p>\n

There, I said it.\u00a0 Marisa\u2019s Mystical Meatballs aren\u2019t really meatballs.\u00a0 But everybody in the family calls them \u201cMa\u2019s Meatballs.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMa\u2019s Croquettes\u201d doesn\u2019t have the same alliterative allure, even if it\u2019s more accurate.<\/p>\n

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My mother-in-law and father-in-law celebrating his birthday.<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I did a Google search for crocchette, Google turned up about 1,730,000 results in 0.51 seconds.\u00a0 When I searched for crocchette patate e carne (potato and meat croquettes), Google returned 1,500,000 results in 0.72 seconds.<\/p>\n

And that was doing searches in Italian!<\/p>\n

I found a Japanese woman who seems to have the same relationship to her mother\u2019s meat and potato croquettes (korokke<\/a>) as my husband and his family have to his mother\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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The meat for these \u201cmeatballs\u201d (a word I\u2019ll use in deference to my husband and his family of origin) is boiled before being finely chopped.\u00a0 This presents a perfect opportunity to make a really nice beef broth.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to do that, of course, but since you\u2019re going to be boiling the meat anyhow, and since it only takes a few extra minutes to throw some aromatics into the pot, why not!<\/p>\n

The broth from the meat for the specific batch of meatballs shown in this blog is sitting in the freezer ready to be turned into Auntie Helen\u2019s Stracciatella<\/a>, which will be coming up on the blog next month.<\/p>\n

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If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com<\/a> and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven\u2019t seen Bertha\u2019s Flan<\/a> or Melinda\u2019s Drunken Prunes<\/a>, take a look.\u00a0 They will give you an idea of what I\u2019m looking for.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Marisa's Mystical Meatballs<\/h2>\n
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Marisa says she usually uses cross-cut beef shank for the meatballs. When we made them, she also had a piece of beef she bought for soup so we used both. In the end, we got \u00bd pound of cooked beef, with fat and gristle removed. Adjust the proportion of the other ingredients if you get substantially more or less cooked beef. If you want to use just cross-cut beef shank, I would try about 2 \u00bd-3 lbs. The beef is boiled and then finely chopped to make the meatballs, giving you the opportunity to make a really nice beef broth with just a few minutes more work.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>6 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>6 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span> 30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>16<\/span> meatballs<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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