Meatball Hero
Region: USA, Italian-American
Category: Breads (Sandwiches, Panini etc)
Season: Any
Difficulty: Easy but long cooking time

This is a purely Italian-American food, as heros don’t exist in Italy.  That’s how we grew up with them in New York, known as heros.  In Boston, they call them submarines, in Philadelphia, hoagies and New Orleans, po’boys.  They’re also known as grinders, torpedoes, wedges, and Italian sandwiches.  You would think that this is all easy, but for a top quality hero you’ll have to pay attention.  The meatballs should be made with sufficient bread so they are soft and they should not be more than 2-inches in diameter.  The tomato sauce should be rich, every so slightly sweet, and thick.  And the rolls–this may be the most important thing– should be about 8-inches long and have a medium-hard crust, but never a hard crust and never a soft crust.  When you assemble the hero, make sure there is just enough sauce to cover the meatballs and cheese and not enough to saturate the bread.  You will put more sauce on after it comes out of the oven.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Yield: Makes 10 servings
Preparation Time: 3 hours

For the meatballs

2 pounds ground beef

1 pound ground pork

4 cups fresh bread crumbs, soaked in 1 cup milk, then squeezed dry

3 large eggs, beaten

1 small onion, chopped

6 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

1 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

For the tomato sauce

3 1/4 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half, seeds squeezed out, and grated against the largest holes of a box grater down to the peel

One 12-ounce can tomato paste

Water

7 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. In a large bowl, mix the beef, pork, bread crumbs, eggs, onion, parsley, cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg well.  Place handfuls of this mixture in a food processor and process until pasty, preparing it in batches.  Form about 32 meatballs with your hands, keeping your hands wet with cold water so the meat doesn’t stick to them.  Arrange the meatballs on a baking tray or casserole and bake until brown, about 30 minutes.  Remove and set aside.  You can leave the oven on if you want as you will need it later.

3. In a large, deep flame-proof casserole heat the olive oil over medium heat with the garlic until it starts to sizzle in about a minute.  Add the plum tomatoes and tomato paste and dilute by filling the empty tomato paste can with water and adding it to the casserole.  Stir to mix well and add the oregano, sugar, salt, and pepper.  Cook until thick, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick, and reducing the heat to low or very low if it is sputtering too much.  Place the meatballs in the sauce for the last 30 minutes, continuing to stir when necessary.

4. Slice each roll in half, keeping them attached.  Place 3 meatballs in each roll, but don’t sauce them, and keep the sauce warm.  Lay some provolone and mozzarella cheese on top.  Cover with a few tablespoons of sauce, then sprinkle some parmigiano cheese on top.  Finish preparing the remaining heros.  Place all the heros, open side up, on a large baking tray and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the edges to the roll are crispy hard, about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and spoon some more sauce on each hero and serve.

Variation: 

Note: 

Posted: 12/13/2006