In a medium skillet, warm 1/4 cup of the oil over medium heat and cook the onions for about 5 minutes until softened; add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.

In a medium bowl, add the torn bread and pour over the milk; let soak

Once the milk has absorbed, add the eggs, parmigiano, oregano, salt, lemon zest and stir well.

In a large bowl, place all of the meat and gently combine; add the cooked onion mixture and the bread mix and then stir to combine (if you're not sure about the seasoning, you can always use my nonna's trick...fry about a tbsp of the meat in a hot pan and eat it...add more seasoning if you think you didn't get it right the firs time!!).

When you are ready to make meatballs, form into balls (you can make them into any size you like - large or medium to serve with pasta or small to use in soup) and place them on a baking sheet while you make up the rest.

In the same skillet you used to cook the onions, add the additional oil and heat to medium high; add about 8-10 meatballs at a time and cook them until browned, turning until they are brown on all of sides (repeat until you have cooked all of the meatballs that you would like to serve...see note below for freezing the rest).

If you are serving them with a sauce, use a large saucepan to cook the meatballs and when you are finished browning them, remove the meatballs and keep them warm in an oven proof dish (and keep in a warm oven) use the same saucepan to cook your sauce (you get the added benefit of the meat "bits" to flavour your sauce)