Meatball Skillet Bake

Serendipity. Have you ever received good news in the middle of an otherwise ordinary day that completely caught you off guard and changed the trajectory of your day?  Like putting  on an old pair of jeans and finding a twenty dollar bill in the pocket.👖 Nothing turns around my bad attitude faster than discovering unexpected cash.  💵

​Serendipity plays a role in the majority of my recipes creations as well.  I'm pretty sure that most of my most popular recipes were all discovered by accident.  When I'm out of one ingredient and I have to substitute another only to realize that the substituted ingredient really was the better choice all along.   When I try and recreate a restaurant meal from memory and I end up making something entirely different but equally delicious.  ​

On a recent freezer quarantine clean out, I discovered a plethora of leftover meatballs which were just screaming to be used in some sort of deliciously saucy and cheesy recipe.  Hello, Meatball Skillet Bake. 

I always thought of meatballs as an accompaniment to a big pasta dinner but why not let them take the spotlight and be the star of the meal for once?  Now that the carnivores (2) outnumber the non-meat eaters (me) in this house - I'm having to prepare more meat based meals than normal.  I've got to admit that once these meatballs were covered in rich, homemade tomato sauce and smothered in mozzarella cheese, even I was tempted to dig in.  

Meatball Skillet Bake
1 dozen meatballs
2 cups marinara sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

​Place meatballs in skillet in a single layer.

Pour marinara sauce over meatballs.

Sprinkle with cheeses.

Sprinkle with fresh basil.  

Cover and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 oven.  

Place pan under broiler to brown cheese. 

My family has given me the title of "sauce natzi" because of my strict regulation of my homemade spaghetti sauce.  I have a strict 'No Oversaucing" policy so as not to waste even a single drop of my precious homemade sauce.  If you're a fan of lots of sauce though - go for it and just drench these babies in tomato sauce before you pop them in the oven.  I wont judge you.  

Ciao!

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