It comes as no surprise that meatballs were declared “Dish of the Year” by Bon Appétit magazine – “with a return to homey, comforting cooking this year, meatballs made it big, appearing on restaurant menus and kitchen tables everywhere”.   In fact, as a regular happy hour patron it seems that no restaurant menu seems complete without a slider of some sort – from Kobe beef sliders to pulled pork.

I recreated  Meatball Sliders in the TM Kitchen after enjoying many restaurant versions and am sharing the recipe here because they’re affordable, easy to make, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a child or an adult who won’t inhale them –  an ideal dish for the home cook!

Meatball Sliders

I bake the meatballs- its easy, less mess and uses less oil.

1/2 lb. ground pork

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 c. grated romano cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 c. fresh bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/4 c. Italian parsley, chopped

1/2 t. red pepper flakes

1 t. salt

1/2 t. ground pepper

1/2 c. Italian bread crumbs

15 small rolls

Prepared Marinara sauce

1/2 c. grated cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (375 if convection).

In a large mixing bowl, combine the meats, cheese, egg, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, pepper flakes, salt & pepper. Use fork or your hands to mix all ingredients well.  Form into 15 2-inch meatballs. Roll them in the Italian bread crumbs. Spray cookie sheet with oil and bake meatballs for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, split the rolls horizontally and lightly toast in toaster oven. Heat the marinara sauce in a small saucepan.

Serve meatballs on the rolls topped with marinara sauce and sprinkle with Romano cheese.

Serves 4-6 (as a main course)

Must go to the store now, Patriots losing miserably to Baltimore and will have to find solace in food.