Ricotta Meat Balls

• 1/2 lb extra lean ground beef
• 1/3 lb light ricotta
• 1 boiler onion, minced
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp each toasted fennel seed, oregano, basil, black pepper
• 2 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing
• Side:
• spaghetti squash
• marinara sauce
• pecorino romano

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grind all the spices together in a spice grinder.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a rubber spatula or your hands.
3. No need to go overboard, a gentle kneading to bring the mixture will get you more tender and juicy meat balls.
4. Using an ice cream scoop, drop mounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. You can get about 12 to 15 portions. Brush with a light dab of olive oil on the top to help with the browning, then pop them in the oven to bake for 15 minutes..
5. They should be nice and caramelized, shrunken quite a bit, with cheese oozing out.
6. Goes nice with spaghetti squash, baked for an hour (until it's tender enough to rake my fork through and make angel hair pasta with it). Fluff up the flesh, stirred in some olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake it some more. Top it with them meat balls, marinara, and pecorino romano. Then broil the whole thing to a golden, stringy, bubbly mess.

extra lean ground beef, light ricotta, onion, egg, basil, garlic, parsley, salt, olive oil, marinara sauce, pecorino romano

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/ricotta-meat-balls-51546771 (may not work)