V’s Italian Meatball recipe
Every year, Hawaiian Electric publishes a cookbook to benefit our United Way giving campaign. The theme for our 2026 United Way cookbook is “Generations of Grinds: Years of Tasty Traditions”, celebrating our recipes that have been passed down through the generations. I thought it would be great to share a family recipe from my wife Vanessa (“V”), but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be to get her to give it up.
This recipe is V’s go-to for potluck gatherings, and our friends are always requesting V’s meatballs. When I asked her to share the recipe to help with the cookbook campaign, she said no. She said no a bunch of times and changed the subject.
When I continued to pry, I got into the reasons why she didn’t want to give it up. “It’s my thing” was one of them. She didn’t want our friends to know her special meatball trick.
Another one was: “Do you know how long it took for me to get this recipe from my mom?” Originally, the recipe was titled “Ma’s Meatballs”, handwritten on a card amongst some other family recipes that her mom gave her as a gift when she moved here from Boston to go to college in Hawaii. “My mother better not hear about this”.
I continued to press with some convincing counter arguments. First, there are certain things that are unique to her when she makes the recipe. One of them is her cookie tray that is almost entirely black with years of seasoning. I am convinced that it would not be 100% the same with a different tray. Another unique aspect to hers is her gravy (tomato sauce) recipe, which will remain a secret. The recipe that we share suggests adding the meatballs to your favorite simmering tomato sauce to serve.
Second, her recipe isn’t the same as Ma’s. Over the years, she has made a few adjustments that make the recipe her own. Ma’s version called for beef and pork, but her version substitutes ground turkey for the pork. Ma fries the meatballs and V’s are baked. And there might even be a hint of fennel seed added to the recipe at my request. Even if her Ma found out about this, it wouldn’t be sharing her recipe. Eventually, she caved.
It’s ironic that I’ve written a blog article about a recipe, because I always complain about how when you search for a recipe online, it usually comes with a long personal story and advertisements. It takes a lot of scrolling to get to the actual ingredients and instructions, which can be a pain, especially when trying to print it out. This article is worse, because there isn’t even a recipe at the end.
Nope. No recipe here. To see it as well as other tasty family recipes, you will have to support our 2026 United Way campaign and purchase “Generations of Grinds: Years of Tasty Traditions”. It is also a great gift for family and friends for the holidays!
About the Author: Ian Brizdle
