Mozzarella Stuffed Pork Meatballs

As the fall and winter months approach, we'll be shifting out of a focus on grilling and back onto hearty indoor meals. One of our favorites is pasta, in just about every variety and configuration imaginable.  When summer finally dies down we'll be devoting a series of blogs just to different ways of making unique pasta sauces beyond the standard tomato or alfredo. As a little primer to that, and to have a break from all the non-stop grilling, today we'd like to share with you an interesting way to use cheap ground pork: cheese stuffed meatballs over linguine.

One of the grocery stores we shop at frequently has ground pork on sale for around $1.80, and there's just enough in the package either for a few burgers, or in this case, a bunch of delicious meatballs.

The meat alone simply won't do of course, so there's got to be a perfect blend of seasonings added in to get just the right taste. Recommended spices include garlic salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and any combination of Italian spices (oregano, basil, parsley, etc.) you'd like.

Adding in oats not only makes the meatballs better for you, but it also adds stability so they stay together. As long as you don't load in too much, you'll never even see them in the end product and they don't add an oatmeal taste at all.

A few eggs gives the meat the consistency needed so it can be mashed together and then formed into the proper shape.

While standard meatballs make a great addition to any pasta meal, we wanted to make things more interesting by stuffing them with mozzarella. Here we're using our go-to option of mozzarella balls marinated in olive oil and seasonings. These are typically available at the olive bar near the deli section down at your local super market. Because of the size of the balls, Megan pounded flat two small pieces of the ground pork, and then formed them around the mozzarella and rolled them until they get into the desired shape.

While the pasta and sauce is cooking, the meatballs are heated up on the stovetop until they are brown on all sides.

To make the meatballs really pop and to create a strong contrast, we ended up cooking them in a tomato based sauce, but then spooning a cream based sauce onto the actual pasta. The combination was simply amazing!  Although there are plenty of flavorful canned sauces, we prefer to whip up our own, and homemade sauces can actually end up saving you money - even over the cheapest brands. We'll be explaining how we make our sauces in future pasta themed blogs, so check back in the coming weeks and months as we continue to wind down grilling season and switch gears.

Cutting into the meatballs with a fork creates an explosion of gooey cheese that's immensely satisfying, and just as good as anything you'll get while ordering pasta at a restaurant. We had enough that there were leftovers the next day - made into stellar sub sandwiches for lunch!