Hancock’s Huge Meatballs Recipe
I call this “Hancock’s Huge Meatballs Recipe”! Earlier this month my wife and I finally got around to seeing the Will Smith movie “Hancock”. It’s a great movie and we both recommend it. In the movie Will Smith is eating at a families house when they are having spaghetti and meatballs, something they said they do each week on the same night. The very unusual thing was that the bowl of spaghetti was huge, and the meatballs were the size of a small fist (literally). I mean there was probably only a half dozen meatballs in the bowl. During the movie my wife actually turned to me and said “those are the hugest meatballs I’ve ever seen!”. So on the way home from the movies, true to fashion I told her that I was just going to have to make them!
I remembered that a few years ago I made an Italian pan-fried meatloaf from a recipe that I found. In fact, cooking a huge pan of meatloaf on the stove was kind of how I learned to cook and based the recipe for my Best stovetop hamburgers in the world! My family may have had their doubts at first, but I knew that there would be no problem cooking huge meatballs that size all the way through.
So the first thing I had to do was figure out what kinds of things I wanted to have in the meatballs. What came to mind was the fact that good (huge) meatballs need moisture, flavor, consistency – and I wanted them to be the feature of the dish, far and above the sauce. I was just going to use a good premium jar sauce (cop out I know!).
This is the list of ingredients I ended up using:
- 5 lbs ground chuck
- 1 med green pepper, chopped
- 1 med vidalia onion, chopped
- 2 cups fresh chopped spinach (reg, not baby spinach)
- 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf Italian parsley
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups freshly grated day old french bread (you can use seasoned breadcrumbs if you like)
- 2 cups fresh grated Fontina cheese
- about 3-4 cloves freshly chopped garlic (depending on size)
- a splash of extra virgin olive oil
- about 2 lbs of spaghetti noodles
- about 2 jars of spaghetti sauce
You’re probably looking at the recipe thinking – 5 lbs of meat, are you kidding me? I wanted to make sure each person got about 2 meatballs and there was plenty left over to share with anyone else in the family who heard about them and wanted to try. You can easily halve this recipe to make less. This version could easiy feed 8-12 people depending on portion size.
To get started place the ground beef in the largest mixing bowl you have. Then chop the onion and pepper and dump them in. I chose to use regular spinach rather than baby spinach because I knew it would cook better in the meatballs and not fall apart. Add your freshly grated breadcrumbs (or regular ones), garlic, chopped spinach, grated fontina cheese, and chopped parsley. I specifically used fontina cheese for it’s sharp taste and higher moisture compared to parmesan or romano cheeses. Now, you have to mix it up really, really well with your hands (it’s just impossible to do with nearly any utensil). To get everything mixed well you just might have to act like you’re kneading dough, turning it over and over again while mixing. Once mixed, make meatballs about the size of a small fist. I have an oversized frying skillet with lid (maybe 14″? I’m not sure – it’s big!) and I made about 16 meatballs out of the 5 lb+ meat mixture. That means that each meatball was roughly about 1/3 lb. You can see why each person only needs 1-2 meatballs.
Once I made all the meatballs and placed them in the pan, I spashed the tops with a bit of extra virgin olive oil for good measure and a little bit of sea salt – they I tightly covered them and turned the burner on to med-high. On my gas stove these only needed to cook about 20 minutes, and be turned 3 times (5 minutes each time). This way they get cooked evenly and they get a little crispy on the outside but they are sooooo juicy and tender on the inside! Your mileage may vary for cook time depending on your stove and where you live – 20 minutes worked for me.
Once the meatballs were about half done I started cooking the noodles and sauce so they would be ready. I served these by using big serving bowl, and put the plain noodles in first, then a meatball or two (depending on adult or child), then I sauced it, and put a little bit more fresh grated Fontina cheese over the top!! I have to say, this recipe turned out even better than I had expected – and these were definitely the best meatballs ever!
Have you ever created a recipe or cooked something because you saw it in the movies or on TV?
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