Old Timber Outdoors
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Ground elk

Baked Elk Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Tender elk meatballs made with a milk-soaked bread panade and Parmesan, browned in the oven and finished in a simple garlic tomato sauce.

Serves
6
Hands-on
50 min
Total
1 hr 20 min
Skill
Some experience

Cooks on: Stovetop + oven · Dinner

Ingredients

  • 2 lbGround elk
  • 2 slicesRustic bread, crusts removed, torn small
  • ½ cupMilk
  • 1Eggs
  • 1Onions, half grated for the meatballs, half finely diced for the sauce
  • 5 clovesGarlic, minced, divided
  • 56 ozCrushed tomatoes, two large cans crushed tomatoes
  • 2½ tspSalt, kosher, divided, plus more to taste
  • ½ tspBlack pepper, ground
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
  • 2 tsp dried oregano, divided
  • 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
  • ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 lb spaghetti or other dried pasta

You'll need

  • Oven
  • Stovetop
  • Sheet pan with wire rack
  • Dutch oven
  • Instant-read thermometer

Contains

Dairy, Gluten, Egg. Sandwich bread can contain soy or sesame, and some dried pasta contains egg. Check the labels.

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F and oil the rack set in the sheet pan with 1 tbsp of the olive oil. In a large bowl, soak the bread in the milk for 5 minutes, then mash it to a paste.
  2. Add the egg, grated onion, half the garlic, the Parmesan, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp salt and the pepper and mix. Add the ground elk and mix gently with your hands until just combined.
  3. Roll into 1½-inch meatballs, about 30, and set them on the rack. Bake until browned, 15 minutes. They will finish cooking in the sauce.
  4. While they bake, heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook the diced onion 5 minutes, then the rest of the garlic and the red pepper flakes 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, the remaining 1 tsp oregano and 1½ tsp salt and simmer, partly covered, 15 minutes, until the raw tomato edge softens.
  5. Slide the meatballs into the sauce, spoon sauce over them, cover, and keep it at a bare simmer, just a few bubbles, 15 to 20 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer reads 160°F in the center of the largest meatball. A hard boil toughens lean elk meatballs.
  6. Meanwhile, boil the spaghetti in well-salted water until just tender. Scoop out 1 cup of the pasta water, drain, and toss the pasta in the pot with two or three ladles of the sauce and a splash of the pasta water so every strand is coated. Taste the sauce for salt, then serve the meatballs and the rest of the sauce over the pasta with more Parmesan.

When it's done: 160°F

Ground meat and venison are both 160°F on the federal chart. Check the center of the mixture.

If it goes wrong

Dense, tight meatballs
The mix was overworked. Stir only until the elk and panade are combined.
Meatballs breaking in the sauce
Let them brown the full 15 minutes before moving them, and stir the pot gently.
Sauce too thick
Thin it with a splash of the pasta cooking water.
Sauce sharp or sour
Canned tomatoes vary. Simmer it 10 minutes longer, or stir in a pat of butter or a pinch of sugar.

Leftovers. Refrigerate meatballs and sauce within 2 hours. Reheat to 165°F, covered, until hot through.