The Best Italian Meatball Recipe from It Ain't Sauce It's Gravy

One of the best Italian meatball recipes is from the cookbook, It Ain't Sauce, It's Gravy. If you love a good Italian meatball, you must try this recipe!

I hope you are hungry because today we are talking Italian meatballs. Let me first tell you that I am a meatball snob. I very rarely order them at a restaurant.

Back in the summer I had the opportunity to go to a wonderful media dinner at Martorano's in Atlantic City.  Boy, does Steve Martorano know how to cook Italian! If I could, I would eat there once a week. And I would definitely order meatballs every time.  Since it's a little pricey (but worth every penny) and Atlantic City is not right around the corner, I thought it would be smart to get some of his recipes. And look what  my husband gave me on Christmas morning (minus the bowl of meatballs).  That man is a smart guy, isn't he?

It Ain't Sauce, It's Gravy has recipes in it that your Italian grandmother would make. It was hard to decide what to make first but I had to go with the Italian meatball recipe.

At the restaurant, meatballs are served as an appetizer with salad and ricotta cheese. Even Al Pacino says they are the best in the world. They were so good that I had to make some to store in my freezer. You never know when you might have a craving for meatballs.

I made a few subtle changes and baked the meatballs in the oven rather than frying them like the recipe says to. These meatballs require ground pork, beef and veal. I went to a butcher and bought an already mixed blend which worked out perfectly. I also used slightly less bread. Instead of one pound of stale hoagie rolls, I went with one large hoagie roll because that is all I had. The meatballs were perfect.

There are many other great recipes in this book. From the shrimp scampi to the different chicken cutlet recipes to desserts like red velvet cake and zabaglione, I will have plenty of great things to make for our Sunday dinners. I also love the real stories Steve tells about his upbringing in south Philadelphia and how food saved his life.

If you love old world Italian food, you will definitely want this cook book. The book can be purchased on Amazon and the original meatball recipe is on SunSentinel website.