Meatball Meltdown

Recipe Courtesy of Sandra Caraway

 

Ingredients

1 bag frozen meatballs
1 jar marinara sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup Italian blend cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

1 loaf fresh Italian bread, sliced

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place entire bag of meatballs in pot with sauce (can also add other seasonings if desired: garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste - With my ingredients, I didn't need to) and cook over medium heat until warmed completely through, about 10 minutes, stirring as needed. 

 

Place meatballs into a 9x13 baking dish, layering cheeses on top, ending with the parmesan. Slice the bread and top with butter and a little garlic salt.  Line the dish with slices of the Italian bread, as shown in the picture.

 

Bake approximately 25 minutes or until melted and bubbly. 

 

My thoughts:

The tastiness of the dish is completely reliant on the meatballs and sauce. So it is important that those two ingredients are very yummy and high quality.  I used Trader Joes Italian Style Meatballs (2 bags).  They were tender and delicious.  Ideally, it would be great to make your own!  But I haven't found a good meatball recipe yet.  If you know of one, send it my way! 

 

For the sauce, I used Rao's Homemade Marinara.  It was a lot pricier than the other marinara, but really good!  I got it at Target.  Same with the marinara, I'd love to have a recipe for making my own.

 

Concerning the bread, you need a crustier bread than normal French bread, otherwise it gets soggy in the sauce.  I chose a crusty baguette, but it was a couple days old and a bit too crusty.  Next time it needs to be fresh.

 

Lastly, if the bread is getting too brown, lay a piece of foil over the top during baking.  This saved my bread from burning.