Italian Sausage Meatballs (My Fennel Seed Discovery)

Here's my first attempt at making an Italian sausage.

A small seed-like spice has caught my attention. It's called Fennel. I see it pizzas and some Italian dishes. When I Googled for a recipe, I wasn't surprised that it is the secondary ingredient in making Italian sausages (next to ground pork).

I wasn't sure of the availability of Fennel here. I've never seen McCormick ones, so I thought it would be hard to find.



But one time, I was browsing through the spice section at the grocery, I found a curious Fennel-looking seed. The label says Anise, but I was pretty certain it looked like Fennel.

I bought a small packet of the aromatic seed and examined it at home. After some research I stumbled upon this informational image:



My loot looks exactly like fennel! Anise supposedly has a bulbous end and it just coulnd't be cumin. The rest were too dark, so I ruled them out.

Now, to use it...

italian Sausage Meatballs

Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 10 min | Total time: 20 min

Ingredients:
250g ground pork
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp fennel seeds, toasted and ground
chopped parsley
pinch of oregano powder
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
Cooking oil
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. You can adjust the spices according to your taste. Some recipes call for sweet paprika, too.
2. Let the mixture stand for at least 15 minutes (ideally 12 hours) before cooking for better taste.
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. Instead of stuffing in sausage casings, scoop out less-than-a-golf-ball sized balls and fry on medium heat.
7. Serve meatballs as is, or crush them up and use in pasta, pizza, etc.