Fantastic Italian Meatballs

I was watching Everybody Loves Raymond, and there was a mention of Marie's fantastic braciole.  I was wondering what it was, so I did some searching and found this great Italian site by Anthony Baker.  I attempted to make the sauce with  braciole and meatballs, but the recipe is quite lengthy, and took me 4 hours just to make the sauce.  I decided to just skip the braciole and just make the meatballs with the sauce due to my lack of patience.  The completed project was true Italian, and the meatballs were heavenly.  Anyway to make a short story long, here is the meatball recipe from Anthony's website that I've condensed down for your review, and if your in a rush, just add them to your Ragu sauce.  I'm still going to try the braciole soon.  Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think.  Here's a link to Anthony's site, quite a story to tell as well. http://www.spaghettisauceandmeatballs.com/ 

Italian Meat Balls:

1 lb. / 450g Ground Chuck 1 Egg 1-1/2 pieces of dark Wheat Bread with crust (Pumpernickel is what I used. TG) A tiny bit of Italian bread crumbs (about 3 Tsp.) Fresh Parsley Parmesan Cheese (parmigiano!) Fresh Garlic - You can never have too much garlic! Cooking Spray Garlic Powder Coarse Black Pepper and Salt A splash of red wine Sweet Basil

First...
Get a big bowl and put the 1 lb. of ground chuck in it.
Next...
Chop up 1/4 cup of fresh Parsley as fine as you can. Fresh Parsley is extremely important.  Add the Parsley to the bowl. Don't mix anything yet. You're going to add all this stuff and mix when your done.
Next...
Add (1) Egg to bowl.
Next...
Chop up (2) large cloves of garlic as fine as you possibly can and add to bowl.
Next...
Add 1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese to the bowl.
Next...
Take your (1-1/2) pieces of Dark Wheat Bread and rub it under the faucet and get it soaking wet. Then squeeze as much of the water as you can out of the bread. The bread should be a gooey consistency. Break the bread up into the bowl. At this point you need to also add about (3) Tsp. of Italian bread crumbs.
Next...
Add coarse black pepper, salt, garlic powder, a splash of red wine and about a tsp. of Sweet Basil.
Mix all the ingredients in the bowl well. You will need to work the meat for about 3 minutes until you end up with a big relatively firm ball. Note: it will help if you refrigerate the meat before mixing it in the bowl, this will help keep the balls firm while you browning them.
Next...
Get a good Non-Stick frying pan and spray on some cooking spray. Take the meat and make 1" to 1-1/2" balls. Roll them around in your hand and try to make them as firm as possible. You might want to start out with 1" balls the first time you make them. 1" balls are easier to handle. What I mean is they don't fall apart as easy. Also what I use is two flat wooden spoons to roll the balls around while browning. Important note: The meatballs will not be perfectly round when your done searing them, you may have some odd shape balls, but don't worry about it, you're more concerned about the taste. :-)
Next...
Get the pan very hot, heat should be on medium high to high, you will probably add a lot of smoke to your house at this point, if you are not getting a LOT of smoke from the browning Meatballs, you don't have the heat high enough. You want to sear the meat to a dark brown. Be careful with the balls at first you don't want them to fall apart. They should be cooked to a point where you can roll them around the pan and have them appear to be firm.
Next...
When they appear to be seared well and firm take them right from the frying pan into the sauce. Grease is an important ingredient to the flavor of the sauce. (If you're worried about cholesterol and fat then don't eat Italian food.