---
title: 'These Meatballs Will Change Your Luck in 2026'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ceqtkn81xJI'
video_id: 'ceqtkn81xJI'
date: 2026-07-29
duration_sec: 549
---

# These Meatballs Will Change Your Luck in 2026

> Source: [These Meatballs Will Change Your Luck in 2026](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ceqtkn81xJI)

## Summary

In this video, the host transforms the traditional Italian New Year's dish of cotechino sausage and lentils into meatballs, symbolizing wealth and prosperity. He provides a step-by-step cooking guide, from preparing lentils and aromatics to forming and cooking the meatballs in a rich sauce.

### Key Points

- **Symbolism of Cotechino and Lentils** [00:17] — Cotechino sausage represents abundance and prosperity; lentils symbolize wealth and good fortune, typically eaten on New Year's Day in Italy.
- **Preparing Lentils** [00:43] — Soak about a cup of dried lentils to rehydrate before cooking with vegetables and chicken stock.
- **Chopping Vegetables** [01:12] — Finely dice carrots, celery, and garlic from a farmers market to build flavor for the lentil sauce.
- **Building the Lentil Base** [01:26] — Combine drained lentils, tomato sauce, tomato paste, vegetables, thyme bundle, and chicken stock in a pot.
- **Processing Cotechino** [01:38] — Pre-cooked vacuum-sealed cotechino is sliced and pulsed in a food processor to form a ground paste for meatballs.
- **Cooking Vegetables for Lentils** [03:28] — Sauté aromatics in olive oil with salt for 3-5 minutes until translucent; add garlic and Calabrian chili.
- **Simmering Lentils** [04:08] — Add tomato sauce, deglaze with stock/water, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes until lentils soften.
- **Forming Meatball Mixture** [04:38] — Pulse cotechino in food processor; mix with breadcrumbs, cheese, microplaned garlic, parsley, and an egg until workable.
- **Shaping Meatballs** [05:49] — Roll mixture into compact meatballs; they are moist and require gentle handling.
- **Thickening Lentil Sauce** [06:32] — Blend a portion of cooked lentils into a purée and stir back into the sauce for thickness and body.
- **Searing Meatballs** [06:46] — Fry meatballs in about 1/4 inch of oil until all sides are browned; then transfer into the lentil sauce.
- **Finishing in Sauce** [07:14] — Simmer meatballs in lentil sauce for no more than 20 minutes to keep them from becoming too soft.
- **Plating and Serving** [07:41] — Serve meatballs on a bed of lentils, garnished with Parmesan, olive oil, parsley, and lemon juice.

### Conclusion

The video demonstrates a modern twist on a traditional Italian New Year's dish, using cotechino meatballs in lentil sauce to symbolize luck and prosperity. The host emphasizes the importance of technique while keeping the recipe accessible for home cooks.

## Transcript

dish [music] the Italians eat to bestow themselves with wealth and prosperity in the new year. And that dish is kotakino served on top of lentils. Now, kotakino is a prepared sausage and that represents abundance and prosperity in
represents abundance and prosperity in this dish. The lentils, a small round coin-shaped [music] legume, they symbolize wealth and good fortune. And as a superstitious bunch they are, this is what they eat on New Year's Day. and
I'm going to make them into meatballs. Meatballs that will guarantee to bring you wealth and good fortune in the new year. This is kotakino meatballs. The luckiest meatballs you'll ever eat. First up for the lentils. I've had about
a cup of them and they've been soaking in water. Just like any dried legume, you kind of want to rehydrate them. It's going to make boiling them and cooking to the side. We're going to prep our mirror and some garlic. Want to just
chop everything up really nice and fine. So, I'm just going to follow the lines slice them thin. [music] Get it into a bowl. And I've just got some spare carrots and celery. I'm going to chop
those fine as well. Same thing with the celery. cut in half. I still haven't purchased garlic from a supermarket since like [music] May. This is all still farmers market garlic. And just slice them thin.
So, I've got my lentils drained, a little bit tomato sauce, some tomato pata, our vegetables, a little bit of thyme bundle here. Going to add just some nice herbaceiousness, some chicken stock. Now, the kotakino comes
precooked, vacuum sealed. And what you're supposed to do is to reheat it. don't need to fully cook it. We're turning these into meatballs. We're going to cook [music] them just to kind of melt some of that collagen so that we
can just kind of pulse it back into like a ground again, form into meatballs, and that heats up, we can get started on the lentils. Now, before we get going, I just turned 40. Scary, right? So, naturally, I've realized I'm old now and
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AG1 flavor sampler, and you'll get to try their new sleep supplement, AGZ, for free. That's $126 of free gifts to new subscribers. Head on down to my link, video. So, we're going to use our sauier. We're going to get that onto
mediumigh heat. I'm going to coat the bottom with some olive oil. And then want to hit that with some salt. And we're going to cook those for like 3 to 5 minutes. Get all those vegetables translucent and softened. Once those veg
are softened, we're going to go in with the [music] garlic. Get that mixed in fragrant and soften [music] as well. Then we're going to go in with about a tablespoon of some chopped Calabrian chili. You could use chili flake or you
mixed in for about a minute or two. And then we can add in the lentils. Now, you can also throw in that herb bundle. And then we're going to start to add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce to the mix. Get that stirred in. If you've got some wine to
delaze it, you can use that. But I'm just going to use some stock. I'm going fill up the container with water and add some of that to the pan as well. Want to bring it all up to a boil and then drop it down to a simmer and cook this until
those lentils are nice and soft. After about 10 minutes or so, I that should be hot. We're going to get it out of its package. And yeah, it's like a soft sausage. Very mortadella smelling. So, we're just going to slice it up
and I'm going to get that into a food processor. could just kind of wedge a knife under the white part. That's the safety. And
then you just pulse. And if the lentils need a little bit more liquid, just go ahead and add some. Now that's cooled down plenty. I'm going to add one egg to it. Oh, I put it on wrong. That's why. Just pulse that in.
Now in another bowl, we're going to add in our breadcrumbs, our cheese, some garlic that I'm going to microplane in, and some chopped parsley. little pepper. And then we're just going to mix that up. And [music] now since
that sausage has so much moisture, we're just going to bind it. So we're going to Start with a little bit and see where we're at.
binder for sure. And so I'm just going to add it until it's a workable ball. meatball mix. We're going to allow that to kind of chill out and bind. So now all we have to do is just make some meatballs. And as you're going to see,
roll it up just like a normal meatball. It's a kotakino meatball. It's going to look a lot better this way. Trust me. Up until this point, it's not been the most going to see, but we're making [music] progress. Just want to compress it, roll
progress. Just want to compress it, roll it, and you're good. going to eat these. Now, before we get to cooking them, we've got our lentils minutes. Let's give them a taste. Good. They need seasoning and they need a
little bit of lemon juice. I'm going to take the herbs out. Then I'm going to add a couple tablespoons into a quart container. And just like pasta fajol, we're going to pull some of it out and blend it into a puree. Can even hit that
with a little bit more. And we're just going to blitz that. [music] Goes back in. Just makes the whole thing thick, more saucy. It's going to be the with. Now, these meatballs are a little bit on the wetter side, so I'm going to
up the bottom of the pan with some oil by about a/ quart of an inch. And then that oil is nice and hot. We're going to let them sit on that first side and color on each side. And then we're going to flip them all and get some color on
the other side. Really try and develop a nice crust on these. Once you've got two sides crusted, you can kind of just roll them around in the oil. Do your best to get the rest of the sides browned. And then once it's sufficiently seared, then
we can add it to our lentil sauce. [music] Then we can just cook it like normal meatballs in that sauce simmerred for no more than about 20 minutes. We don't really want those meatballs to get too soft. They're already soft as it is.
together. Then they're ready to serve. Now to plate, we're going to start with a bed of the lentils. Very traditional to how a normal kotakino is usually served, but instead of the sausage on top, we're going to plate those
with a little bit more of the lentils. Finish with some parmyo reo, a little drizzle of some good extra virgin olive oil. And to brighten up that color on the dish, some chopped parsley on top. And based off of Italian lore, this is
to have. Finally, just hit it with some more lemon juice. And let's get that wealth and prosperity into our system. It's moist, tender, it's delicious, it's hearty. It's definitely a dish that I'd seen that like never really found super
appetizing, but for the sake of tradition, I wanted to transform it into something more familiar, a form factor, I know I and everyone else loves [music] people who are going to actually make this recipe and all my holiday recipes
plan of attack. Now, that's it for me for the year, but I'll be back next week. I want to thank you all for the support. Another amazing year. We're on Two more to get to a decade. I'm a veteran, guys. It's all because of you,
too. So, [music] thank you for the years and years of support. To all my Patreon members who have supported me over there, built a community with me over on Patreon. Appreciate you guys so much. Hope you had an amazing year. Happy New
Year. Looking forward to many more years with all of you. That's all that I have then, take care of yourself. Go feed yourself. yourself. [music]