Italian Meatballs

I found this wonderful recipe for meatballs on Beck's blog and modify based on what I have in my kitchen and what I could get my hands on.

Original recipe here

What I used

For the Meatballs
1/2 lb ground beef 1.3 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground veal
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan, Pecorino, or Romano Cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley Cilantro
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 cup fresh, fine bread crumbs  Used panko + water instead
(I just take a piece of gluten-free bread, rip it up into pieces, and them give the pieces a whirl in the blender. You can use Panko if you want, but you need the crumbs to be moist, so be sure to rehydrate them with 1/2 a cup of water when you mix them into the meat).

Happy meat balls awaiting going into the pan.

For the sauce

1 medium yellow onion, chopped I forgot to buy
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil drizzle instead
1/4 cup fresh basil, packed (use 2-3 tablespoons dried if fresh is not available. Maybe 1 tablespoon of Oregano too). I chopped mine up so I didn't have to take out the blender afterwards
1 + 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds (so essential! Don't skip!)
3 cans fire-roasted, diced tomatoes (14.5oz each) 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes + 1 baby can of tomato paste

What I did

Making the balls

Combine all the metal ball ingredients. Mix well with clean hands. Roll into balls.

Pan fry meatballs until golden outside, 80% cooked.

Making the sauce

Sauté garlic until slightly golden, add fire-roasted tomatoes (smells heavenly!), tomato paste and chopped basil. Add about a baby can of water to get right consistency for sauce. Season with salt + pepper. Add meat balls and simmer fo 10 minutes or until meal balls cook thoroughly.

Results:
Tender juicy meatballs. I'm sure it'd be even better if I had followed the original recipe to the T.  I'd definitely thick twice now when I consider ordering meatballs at a restaurant. Why eat out if I can make them just as good, if not better. #ShamelessBrag

Getting more of a a dish:
To make full use of this delicious sauce, I later boiled a bag of penne in salt water and serve the pasta along with meatball and its sauce. Lunch for work, done!