adapted from C.Hirscheimer and M. Hamilton of Canal House
makes 70 meatballs
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally with wooden spatula, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook a couple minutes longer—you're going for translucence, not browning.
Preheat oven to 375° F and get out two sheet pans, four if you have them.
Gently mix together the ground meats, cooked onions, breadcrumbs, half and half, eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until just combined. Using a scooper and damp hands, portion meatballs into heaping tablespoon-sized balls, gently round them using your hands, and load up onto a sheet pan or two.
(I find that it is best to proceed through cooking the meatballs, then cooling them and freezing them, but you can freeze the frozen uncooked meatballs if you wish. I just like being able to take fully cooked meatballs from the freezer and warm them in marinara for a quick dinner.)
Line a sheet pan with baking parchment or foil and space out 20 meatballs. Bake for 20 minutes at 375°. (I usually bake two sheet pans at once, so I only need to do two baking rounds for this amount of meat.) Repeat baking remaining meatballs. Let cool before popping in freezer bags, if you're doing that.
Alternatively, you can pan fry the meatballs in olive oil, about ½ - inch deep, about 8 minutes per batch say the chefs. I have never done this because—what a mess! And it would take forever to cook 70 meatballs. However, they would be super crispy and delicious, so maybe I'll try it sometime. Until then, I can say that sheet pans in the oven is the way to go.