Meatball Subs

Believe it or not, but every morning I make it to the gym and workout for about 45 minutes. Running, walking, biking, and some light weight work is included in the daily routine. I walk out feeling great, and every time I walk out, I notice the Subway sign outside, stating what the sandwich special of the day is. I should have this memorized by now, but I don’t. There is always the sandwich that catches my eye, the one that is rarely ordered but thought of a lot, and that is the meatball sub. I am a sucker for the standard roast beef sandwich, it is my go to sandwich, but the meatball sub is one of those subs that is on the tip of my tongue when I am about to place the order. I probably never order the sub because one I have never tried the Subway sauce, nor have I tried a meatball. No offense to Subway, but I cannot imagine they have a rocking meatball sub, which leads me to idea of making my own.

It’s funny because this week my wife actually asked me about meatball subs. She said “you know, I have never had a meatball sub”. I chuckled in disbelief, knowing that she grew up going to Cousins Subs,  and never tried a meatball sub, nor tried it anywhere else. She stated “I love all of your food, and would bet that your meatball sub is the best”. I was not about to argue with her on that point, so I set out to make her a really excellent meatball sub.

Meatballs:

• 1/2 lb of ground beef
• 3 Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 slices of white bread, crusts removed, torn into small pieces
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• handful of fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 1 shallot, grated
• Italian loaf of bread, or Italian rolls
• 4 slices of mozzarella cheese per sandwich

Use your favorite red sauce, or make your own, like I do. You could do a store bought marinara if you want as well, but since I had some time off for the holiday, it was my duty to make the sauce, all day long. Once your sauce is nice and hot, work on the meatballs.

Begin by soaking the bread in the milk, and let them soak for a few minutes. Get a large bowl out, and place everything in the bowl. Squeeze the milk from the bread and add this to the bowl. This is the dirty part. Get in there with your hands and get everything mixed and incorporated. Next form your balls and think about the size of them as you will place them onto the sub. Feel free to make a couple of different sizes.

Next is the bigger question. To bake, toss in a skillet, or do what I did, and simply submerge them right in the sauce. Make sure the meatball is completely covered, and continue to cook on simmer for about 45 minutes, or longer.

When you are ready to make your sub, you have a couple of options. I hollowed out the top of mine, thinking I could place the cheese on the bottom, fill with meatballs, and place a couple of more slices of mozzarella on top. The choice is yours. You decide.

Once your bread is decided on, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Add two slices of cheese to the bottom of the bread, and cook in the oven for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from the oven, and set your broiler to 425 degrees. Add the meatballs to the top of the cheese, cover with two more slices of the cheese, and place under the broiler, just until the cheese begins to bubble.  I added two under the cheese, then presented one meatball with a bit more sauce in the middle for presentation purposes.

The end result was a truly perfect and moist meatball that was full of flavor. The sauce itself was already rocking, and the cheese was something truly comforting. As my wife and I took on this sub, we were moaning over how awesome this sandwich was. No need for Subway, nor Cousins Subs for us.