Hey Mambo, Mambo Italiano

 Ahhh...a delicious plate of meatballs, that's what I made for dinner the other night.  I channeled my inner Italian (even though I'm half German/half Irish), hummed a little "Mambo Italiano," and went to work on my meaty masterpiece.  I have never made meatballs before, and I have to say that I loved it.  What is more Italian cuisine than meatballs?  I think back to the "Everybody Loves Raymond" show, where his mother would always critique his wife's cooking in general, but in particular her lack of ability in the meatball department.  It seemed to be a benchmark in the art of Italian cuisine.  That's why when I successfully made these big fellas, I was immensely proud.

 Besides being proud, I was also apparently quite hungry.  Here's the truth...these are staged photos.  The night I made them, I was so excited that I jumped right in and devoured them.  Well, it was probably hunger coupled with the fact that I was feeding myself, a friend, and 4 kids 4 and under.  Of course chaos was aplenty, so between my two good buds: chaos and hunger...pictures didn't happen.

Pictures also didn't happen the next day when I reheated some meatballs for lunch.  Nope, I heated them up and devoured them again.  Are we seeing a pattern here?  So finally on day 3, I remembered before I warmed them up (I didn't want to start smelling them, salivating, and forget again to take pics).  So yes, these are staged pictures of cold meatballs.  Cold meatballs are better than no meatballs, eh?  Why does that sound like it should be a bumper sticker...

So you are wondering I'm sure, did I just sit around for three days eating meatballs?  Well, sort of.  On night one, I paired the meatballs with spaghetti (mostly for all of the kiddos), as well as green beans.  Also included in this fantastic Rach recipe, is a cool basil ricotta.  AH-HA! (That was my angel choir again).  How the recipe is intended to be served, is to pair the meatballs with a warm ciabatta loaf and this cool basil ricotta.  I vote a glass of chianti or your favorite red wine and mange bien (Eat Well)!  So on Days 2 and 3, that's essentially how I ate.

If you are feeling a little "Mambo Italiano" welling up in you, channel it into these amazing meatballs!  Blast the song from the internet, dance around the kitchen with your chianti, and WOW Raymond's mom...or the people who live in your house.

Link to Rachael Ray's Sicilian Meatballs Recipe

***Some side tips in making this.  It yields 12 baseball size meatballs.  I halved the recipe, and ended up with 9 generous size meatballs.  Also, I really have no clue what a currant is or where to find one, so I opted out of these. I believe they are a dried fruit? I looked in that aisle to no avail.  I bet a dried fruit would be yummy too, but I loved these meatballs as I ate them currant-free.  Mange Bien!