TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: The Flying Meatballs

February 16, 2015 at 8:13 am · Filed under Food Holidays, Giftable, Meat & Poultry

Six large meatballs are tucked under a
blanket of smooth tomato sauce. Photo by
Faith Tomases | THE NIBBLE.

There is a National Meatball Day: It’s coming up soon, on March 9th. And we know just how we’re going to celebrate: with lots and lots of The Flying Meatballs.

The Flying Meatballs is a side business established by an elegant restaurant in Whippany, New Jersey, Il Capriccio. The restaurant’s meatballs have been a perennial menu favorite, with patrons always asking for orders to go.

The Grande family, owners of the restaurant, decided that the meatballs were ideal for selling directly to consumers—that they would literally “fly off the shelves.” Hence the brand name.

Made in small batches, the meatballs are now sold direct-to-consumers at TheFlyingMeatballs.com). They’ll also be at a growing list of deli counters, currently at Balducci’s and King’s (listen up, Fairway!).

Six meatballs, blanketed in sauce, include a choice of:

The Classic Meatballs, a 50:50 blend of beef and veal, $16.00

100% Premium Beef Meatballs, $15.00

Organic Grass-Fed Meatballs, $25.00

The Three Meats Meatballs—beef, pork and veal—$15.00

100% Premium Turkey Meatballs, $15.00

The company sent us a sample of each, and we’re now a raving fan. Each order of meatballs is packed by the half-dozen in a velvety tomato sauce. The meatballs are bit: about 3.5 ounces in weight and about three inches in diameter. Two meatballs is more than enough for adults; small eaters and children will do well with one meatball. A big eater, we consumed them without the conventional pasta or submarine roll, with just a big salad. We were more than satisfied.

Everything is made from scratch, including the breadcrumbs. Just as at the restaurant, prime, natural cuts of meat and premium ingredients are combined into a dense yet tender texture. You get lots of great meat for the money.

Chef Grande has a degree in engineering, which enabled him to design and build a proprietary meatball extruder. The technology creates a replicate a perfectly hand-rolled meatball, just like his grandmother makes.

The meatballs are flash frozen after being made and keep their flavor and consistency until thawed and cooked.

“We’re bringing the comforts of Nonna’s kitchen to customers’ doorsteps,” says chef Natale Grande. The recipe, handed down through generations, rocks. We must give a shout out to the wonderful sauce. A velvety purée, more a gravy than a conventional chunky sauce, it is so good we would like to buy buckets of it and put it on everything.

DELICIOUS ACCOMPANIMENTS

Pasta

The company also sells premium imported pastas from Rustichella d’Abruzzo:

The curly al torchio (the torchio is the press that shapes them)

Bucatini, thick spaghetti with a hollow center

Casarecce, meaning “homestyle,” two-inch twists

Farro (spelt) penne rigate, short tubes with ridges

Fusilli, “little spindles,” a variation of corkscrew pasta

Spaghetti, the oldest cut (the name means “lengths of cords”)

Organic whole wheat spaghetti

Organic kamut pasta from pasta maker Gianluigi Peduzzi

Grating Cheeses

For a primo pasta experience, there’s a choice of six aged Italian cheeses:

Bundles of love. Photo courtesy The Flying Meatballs.

Vacche Rosse (“Red Cow”), 30 months aged), considered to be the finest Parmigiaino-Reggiano

Grana padano

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Percorino crotonese

Pecorino romano

Ricotta salata

You can see that it’s not all about Parmigiano-Reggiano. The next time you make pasta, consider one of the others. Check out our article, Italian Grating Cheeses.

Pasta Sauces

The same is true with the sauce. Much as a tomato sauce is beloved on pasta, consider other favorites from the Grande family, including:

Basil pesto

Classic tomato ragu (the signature San Marzano-based tomatoes sauce that envelopes the meatballs

Roasted garlic and broccoli rabe purée

Mascarpone fondu, a smooth and very creamy cheese sauce made from blend of mascarpone cheese and 18-month-aged Grana Padano cheese

Along with some fine olive oils and a mac and cheese (a blend of Gruyère, provolone and marscopone with a touch of nutmeg over imported gemelli pasta—we can’t wait to try it), TheFlyingMeatballs.com is a treasure trove for delicious Italian comfort food.

For a treat or a gift (the packaging is quite attractive), order a slew of meatballs. All are delicious, although our personal favorite was the complex layering of Three Meats.

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