Gorgonzola-Stuffed Meatballs In Arrabbiata Tomato Sauce Recipe

If you've ever wondered if meatballs could possibly get any better, you've come to the right place. Already a mouth-watering addition to mounds of pasta and toasted hoagie rolls, the tomato-braised meatball is an Italian classic that is made best with a simmering pot and a day's worth of patience. Once you've mastered the tender, juicy Italian meatball, you need to level it up: And the best way to do that is by stuffing it with cheese.

Instead of typical mozzarella, a mild and gooey cheese, recipe developer Michelle McGlinn shares a meatball recipe stuffed with pungent and tangy gorgonzola. Coupled with sauteed spinach, the meatballs have a salty, umami flavor with just a little bit of funk. To balance the rich, savory flavor, the stuffed meatballs are simmered in a classic spicy arrabbiata sauce. The sauce, made with red pepper flakes, tomatoes, and plenty of garlic, showcases the beauty of Italian cooking, using just a few ingredients to make a simple sauce wonderfully flavorful. Serve these meatballs on top of your favorite pasta, as sandwiches in a hoagie roll, or simply on their own for a dinner that is delicious from the inside out.

To make the meatballs, you'll need ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, rosemary, basil, salt, and pepper. The beef should be the same mixture you'd use to make hamburgers, about 80/20% lean to fat. You can also incorporate ground pork for extra juicy meatballs. To stuff the meatballs, grab some olive oil to saute the spinach, then grab a container of crumbled gorgonzola (you can also crumble whole gorgonzola yourself). If you can't find gorgonzola, blue cheese is a close substitution. From there, you'll just need sauce ingredients. You'll need onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, whole peeled tomatoes, and basil for garnishing.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a small skillet over medium heat.

Add the spinach and cook till it's just wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Arrange a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, rosemary, basil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.

Divide the meat into 8 portions and form them into discs.

Divide the gorgonzola and cooked spinach between discs.

Form a ball around the cheese and spinach and pinch it closed, then roll smooth.

Add the meatballs to the baking sheet and bake them for 10 minutes, or until just barely browned.

In the meantime, heat the remaining tablespoon oil in a deep skillet over medium heat.

Add the garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes and saute until softened, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Cook until tomato paste begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as you add them to the pot. Bring to a simmer and season with remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper.

Add the meatballs, cover, and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Serve immediately, garnished with fresh basil, if desired.

A trademark of Italian cooking is the use of fresh, high-quality ingredients. To make the best tomato sauce, you don't need the entire spice cabinet or any super-secret ingredients. What you need is great tomatoes. This sauce tastes best with San Marzano tomatoes, which (because they are imported) are sold peeled and in cans. These are a little different than your standard Roma, though the two look the same: San Marzano are less acidic, jammier, and sweeter than hybrid Romas. Because they are only sold whole, we recommend them in this simple sauce recipe.

If you can't find these or are working with the existing contents of your pantry, don't worry; the sauce tastes almost as good with sauce, puree, crushed, or diced tomatoes. For the quickest version with the most flavor, use a tomato puree. You'll need about the same amount of puree as you do tomatoes — so look for a jar of about 25 ounces of tomato. If you're really in a pinch, you can also use premade arrabbiata sauce — you can always adjust the flavor by adding more red pepper flakes or garlic.

Meatball recipes vary between calling for them to be baked in the oven first for a while or adding them into the skillet right away. In fact, you can bake the meatballs entirely, too, but we think using a little bit of both methods works best. The reason why is twofold: First, baking the meatballs releases the grease onto the sheet tray instead of into the sauce, so the sauce doesn't risk being overly greasy.

The second reason is that browning the meatballs in the oven allows them to shrink and set, which helps them stay together in the sauce rather than breaking open. Since the meatballs are stuffed, this is especially helpful in ensuring the cheese stays in the meatball and doesn't melt into the sauce instead. Of course, a little gorgonzola in the sauce never hurt anybody — if the meatballs do break open, the gorgonzola will melt and enhance the sauce with funky flavor. If you prefer to bake the meatballs in their entirety, bake them in a casserole dish, covering the meatballs in the arrabbiata and baking until cooked through.