In honor of the San Gennaro Festival, an annual New York City tradition of 11 days of Italian food and fun on the streets of Little Italy, one of Rach's favorite Italian chefs Scott Conant stops by to make some tasty sammies—the old fashioned way.
From toasted garlic-butter rolls to basil-infused tomato sauce, this recipe is the real deal.
- 1 pound ground veal
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- ¾ cup panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs), soaked in milk for 30 minutes then squeezed dry
- ⅓ cup parsley, very thinly sliced or shredded
- 2 teaspoons fresh oregano, very thinly sliced or shredded
- 1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
- ⅓ cup grated pecorino-romano cheese
- 2 tablespoons salt, plus ½ teaspoon
- ¼ teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 tablespoon fennel seed, toasted
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Olive oil and butter, for cooking
- Pomodoro sauce, warmed through
- Grated garlic
- Melted butter
- 6 hero rolls
- About ¾ cup parsley, chopped
- About 1 ½ cups Pomodoro sauce
- About 18 slices mozzarella di bufala
- Pecorino Romano cheese, for topping
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for topping
For the Pork and Veal Meatballs: Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a large bowl, combine the ingredients except for the eggs, olive oil and butter. Fold in the eggs.
Shape into meatballs using your hands or a 2.5 ounce ice cream scoop and place on a work surface.
In a large cast-iron pan, heat olive oil and butter over high heat until hot. Sear the meatballs, then transfer the pan to the oven until meatballs are cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to an oven-proof pot with the warmed pomodoro sauce and cook in the oven for another hour or so.
For the Sandwich: Stir some garlic into melted butter. Halve the rolls lengthwise and then brush the cut-side with the garlic butter and sprinkle with parsley. Toast the rolls.
Top the bottom half of each roll with a few slices mozzarella, 3 meatballs, and some sauce and grated cheeses. Set the roll top into place and cut in half.
