The BEST Pasta

Today you are going to learn how to make my personal favorite: Spaghetti with meatballs. This turned out the best and the meat balls were to die for. I highly recommend this for a gathering of any kind. This recipe also made quite a lot so I decided to cut the ingredients in half. I found this on page 226 of Domenica Marchetti's book 'The glorious PASTA of Italy.'

INGREDIENTS

• I cup of bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 pound/ 455 grams of ground beef (My family didn't want to pay a whole bunch for 3 different kinds of meat but if you're feeling fancy: 1/2 pound of ground beef, 8 ounces of ground pork, and 8 ounces of veal)
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1/2 clove of garlic, or just a really small garlic clove
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of minced flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons and some more of parmigiana reggiano cheese
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• cooking spray
• 5 cups of pre-made tomato sauce/ I used Bertolli Organic olive oil, basil, and garlic
• ***You can also make your own sauce that only takes 30 minutes by following the directions at the bottom of the page
• 1 pound of dried spaghetti

Time for the Fun

Step 1: pre heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Defrost the ground beef by filling your sink with hot water and keeping the beef still packaged in there. This should take about 10 minutes so while that is defrosting wash your hands and prepare your food by combining the breadcrumbs and milk and mincing your parsley. Once the beef is done put it in a large bowl with the moistened bread crumbs, minced parsley, egg, cheese, salt and pepper. Combine using your hands to fold to combine thoroughly.

  

Step 2: Take a large rimmed baking tray and spray it with cooking spray. Roll the meat in your hands the size of a golf ball and you should end up with about 14 meat balls and place it in the oven for 20 minutes.

 

Step 3: start to prepare the homemade sauce if that is what you want to do but if not 5 minutes before the meat-balls are done; in a heavy bottomed pot pour in the sauce and let it simmer at medium-low heat. Once the meatballs are done, pull the meat balls out of the oven and use tongs to put them into the sauce pot.

 

Step 4: In a separate pot (medium sized or large) fill with water and salt generously to bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling add the pasta and wait until they are soft. Remember to stir the pasta before they stick to each other. Once they are soft drain the pasta saving about 1 cup of the water to loosen up the sauce. Pour as much of the water into the sauce as you want (you don't have to pour any in if you don't want).

 

Step 5: Serve with a little bit of cheese on top and enjoy!

 

This recipe was by far the most delicious recipe I've made on my blog. The meat balls really brought the whole dish together by being juicy and with the perfect amount of cheese and bread crumbs. I can tell you that this certainly wont be the last time I make these balls of meat. I'm not a good cook but when it comes to meat I cook it just right. She says, "I promise that my version will bring back wonderful memories of your Italian grandmother," (Marchetti 226) and it did. :)

Pun of the post:

Question: What is the best dish you've made?




***to make your own sauce read these saucy instructions (Marchetti 49)



Marchetti, Domenica. The Glorious Pasta of Italy. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle, 2011. Print.