Steelers game day grub: Meatball subs
By Kim Myers
The Steelers take on the Cleveland Browns in an AFC North action sure to get you hungry for some grub.
The weather is getting cooler and that means it’s time to turn up the heat on your football snacks. No plates of room temperature cheese and crackers are going to cut it this time of year. Get out of here with those veggie trays. We need warm meats and cheeses to satisfy our football cravings.
The Steelers host the Browns on Sunday which is about as old school a rivalry as you can get, although you can’t really call it a rivalry anymore if the other team hardly ever wins. The Cleveland Browns most of us were raised to hate moved to Baltimore and had purple thrown up all over them.
Still, it never gets old beating the Browns and to get us ready for the annual win over the team from the mistake on the lake let’s have some meatball subs.
I feel like there’s a common theme of balls in the majority of my recipes this season. I’m perfectly ok with that. More food should be made into balls. Easier to eat that way and you can fill the balls with various things, mainly cheese.
So for these meatball subs we’re making cheese-stuffed meatballs, because why not? If someone tells you that there is too much cheese on something or in something, stop talking to them. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.
The meatball recipe is my Aunt Bonnie’s meatball recipe. My Aunt Bonnie is the sweetest, most genuinely caring person on the planet. And her meatballs are as good as she is.
For the meatballs you’ll need a pound of ground pork and a pound of ground beef. Her rule is one egg for each pound of meat so start with 2 eggs and add or take away depending on how much of the recipe you’re making. A third of a cup of seasoned bread crumbs and the same amount or so of grated parmesan cheese.
Chopped fresh parsley and basil, and enough chopped garlic to kill any vampires in a 1,000-mile radius. If you think you’ve added too much garlic, add a little bit more. That’s Aunt Bonnie’s cooking motto. Words to live by.
Form the meatballs and place a dimple in the middle of the ball. You’ll need a container of fresh mozzarella either diced up or sometimes you can find mozzarella pearls, those are ideal for this. Form the ball around the cheese and arrange on a baking sheet.
If the meatballs are about 1 ½ – 2 inches in diameter they’ll bake for about 25-35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. After that point you can cool and freeze some or pop them in a saucepot or slow cooker filled with your favorite marinara sauce.
To build your subs you’ll want to toast your buns. Have I gone over the importance of toasting your buns? Sandwiches just aren’t the same on soggy, soft bread. To really give your meatball subs some flavor you can use some of those loaves of frozen garlic bread and just cut them into sub size.
Fill your desired toasted vehicle full of tasty, cheese-stuffed meatball and sauce goodness and top with more cheese because this is America, and you can do that.
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Enjoy the game and the grub! Here we go Steelers! Here we go!