Cheesy Stuffed Meatballs & Farro Salad with Fried Cauliflower and Prosciutto

I had "pinned" this recipe a while back and am so glad I finally made it. These little meatballs were so good. It was like an inside out cheese burger. And the cheese that oozed out and crisped up on the baking dish was not to be wasted.  This is on the "must be made again" list!

Cheesy Stuffed Meatballs from Around the Table: Loving Food in RI and Beyond

 Ingredients-

1 lbs 93% (or your fav) ground beef

1/4 cup whole wheat Italian bread crumbs

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

1 egg

Salt & pepper to taste

3 low fat mozzarella sticks (each cut into 4 pieces)

Olive oil to drizzle

Method-

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Add all ingredients except mozzarella to the bowl and mix well (don't over mix) 

Drizzle olive oil on a sheet pan. Roll each meatball in between your hands and lay on a sheet pan. Take each mozzarella piece and stick one in the center of each meatball and cover with remaining meat so cheese is no longer showing. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown (cheese should be melted out of meatballs.)

And this salad received rave reviews. I have loved roasted cauliflower until now. Fried cauliflower has stolen my heart. Wow. Who wouldn't like something fried and then salted. Yum!

From Food and Wine we have Farro Salad with Fried Cauliflower and Prosciutto. I added Roasted Golden Beets, leftover green beans and Goat Cheese to our salad.

Ingredients-
1 pound farro, rinsed and drained
2 carrots, halved crosswise
1 small onion, halved
1 celery rib, halved crosswise
1 bay leaf
Canola oil, for frying
2 large heads of cauliflower (2 1/2 pounds each), cut into 1-inch florets
1/2 pound prosciutto, sliced 1/4 inch thick and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons chopped marjoram
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Method-
In a large saucepan, combine the farro, carrots, onion, celery and bay leaf. Add enough cold water to cover the farro by 1 inch and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook until the
farro is tender but chewy, 15 minutes; drain. Spread the farro on a rimmed baking sheet to cool. Discard the carrots, onion, celery and bay leaf.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat 1 inch of canola oil over moderately high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350°. Fry the cauliflower in batches until golden, 5 minutes per batch; drain.

In a bowl, mix the farro, cauliflower, prosciutto, olive oil, lemon juice and herbs. Season with salt and pepper and serve.