Meatballs in White Wine Sauce (Polpette della Nonna)

This is one of Chef Andrea's recipes as written by another blogger. 
Recipe says serves 4, YMMV

Ingredients 

For the meatballs:

1 pound ground meat (the ideal mixture is 70% beef and 30% unseasoned pork sausage, squeezed from their casings, or just plain ground pork if you can't find unseasoned sausages)

1 egg

1 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano Cheese

1/3 cup grated Fontina or Edam Cheese

1/2 loaf leftover or day-old bread such as baguette or ciabatta, torn into small pieces and soaked in milk (no crust, use only the soft part of the bread)

1 T salt

Pepper

1/2 cup fine dry unseasoned breadcrumbs (not panko)

For the sauce:

5 T extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, lightly smashed, skin on

1 glass dry white wine, preferably Chardonnay

Fresh herbs of your choice, roughly chopped (sage, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, etc.)

Instructions

In a large bowl, use your hands to mix together the ground meat, grated cheeses, egg, the bread soaked in milk and salt and pepper. Mix it powerfully until it's completely smooth and all the ingredients are blended to uniformity. Set aside for about half an hour to let it rest.

Shape the meat mixture into meatballs, making sure to roll them in your hands firmly until they are compact balls slightly smaller than a golf ball with no cracks, gaps or lines. Roll them in the breadcrumbs just until they're lightly coated.

In the meantime, in a large shallow frying pan over low heat, heat the olive oil and cook the garlic until it starts to become golden.  Raise the heat to medium-high and begin adding the meatballs. Make sure not to crowd the pan too much, else they'll steam instead of brown. Fry until they're nicely browned outside but still a bit undercooked on the inside. Work in batches and add all the meatballs back into the pan before you proceed to the next step.

Now add the wine and fresh herbs and cook, covered, for 10-15 minutes until the majority of the wine has evaporated. During this time the meatballs will cook all the way through, but make sure to turn them once or twice so they get nicely coated with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.

~Source: Chef Andrea Consoli, Cooking Classes in Rome (with permission)

http://www.cookingclassesinrome.com/

I took a cooking class in Rome, Italy with friends Jay and Bruce.  It was an amazing experience and one of the highlights of the trip.  Chef Andrea uses fresh and local ingredients.  We learned a lot of tips, like leaving the skin on the garlic, that’s where the nutrients are. This was not one of the recipes we made in class, therefore I don't have meatballs tips from Chef A. I referenced the garlic tip because "we Americans" have been taught to peel our garlic. I found this recipe on someone else's blog who took one of Chef Andrea's classes.  I was going to reference the blog but it appears the recipe has been removed. I asked Chef Andrea if I could post the recipe in my blog after I made it.  Permission granted. ;)  

Patti’s Notes: I used 1 pound Ground Beef and ½ pound Ground Pork.  For the cheeses: Parmesan and Fontina.  One small Baguette (crust removed) and fresh Rosemary from my yard.  I put the torn bread in a bowl and covered the bread with milk, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup.  After I mixed the meat and set aside to rest, I got the potatoes ready for roasting.  
I used a ¾” diameter scoop for the meatballs then rolled them until firm with no cracks (as indicated in the instruction). When I started mixing the meat I thought I should have grated the cheeses finer, but they worked into the meat mixture just fine.

Two Oven Mitts Up.  The meatballs were seriously delicious.  
I served them with Chef Andrea's Rosemary Roasted Potatoes.  I think they would also go perfectly with mashed potatoes or over pasta.