Joey's Meatball Sub (from Friends)

Who could forget the scene in friends when Joey and Chandler are in the back of Gary’s police car and Joey buys the most incredible sub known to man kind. The description that he provides basically made me salivate so much I just wanted to try it so bad!!! But sadly I live in Australia not New York, so I had to make my own version to satisfy my fandom cravings and pay tribute to Joey Tribianni. I hope you enjoy it because it is really delicious and easy!!!! Don’t forget to share them with your friends…….

Ingredients

- 2-4 Bread rolls
- Mozzarella cheese

For the meatballs

- 500g Beef mince (can also do half pork and half beef for a different flavour)

- 1 tsp ground black pepper

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp onion powder

- ½ tsp salt

- ½ tsp dried Italian herbs

- ½ cup fresh white breadcrumbs

- 1 small brown onion, diced finely

- 1 egg

- 1 Tbsp BBQ sauce

- 1-2 tsp Olive oil for frying

For the Marinara Sauce

- 1 Small brown onion, chopped finely

- 1 small stalk of celery, chopped finely

- ½ small carrot, chopped finely

- 1 tsp dried Italian herbs

- ½ tsp salt

- ½ tsp black pepper, ground

- ½ chicken/vegetable stock cube

- 1 clove garlic minced

- ¼ cup tomato paste / pizza sauce

- 400g tin of crushed tomatoes

- 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar

- 1-2 tsp Olive oil for frying

Equipment

- Mixing bowl

- Small sauce pot

- Wooden spoon

- Stick blender

- Frying pan

- Spatula

- Oven + oven trays

- Aluminium foil / baking paper

For the marinara sauce heat some olive oil (a couple teaspoons) in your small saucepot and on a medium-high heat brown your onions, this should take about 3-5 minutes. Then add your carrots and celery and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the vegetables soften. Then add the minced garlic and stir until it becomes aromatic, be careful not to burn the garlic as this can make the sauce bitter. Then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar and spices, bring it to the boil and then turn to a medium-low heat, cover with a lid and allow it to simmer for 15-30 minutes until the vegetables are softened and cooked through. Once cooked blend the sauce with a stick blender (of course if you like a chunky sauce you can miss this step, if you like it smooth BLEND AWAY!!!).

While the sauce is cooking you can make your meatballs (yay for multi-tasking)

To make the meatballs add your mince, onion, breadcrumbs, egg, spices and BBQ sauce into your mixing bowl and then mix it together with your hands until the mixture has come together.

Then take a couple of Tablespoons of the meat mixture and roll the meat between your hands to form your meatballs. place on a plate to the side and prepare to fry them!.

To fry, the meatballs place a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high heat and place the meatballs in and cook them for about one and a half minutes per side. this should give us a crispy outside and a soft inside.

**Do not overcrowd the pan, we want these to become nice and brown if you put too many balls in at once they may sweat and not crisp up.**

Then add half of the marinara sauce over the meatballs and continue to cook them on a simmer so that the meatballs cook all the way through and absorb the delicious saucy goodness.

To recreate how Joey's sandwich looked in the episode we are going to bake them and wrap them in aluminium foil. So cut your bread rolls in half and place your meatballs on the flat half of the roll. Then top with more marinara sauce and top with as much mozzarella cheese as you want.

Then place the sandwich under your grill setting in your oven for a couple minutes. if you do not have a grill setting place it in an oven pre-heated at 200 degrees Celcius (395 F) until the cheese melts and turns golden brown.

I hope that you guys are inspired to try and make this and live out your Friend's fantasy with me!!!! eat it while it is hot you will thank me!!!