Meatballs Al Forno With Creamy Polenta

I have been on a quest for a great meatball recipe.  The two leading contenders up to this point, are one that is pretty easy yet fairly tasty, and one that is more labor intensive but not as much more tasty as it is more work.  Tonight's dinner started off bad.  It began with it taking SO much longer than anticipated.  Then the meatballs fought back with grease splatters.  I got hit on the arms, face, eye and neck.  (ouch!!)  The directions were a bit vague for me too.  What exactly is "hand crushed tomatoes?"  It must be somewhere between the way crushed tomatoes look in a can and what a tomato looks like when you hit it with a hammer.  Do I tear up the pieces or just smoosh it?  In the end, I think it wouldn't have mattered, but during the process, I would have liked more info.  I want to hate this recipe! I REALLY want to hate this recipe.  Well, EXPLETIVE, I didn't.  It did have a few things I think could be tweaked.  The sauce was a little watery and not as intensely flavored as I would have liked.  The recipe says it is for 6?!  I got 18 HUGE meatballs out of this.  I could barely eat two, and that was really pushing things. All that aside, I did begrudgingly admit it was pretty tasty. The polenta was tasty too, but there were some lumps.  I haven't had that problem in the past, but the recipe I use is much more labor intensive.  It was still good.  I don't remember where I got it from, and that was a good thing when I was making it because I would have wanted to give them a piece of my mind! ;) A good thing that came out of this is that I have never been able to make dried mushrooms work.  (any ideas for me...  anyone?)  These weren't too bad.  A couple of the larger stems were still too woody, but other than that, not bad.  I used the crusts I cut of the baguette to make the bread crumbs I rolled the meatballs in and added to it with some bread crumbs I make from some of the baguette that was left.

In the pan

  Meatballs Al Forno With Creamy Polenta
  Yield: 6 Servings (<----- LIES)

  1/2    baguette,crust removed
  1 1/4 c  milk
  1 1/2 lb ground beef sirloin
  1 1/2 lb ground pork
   1/2 bn fresh parsley
   1/2 bn basil
    2 ea garlic,finely chopped
   1/2 c  extra-virgin olive oil,plus extra for drizzling
   4    eggs
    1/2 c  freshly grated Parmesan
    1/3 c  ground pinenuts
    Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
      1 c  dried bread crumbs
    1/2 lb chanterelle mushrooms
      2 pt vine-ripened small tomatoes
      1    medium ball fresh mozzarella
      Creamy Polenta
      1 qt chicken stock
  1 1/2 c  finely ground cornmeal
    1/4 c  heavy cream
    1/4 c  freshly grated Parmesan
      3 T  whole butter
           Pinch sea salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Break the baguette in pieces and soak in a bowl with milk for 10
minutes until the bread is soft. In a second bowl mix the beef and pork
together.   Twist up half the parsley and the basil into a little pile,
roughly chop it and add to the meat. Add garlic and mix thoroughly with
your hands. Squeeze the milk out of the bread and add it in small
pieces. Add eggs, Parmesan, ground pinenuts, salt, and pepper and mix
everything together thoroughly. Shape the meatballs into large patties
then roll them in the bread crumbs.
In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat until it
begins to smoke slightly. Fry the meatballs to seal the crust, flip
them over so both sides are done. Transfer to a large baking dish.
Add a splash of oil to pan and fry the mushrooms on a low heat until
they start to caramelize. Cut the tomatoes in 1/2 and hand-crush them
into a separate bowl. Drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and a few cranks
of fresh cracked pepper and mix. Add to the mushrooms. Let everything
simmer together and reduce slightly for about 10 minutes. Pour the
tomatoes and mushrooms over the meatballs. Shred the remaining basil
and parsley and the mozzarella over it. Drizzle with olive oil and add
a few cranks of pepper. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes.
Serve with Creamy Polenta.
In a large saucepan bring the chicken stock to a slow simmer. Quickly
whisk the cornmeal into the stock and lower the temperature to keep it
from splattering. Stir in the cream, Parmesan, butter, and salt. Turn
off the heat and keep in a warm place until the meatballs are ready.