Bove's Meatballs

A few weeks ago, I got an email from the folks at PMG asking if I'd like to sample Bove's meatballs.  Since PMG represents some fabulous local businesses, I happily agreed.  I must admit that I had a bit of an ulterior motive.  I remembered that Bove's Cafe was featured on the Food Network on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, where the throwdown challenge involved lasagna!  Bove's lasagna looked so delicious that I could only imagine how wonderful their meatballs would be!

I received two packages of Bove's Italian-style frozen meatballs on Wednesday but I didn't get a chance to dig into them until Friday night.  The meatballs are all pre-cooked and made by hand in Vermont.  This should come as no surprise since Bove's Cafe is a third-generation family restaurant located in Burlington, Vermont.  I was happy to be able to read and identify every single ingredient listed on the package and the packaging boldly states that these all natural meatballs have zero grams of trans fat and no MSG.

I normally make my own pasta sauce but I was feeling a little lazy and headed over to Top Shelf to pick up a jar of pasta sauce.  Much to my surprise, I was happy to discover that Top Shelf carries Bove's pasta sauce!  I picked up a jar of the roasted garlic pasta sauce for dinner.

I followed the instructions on the bag and put the frozen pre-cooked meatballs in my Dutch oven and covered it with the entire jar of pasta sauce.  I put the pot on the stove at medium heat for about twenty minutes.

While the meatballs were cooking, I quickly sauteed some spinach leaves with salt, pepper and garlic.  I normally would eat meatballs with pasta but I wanted something lighter since we had a huge breakfast that morning.  The spinach wilted quickly and this was good because I was starving!  The aroma of the roasted garlic sauce was doing nothing to make me less impatient to eat! 

When the meatballs were done cooking, I placed some of the wilted spinach in a bowl and topped it with a few meatballs, some sauce, and grated Parmesan cheese. 

The meatballs were seriously delicious.  They tasted like something you'd find in the North End and not in the frozen aisle.  I was definitely impressed!  And the roasted garlic sauce was seriously amazing.  If you know me, you know that I am a garlic-fanatic and have a heavy hand when it comes to garlic.  This sauce had such an incredible roasted garlic flavor that I couldn't get enough of.  Plus, the sauce had no sugar added so it wasn't too sweet like a lot of store-bought sauces.

We had plenty of leftover meatballs, which were perfect for a baked meatball wrap the next day.  And I'm happy to know that I have another bag in the freezer waiting for me the next time I'm looking for a quick but authentic Italian meal. 

Full disclosure: Bove's meatballs were fully complimentary, but as always, my opinion is honest and completely my own.