Staring into the gaping mouth of a meatball sub—its beady, meaty eyes dripping with red sauce and gazing into the soul—elicits one of two reactions in my household: 1) Bring it! (me) and 2) WTF?!! (Nate and Alex).
Last week, I proposed the idea of serving a weeknight-meatball-sub-meal with the enthusiasm of a budding teenage girl who has just discovered food. Nate and Alex weren’t having it.
“You wanna do what with a what what now?” they asked.
And I replied: “I’m putting meatballs on a toasted bun, and it’s amazing, you just . . . you just don’t even KNOW!”
Luckily, they’ve learned to simply shrug their shoulders and say, “so it’s food, right?”
But a meatball sub is way beyond “food.” It’s an experience that can only be described in pre-adolescent memories of playing Pac-Man in the mall, hoping that one guy from the grocery store would pack your bags and smile—just for you—and you’d wonder what he did on his days off, and then you’d dream about beach vacations and Duran Duran—and realize: Hey! I’m just hungry! I should eat something and get back to my schoolwork, and look—here’s a hearty sub bursting with flavor!
Anyhoo, I decided that an informational survey/quiz would be just the thing to convince the rest of my Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks Team to try a meatball-sub delicacy. Here’s what the quiz/survey consisted of:
Question 1: You like toasted bread with butter, right? (Yes=10 points, No=0).
Question 2: You like meatballs, right? (Yes=10 points, No=0).
Question 3: You like red sauce, right? (Yes=10 points, No=0).
Question 4: You like mozzarella cheese, right? (Yes=10, No=0).
Question 5: You like all of these things together + a few slices of Nate’s Pickled Peppers, right? (Yes=10, No=0).
My team scored a 40/50. They weren’t sure about the last question, but I would not back down. I made my meatball sub, and you can too. Here are the steps/ingredients:
Sauce:
–one can of tomato sauce
–two tablespoons of Italian herb spices (dried)
–1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)
–1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
–1 teaspoon of salt
–2 teaspoons of sugar
Combine everything in a small saucepan and heat on low, until warm.
Meatballs:
–1 pound of lean, ground beef
–2 teaspoons of garlic powder
–2 tablespoons of Italian herb spices (dried)
–1 teaspoon of salt
–1 egg (or ¼ cup of egg substitute)
–1 slice of bread (soak in milk and squeeze/drain)
Add all of the ingredients together and mix with your hands. Use a cookie scoop to drop mounds onto a baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.
Bread:
–Toast the top side of a hoagie roll (under the broiler)
–Turn the bread over and spread a tablespoon of butter or margarine.
–Toast until bubbly.
Assemble: Place meatballs into the bread, top with the sauce, and mozzarella cheese (if desired). Banana peppers taste great on this sandwich as well.
Results:
Bragging rights for the chef! Not only did Alex and Nate enjoy their meal, but they also went back for seconds. Victory tastes saucy!
Your Turn: What’s a food you craved as a teenager? Discuss!
Fixin' Leaks and Leeks 
Yummy, I love the meatballs!!!
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They are the best:)
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My husband loves meatball subs. They’re too messy for me. (Not to be persnickity or anything.)
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This was the first time that I ever served them to my family–it was fun.
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They’re very tasty–but not something one wants to eat in public.
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That looks completely yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe. 🙂 Teenager cravings were always about pasta. I still crave it, so nothing much has changed except my waistline. 😉
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I love, love, love pasta! We have pasta every Tuesday night in our house. Cheers, to pasta!
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You had me at the words “Meatball Sub.” Very creative quiz. Teenage me had high calorie food cravings that tended towards ice cream sandwiches. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate dough. That and hot fudge sundaes with real hot fudge not that watery chocolate sauce. And now I’m craving hot fudge! Loved this post. Best, Babsje
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Yes! I have great memories of eating gigantic sundaes with peanut butter sauce, marshmallow sauce, and hot fudge sauce–with tons of candy sprinkled all over. I think my stomach would revolt after two bites now, but it sure was fun during those teenage years.
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yummy! My youngest son made meatball subs on Thursday for our dinner. I posted about it here https://loriizeit.wordpress.com/2021/08/05/meatball-subs/ Who doesn’t love a good meatball sub?
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What a treat!
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I’m a huge fan of meatball subs. I scored a 50 out of 50 on the quiz. (I haven’t had Nate’s pickled peppers, but I’m highly confident that I would like them and I always get pepperoncini on my meatball sub.
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The peppers turned out really good. They’re kind of spicy at first, and then they mellow out to a sweet flavor.
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Teenage craving….McDonald’s French fries
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Oh, that is a good one!
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💗💗
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I’d make this just for the meatballs! When I was a teenager, I loved the meatball subs from Mr. Submarine–it’s just not the same on GF bread, but the meatballs are great on their own!
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Meatballs are good all by themselves. I’m noticing more restaurants serving them that way as an appetizer–yum!
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I don’t understand the problem. I would have just answered, “yes, please, every night please”.
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I know! But now, Alex and Nate are big fans, so that’s the fun part.
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