Cooking styles greatly affect some major and sometime subtle differences in the way
our food tastes.  Cooking times also affect the texture and taste. What you are looking at
is not a pot of meatballs simmering in sauce, but meatballs I cooked tonight IN UMIDO.
In Umido is Italian for braising, the act of cooking something, usually a protein in a
liquid at a constant temperature just under boiling.  Or something close to that definition.
I had posted a picture on my Facebook page today of Calamari in Umido that I had
on vacation, a dish of calamari stewed/braised in tomato, pepperoncino, garlic, olive oil,
black olives, and white wine.  Tasty, no?  So, when thinking about what to make for
dinner tonight, I had IN UMIDO stuck in my head.  I had a nice bunch of fresh basil
plus some ground beef and ground pork, so, and this is how dinner starts around here,
I decided to create a baked meatball dish.
Just a note here..these are not your Sunday sauce meatballs.  Let's not confuse the
two.  This is a nice change-up from that recipe for a weekday meal.  For Sunday
meatballs, i'd never add some of these ingredients..for a stewed meatball, I thought
it was a nice idea.  Use 1/2 lb of ground beef, and 1/2 lb of ground pork, 1 egg,
beaten, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper, 4 large fresh basil leaves
chopped (never dried basil, ever.),1/8 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano 1 tsp. Olive oil, 4slices of bread soaked in milk, then squeezed, 1 tsp. breadcrumbs,
1 minced clove of garlic, and 1/2 finely diced medium onion.  Blend all ingredients
in a bowl with your hands till everything is well incorporated.  Form into 1 inch
meatballs and fry till brown on all sides in olive oil.  That should take about 10 minutes,
do it in batches if you can't fit them all.  Don't crowd the pan.

Drain some the pan drippings, and saute' the other 1/2 of the onion, small dice.  Add a
little salt and pepper and saute' until the onions are soft.  Add 1 can of crushed tomatoes
with a little salt and pepper.  Mix well.  In a medium baking dish add the meatballs and
pour the tomato over the top of them.  Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees and cover the
dish with aluminum foil.  Bake them for 35 minutes, turn the oven off, and let them sit
in the oven for 10 more minutes.  Let them rest for 5 minutes uncovered out of the oven
before serving.  Remove the meatballs to a serving platter and cover them.  Use the
sauce to dress a 1lb of Penne Rigate which you have cooked to al dente and tossed with
some black pepper and pecorino.  Don't over do the sauce..


Be very Italian with this meal.. Serve the Penne as a "Primo", then serve the
meatballs with a side salad or vegetable as a "Secondo"..very Italian.   This way you
savor the whole meal, you don't rush, and you enjoy all the work you did and you enjoy
the people you are sharing it with....Polpette con Basilico In Umido ...makes it just a
little more special!



P.S. did you notice how simple the sauce ingredients are?  The meatballs have so much
flavor and you're not cooking them for hours, the sauce should take lots of aromatics
from the basil in the meatballs.  And it will have a pronounced tomato flavor.  Che
Profumi! 
Serves 6.