Recipe: Mr. Aldo's Meatballs from Andiamo's
Previewing Festa Italiana with Chef Jim Oppat's
Macomb County’s premier summer celebration is officially back! Festa Italiana returns to Freedom Hill County Park in Sterling Heights this weekend, July 17–19, 2026. To give viewers a delicious preview of the weekend ahead, Chef Jim Oppat cooked up a batch of the festival's famous Mr. Aldo's meatballs.
FOX 2 - Mr. Aldo's Meatballs from Andiamo's
½ pounds Onions (large diced)
1 ounces Garlic Cloves (crushed)
1 ounces Butter
12 ounces Bread White Fresh
1 cup Whole Milk
1/2 ounce Parsley
1 pounds Veal
1 pounds Beef
1 pounds Pork
¼ ounces Black Pepper
¾ ounces Salt
¼ teaspoon Thyme
2 each Eggs
4 ounces Parmesan Cheese Grated
DIRECTIONS:
1. Sweat the onions, garlic and cloves in the butter until tender adding water as necessary as to
not over brown them. Set aside to cool and remove cloves.
2. Mix the bread with the milk until thoroughly absorbed. Squeeze out any excess milk from the
bread, then add the parsley and process to a smooth paste in a food processor.
3. Grind the veal, beef and pork through the 1/2-inch plate, coarse grind or ask your butcher to
process for you. If you use a finer grind, it produces a drier, more mealy textured meatball.
Seek out a larger grind for best results.
4. Evenly disperse the pepper, salt, lemon zest, thyme, eggs and parmesan cheese over the bread
and meat mixture.
5. Thoroughly mix BY HAND.
6. Bake covered with your favorite sauce until they reach an internal temperature of 165