Spaghetti and Meatballs
My love for anything and everything Italian is well-known to regular readers of this blog. And eight years in New York instilled a similar affection for Italian-American cooking. A Sunday sauce (a.k.a. gravy) is a glorious thing. A New York slice is still the gold standard by which I judge any and all pizza, including that in Italy. And don’t forget spaghetti and meatballs. Meatballs are one of those dishes that seem to show up in almost every cuisine. Like rice and beans or fried chicken. Everybody loves meatballs, right?
I’ve been working on my recipe for spaghetti and meatballs for years now and I think I finally have it perfected. I learned the hot water trick from Ina Garten, a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa. It keeps the meatballs really moist. You’ll notice the only herbs in my sauce are bay leaf and a little parsley. I like to let the flavor of the meatballs shine. But feel free to add a little or oregano or basil if you’d like. When I fry my meatballs, they never stay truly round and a few of the edges always flatten a bit. If your Nonna has a trick for frying perfectly round meatballs, I’d love to hear it.
I’m not in love with the photo above but I like these meatballs so much I couldn’t wait to get a perfect picture to share them with you. When I make spaghetti and meatballs, I put the Three Tenors or Tony Bennett or Sinatra on the iPod and turn it up really loud. It makes me happy.
Meatballs
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
Soft white breadcrumbs made from 4 slices white bread
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 large cloves garlic, grated or finely minced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
a grating of fresh nutmeg, about 1/4 teaspoon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup warm water
Olive oil and cooking oil for frying the meatballs
Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup dry red wine
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes (use 3 cans if you like lots of sauce)
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
For Serving
Spaghetti
Parmesan Cheese
Meatball mixture
To make the meatballs, put all the meatball ingredients (through the warm water) in a large bowl. Mix with your hands until all the ingredients are well-incorporated. Form the meat mixture into meatballs. I make quite rather ones, about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter and I got 14 meatballs from this recipe. You can make smaller meatballs if you’d prefer.
Meatballs
Put equal parts olive oil and cooking oil in a large frying pan (non-stick is useful here). The combined oils should come to a depth of about 1/4 inch. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it’s hot and fry the meatballs in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan or they’ll steam instead of frying. Fry until they’re golden brown on all sides. You may need to adjust the heat as necessary so the meatballs don’t get overly brown and crusty.
Fried meatballs
When all the meatballs have been fried, discard the oil from the frying pan but don’t wipe the pan out. Put the pan back on the stove over medium heat. Add the olive oil and when it’s warm, gently cook the onions until they’re soft. Don’t let them brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the red wine to the pan and turn the heat to high. Reduce the wine there’s only about a quarter of it left. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, parsley, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir everything together and add the meatballs, turning them to make sure they’re well-coated with sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook, covered for 1 hour.
Tomato sauce
Serve the meatballs and sauce over spaghetti and pass the Parmesan cheese. Or you could go more Italian and serve the spaghetti tossed with some of the sauce as a pasta course and then serve the meatballs as a secondi. I was terribly un-Italian and served my meatballs and sauce over spaghetti with a side of broccoli braised in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes. Yes, on the same plate. So sue me, it was good.
A word about serving amounts here – as I said above, I got 14 rather large meatballs out of this recipe and I served half of them with 1 pound of spaghetti. I found that one meatball was plenty to satisfy me. Audrey ate 2, Bones had 3 and I saved one for Audrey’s school lunch the next day. That left seven meatballs that I’ve frozen for another meal. If you’re serving a large crowd, make 2 pounds of spaghetti and serve with all of the meatballs.
Simmering the meatballs in the sauce
