When it comes to cheeses, I love them all. But I’m an especially big fan of gorgonzola cheese and highly doubt I’ll ever get sick of it. I also enjoy meatballs quite a bit and love that there are so many different ways to prepare them. I don’t generally cook a whole lot from Rachael Ray (though her magazine is quite fun), but when I saw a recipe for Gorgonzola-Filled Meatballs with Creamy Tomato Gravy, I was filled with all kinds of inspiration. And I knew I had to make it. I altered the recipe quite a bit, so below you’ll see mine. Now, I’m sitting here in Bruegger’s Bagels desperately wishing they served gorgonzola filled meatballs because a bagel just isn’t going to cut it for me.
Gorgonzola Filled Meatballs with Creamy Tomato Gravy (Serves 4)
- 2 lbs. ground beef
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- 2 handfuls parmesan, grated
- 2 handfuls plain bread crumbs
- 3 T sage leaves, finally chopped
- 4 oz. gorgonzola
- 1 T butter
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 C chicken stock
- 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 C cream
I chopped all my veggies to start. I find if you do all this tedious work in the beginning, cooking is SO much easier. Then you just have to throw everything together without stopping for more chopping. Of course, I used my Chef’n VeggieChop for the onions and my GarlicZoom for the garlic, which also made things easier. I’m totally shamless about plugging them, I know. But I’m sort of hoping they offer me a job and/or offer to stock my whole kitchen full of Chef’n.
The original recipe called for beef and veal, but I chose to use all ground beef, though I’m sure the addition of veal would have been fabulous.
Place the meat in a mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper and add in garlic, eggs, parmesan, bread crumbs, and sage.
Mix it all together.
Roll into large balls- I got 9. But obviously if you make them smaller you’ll get more; bigger you’ll get fewer.
Coat the meatballs with extra-virgin olive oil.
Use a wooden spoon to make an indentation halfway into the meatball and fill the cavity with gorgonzola cheese. The original recipe called for an insane amount of cheese to be added (8 ounces!), but I thought 4 was more than enough. Fill them with as much cheese as you want though, but remember gorgonzola can be a bit strong and you don’t want to completely overpower the meatball.
Pop these in the oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until they’re golden brown and cooked through.
In the meantime, you can get started on the creamy tomato gravy/sauce. Heat 1 T extra virgin olive oil and butter in medium saucepan over medium heat and add bay leave and onion. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the chicken stock and tomatoes and heat through. Then stir in the cream, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for about 10 minutes to thicken slightly. In my attempts to be healthier, I used light cream (what? I wasn’t feeling guilty about using 2 lbs. of ground beef and gorgonzola cheese or anything. And light cream made everything better, right?). So, my sauce probably didn’t thicken as much as it should have, but I still liked it.
Take your meatballs out of the oven and marvel over how delicious they look!
All thoughts of unhealthiness left my head when I saw/smelled these. SO worth it.
Ladle some sauce into a bowl and top with a meatball. I sprinkled a little more parmesan cheese on top BECAUSE IT NEEDED MORE CHEESE! No?
I briefly considered serving with pasta. But then settled on spinach instead. Go me!
These were simply amazing. I could have eaten all 9 at once, but instead they made for some really fabulous leftovers. Lunch, dinner, if my dad was here he would have eaten them for breakfast (he eats EVERYTHING for breakfast!).
I will definitely be making these again and also feel like they’d be an awesome party food. I’d probably make them a little smaller for a party, but for personal consumption (?!) they were the perfect size.
Come to think of it, you can really fill meatballs with absolutely anything. But gorgonzola cheese is probably your best bet. Trust me on this one.
[Sues]
yummmm-o! (i love rachael ray. i love her orange accessories but she annoys me at the same time!!)
These look scrumptious! Did you use bouillon for the chicken stock? I am usually weary of doing so, but it would be soooo much more convenient than always buying cans of stock. And easier to carry on the T after going to the grocery store!
oooh this looks delicious, definitely adding this to my ever growing list of recipes to try.
Holy yum! These looks amazing! Gorgonzola is one of my favorites!!
holy cow, i totally want one of those
they look fabulous!
This sounds absolutely divine!
Aww, the power of cheese. I love cheese and these meatballs look delicious!
I’m researching meals right now for a dinner I’m making on Saturday night- this looks PERFECT!!!!
Looks delicious! What a great idea…stuffed meatballs. I love gorgonzola!
Cute blog you two! We also are big cheese lovers – makes these meatballs look really tasty!
1) YUM
2) fun fact: i made that parm cheese (and all the stella cheese) labels
I’m lucky because I get to try most of Sues’s delicious dishes.. This one is one my personal favorites. The recipe makes plenty so I was able to keep fed at work for several days!
whoa, delish! mmm mmm mmm.
Such a good party food. I want to try this the next time I am invited somewhere.
A meatball sub was one of my favorite meals as a kid. As an adult, it still is one of my favorites, but having a giant meatball served in a bowl of tomato soup seems so much more elegant, but just as tasty! Chris might be the luckiest guy around to have a GF like you to make these awesome meals
You’re doing a mighty fine job selling those GarlicZooms. My work team did a massive cooking class together last night and my teammate Ashley bought one explicitly because she saw it here. I’m still using a press so consider me in the market as well.
Definitely perfect party food! My mouth is watering just looking at the pictures!
I love meatballs and these have all of my favorite ingredients. They look and sound great.
I made these today…wonderfully delicious and easy!
Made these over the weekend, they were AMAZING! Served them with Barilla picolini pasta and an argula salad tossed in lemon juice/evoo vinagrette. DIVINE!
Made these last night and oh my holy GOD how delicious.