When Frank and I got married, one of my best friends rallied the women in my life — family and friends — to put together a personalized cookbook for me. Some of the recipes are go-tos for these awesome ladies, and some of them are family recipes that they chose to pass down to me. One of the most significant recipes in the book, in my mind at least, is one for Nana’s Meatballs. Nana is Frank’s Italian grandmother, and her meatballs are a thing of legend to my husband. My sister-in-law graciously passed down the recipe on Nana’s behalf, and it is now the only meatball recipe we really make.
But recently, I was in the mood for something a little different, so I did the unthinkable and modified Nana’s meatballs, taking them on a little trip to Thailand! I used my mini food processor (side note: handiest kitchen tool when you don’t want to/need to bust out a full-sized processor!) to create a fragrant paste of lemongrass, coconut flakes and garlic. Then, I added the paste to my ground pork and breadcrumbs, added the egg, and mushed together my meatball base.
Beyond the drastic difference in flavor profile, I also chose to bake these meatballs rather than pan fry them — sorry, Nana! The meatballs were nice and crispy on the outside and bursting with flavor on the inside, so I think saving us the oil consumption was well worth it.
Soup seemed to be the best vessel to serve these in, so I threw together a super simple Thai-inspired beef broth with rice noodles. It’s like if Sunday Supper at Nana’s took a Southeast Asian vacation!
Thai Meatballs
Yield: 12 meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
1 stalk of fresh lemongrass
2 Tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes
2 cloves garlic
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 c. unseasoned breadcrumbs
4 eggs
Thai Soup
4 c. beef broth
1 c. water
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 package rice noodles
Handful of cilantro leaves
1 lime, cut into wedges
Chili flakes (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Using a paring knife, cut a slit all the way up the length of the lemongrass stalk through the tough outer stalk. Peel away the tough outer stalk to revel the soft center of the lemongrass. Cut the center into smaller sections and add to your food processor with the coconut flakes and garlic. Pulse the ingredients in the food processor until you have a finely chopped paste.
In a large bowl, Add the pork, breadcrumbs, lemongrass mixture and eggs. Mix together with your hands to fully combine. The mixture should be sticky but firm enough to hold shape when rolled into balls. If the mixture is too wet, add 2 Tbsp. of bread crumbs at a time until the correct consistency is achieved.
Roll the mixture into golfball-sized balls and set on an unlined baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking oil (use a sheet with sides — some grease will collect and you don’t want that in the bottom of your oven!). Bake meatballs for 15-20 minutes until cooked through, moving them around to promote even browning about halfway through.
Soup
If you want to serve your meatballs in a soup, combine the beef broth, water and fish sauce in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes.
When you are ready to serve, bring a separate pot of water to a boil and cook the rice noodles according to the directions. Usually, rice noodles cook in just 3 minutes or so.
Portion out a serving of rice noodles into the bottom of each bowl, ladle the beef broth over the top, add three meatballs to the bowl, and garnish with cilantro, a squeeze of lime and chili flakes (if desired).
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