This meaty and cheesy meatball dip is baked in a skillet, loaded with mini meatballs, rich tomato sauce, and four kinds of cheese. Perfect for a party and the skillet makes its own serving dish!
Have you heard the name Assunta Cantisano? If not, let me tell you about her. She was an immigrant from Naples, Italy who traveled to the United States in 1914. She settled in Rochester, New York and planted a family garden, just like so many families are doing these days.
She brought with her a family recipe for tomato sauce. In 1937, during the great depression, she started selling her homemade sauce on her front porch. Her sauce grew so popular that she started the Ragu Packing Company that still sells her family recipe today.
I did not travel from a foreign country, but I do have a diverse family background. Just like Assunta Cantisano, I have many wonderful family traditions, mostly involving food.
My grandfather was from the Bahamas and I have several recipes that I look forward to sharing with you in the future, but today I am going to talk about a family tradition that started with a marriage, includes a restaurant, and continues with an annual Thanksgiving family reunion. Since we are always talking about food here, you could say that my family is #SimmeredInTradition.
After a few years of wedded bliss, my mom, Kathy, and my new step-father, Bob, decided to buy a restaurant. They bought Mama Leone’s in Jacksonville, Florida, and it quickly became a family affair. Us kids all had various jobs there: cashier, bus girl, dishwasher, salad dressing maker. Mine was to bus tables and clean the calamari. It was hard work but so much fun being together and cooking.
The two most important things I learned were:
- Don’t use a glass to scoop ice out of the ice machine. I broke a glass inside the ice machine and the whole thing needed to be drained.
- Don’t have a tomato fight in front of the salad station wearing a white shirt. Everyone will know what you did.
Here are some of the pictures from the restaurant.
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That’s me in the upper left corner, presenting the specials for the night. To the right, and the bottom left is a copy of the last menu we had and then in the bottom right is a handwritten recipe for meatballs. This meatball recipe is what I used as inspiration for this new meatball dip recipe.
When Bob and Kathy bought the restaurant from “Tony The Greek,” they spent a few weeks learning the recipes and other aspects of running a kitchen. A black and white composition book contains those recipes, each one handwritten by Bob, and all the pages are splattered with either dressing or spaghetti sauce.
All of us kids still look at that book, make those recipes, and carry on the traditions of Mama Leone’s. When Bob passed away in 2003, Kathy made all the kids a copy of the menu for Christmas. That’s mine in the photo. Now we all have a copy of that precious book.
Kathy didn’t make copies of ALL the recipes, so we occasionally have to take a look at the original book. I think she did that so we would all come and visit.
Here are a few other photos from Mama Leone’s. Clockwise from upper left: Me and my big sister Jodi at a dinner party at the restaurant, my mom delivering food, Kathy whipping up some Shrimp Scampi in the kitchen, and Kathy with Tony “The Greek.”
Don’t judge the hair, it was the 80s.
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I have fond memories of working there and those traditions have shaped my life today. I have worked in kitchens since I was little and still do today. I feel most at home there.
I cook at our church on Wednesday nights, sub for the cooks in the local diner, and spend quite a bit of time in my tiny kitchen here at home where I make recipes for the blog.
When thinking about being #SimmeredInTradition, I think about Mama Leone’s meatballs simmering in rich tomato sauce. I think Assunta Cantisano would be excited about the merger of two great food traditions. Her sauce and my family’s favorite meatballs. What can we do to marry the two traditions? Cheese!
I made a miniature version of Mama Leone’s meatballs, because at Take Two Tapas we are all about the small versions of things, added a few of my favorite cheeses, and bound it all together with Assunta Cantisano’s Ragu tomato sauce. I used the sauteed onions and garlic variety for this meatball dip.
What are your family traditions? Do you have any that revolve around food?
MORE EASY PARTY FOODS
- homemade frozen meatballs
- crockpot BBQ meatballs
- lamb meatballs
- honey mustard meatballs
- hawaiian meatballs
Skillet Mini Meatball Dip
This meaty and cheesy dip is baked in a skillet and is loaded with mini meatballs, rich tomato sauce, and four kinds of cheese. Perfect for a party and the skillet makes its own serving dish!
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 pounds group beef ((80% lean))
- 2 slices sandwich bread
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon All-Purpose Steak Seasoning Mix
- 1 tablespoon Homemade Italian Seasoning Mix
- 3 cloves garlic (minced fine)
- 1/2 medium onion (minced fine)
For the dip:
- 1 jar Ragu Pasta Sauce
- 4 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 4 ounces ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces Parmesan cheese (shredded)
- 16 ounces mozzarella cheese (shredded)
- Crusty bread to eat it with
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F.
- While you are preparing the meatball mix, soak your bread in the milk.
- In a separate bowl combine all the remaining ingredients for the meatballs.
- Drain your bread slices, squeezing slightly to remove excess milk.
- Add to the meat mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
- Roll mixture into 1 inch balls, I used a small ice cream scoop.
- Bake at 375F for 15 minutes or until brown on the outside and meat cooked through.
- Remove and let cool.
- To assemble dip, pour a small amount of sauce in the bottom of your skillet (about 1/2 cup)
- Place your meatballs in the skillet (about 40 of them) so they are even spaced around the pan.
- Dot your ricotta and mascarpone cheese in between the meatballs.
- Cover with remaining sauce.
- Top with remaining cheese.
- Bake at 375F for 15 minutes or until bubbling and cheese is melted.
- Serve with crusty bread!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 443Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 141mgSodium: 2873mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 27g
This nutrition information was generated via a third party, Nutritionix, and can not be held liable for any discrepancies in the information provided.
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[…] Mini Meatball Skillet Dip […]
Julie @ Texan New Yorker
Monday 2nd of May 2016
Drooling, drooling, drooling!!! And I'm not even hungry right now...
Such a cute post, I love seeing the old pictures and the story behind them!
Laura
Monday 2nd of May 2016
I have a meatball crazed child :) would be over the moon for this. What a great idea!
chubcheeks@bellsouth.net
Thursday 19th of May 2016
I wish mine would eat them. I guess more for us!
Elena
Monday 2nd of May 2016
I feel like I need to be eating this right now. Like, immediately.
chubcheeks@bellsouth.net
Thursday 19th of May 2016
I would and could eat the whole skillet myself
heather @french press
Monday 2nd of May 2016
what fun it must have been growing up in a restaurant!! I didn't start working in restaurants until high school, but I am a sucker for family food traditions, and who doesn't love a good meatball
chubcheeks@bellsouth.net
Thursday 12th of May 2016
I never ran out of dishes to wash or foods to try:)