Meatball Parm Hero
My family has a long love of the meatball parm hero. For us, it is the meal that my husband and kids and my son’s best friend would have in the summer while working on big projects. My husband is super handy and many summers, while I was at work, there would be massive projects like building a new patio, putting in insulation, changing windows, adding the occasional room.
These projects are still some of their best childhood memories. Today, when they talk about those summers, they never forget to bring up the lunchtime ritual: sweating in our house (we never had A/C), watching Law & Order reruns while eating meatball parm heroes.
These days, it is usually my husband who goes over to our son’s house to help him do projects but lunch, as is tradition, continues to be the meatball parm and some Law & Order.
Yesterday our son came over with his family and I thought it would be nice to create my own version of this favorite. It is tasty and filling but, best of all, brings us straight back to great times of building memories.
Speaking of memories…my memory was a little lacking when I prepared this particular recipe. I took videos for IG, but no photos for the blog! This subpar photo is a screenshot of a clip. Ugh. Good enough?
Meatball Parm Hero
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 medium yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 egg
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 grated Parmesan
- 24 oz marinara sauce
- 16 oz mozzarella
- 2 loaves Italian bread
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the panko bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl. Set aside. (You can use regular bread crumbs if you don't have panko.)
- Mince 1/2 of a yellow onion and put in a large bowl.
- Mince 2 cloves of garlic and add to the bowl.
- Add the ground beef to the bowl and mix it all together with your hands.
- Add the Italian seasoning and a sprinkle of salt and pepper to the meat mixture, and combine with your hands.
- Beat the egg in a cup and add it to the meat mixture, combining with your hands.
- Do I need to tell you to wash your hands?
- Add the milk and bread crumb mixture and combine with your hands.
- Pour in the grated Parmesan and mix with your hands until combined.
- Spray a baking dish lightly with cooking spray.
- Form meatballs. Mine are a bit larger than a tablespoon.
- Pour the sauce evenly over the meatballs.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Meatballs are fully cooked when a thermometer placed in the center registers 160 degrees.
- A few minutes before the meatballs are done, slice Italian bread into hero sized lengths (that can be according to your preference) and then slice them open.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven.
- Set your oven to broil and move the rack closer to the top shelf.
- Remove the foil and place slices of mozzarella cheese on top of the meatballs. You can put as much as you like, but I placed one slice for 1.5 meatballs. My cheese is for cheaters, the pre-sliced kind.
- Return the uncovered meatballs under the broiler, surrounding the dish with the sliced bread so it can toast.
- Broil until the cheese melted and bubbly and the bread is toasted. Keep an eye on the bread!
- Carefully plate your heroes: bottom bread, meatballs with sauce and cheese, top bread.
- A knife and fork will definitely help you to eat this delicious mess!
