Giant Ricotta Cheese Meatball

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In an oven safe skillet, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, onion and garlic. Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until tender. Drain onions and garlic onto a paper towel and squeeze out any oil. Place in a medium bowl to cool.

Once onions and garlic are cool, in the same bowl, add ground beef, bread crumbs, egg substitute, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese. With your hand, mix until combined. Carefully form into a large meatball. Do not form it into a tight ball, just a nice loose ball.

In the same skillet as you used for the onions and garlic, add remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and place meatball in pan. Brown each side of the meatball. I used a spatula to turn the meatball over to brown all sides. If the meatball starts to fall apart, gently form it back into a ball. If it is sticking to the pain, add a bit more olive oil. Once meatball is browned on all sides, take meatball out and clean the skillet.

Add a little bit of the marinara sauce to the skillet and place the meatball in the center of skillet and pour the remaining marinara sauce over the meatball. Slowly bring to a boil.

Once the sauce is boiling, place the skillet into the oven and bake for 60-70 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160ºF.