Spaghetti with Meatballs

When I was little, I always wondered why I never encountered the spaghetti with meatballs that I enjoyed in the US when I was in Italy. It's because Italian pasta sauces are as regional as anything else, and I was in Tuscany, whereas pasta with meatballs is from the south, as were most of the Italian immigrants who came to the US.

To make spaghetti with meatballs to serve four you'll need a pound of spaghetti, good marinara sauce (make the full recipe), and the meatballs, which will require:

• An inch-thick (2.5 cm) slice of bread.
• Milk or broth
• 1 1/2 pounds (675 g) of ground meat (either all beef, or beef with veal or pork, as you prefer)
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• A small clove of garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons minced parsley
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• A dried hot pepper, seeded and shredded (optional)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest from an organically grown lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steep the bread in milk or broth to cover for 5 minutes, and then squeeze the excess liquid from the bread (the crumb should be moist but not dripping).

In the meantime, sauté the minced onion until golden in a tablespoon of the butter.

Put the ground meat in a mixing bowl, crumble the bread over it, and add the remaining ingredients except the butter. Mix well and shape the mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches (3.75 cm) in diameter. You should obtain about a dozen meatballs.

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C).

Heat the remaining butter in an ovenproof pot and gently brown the meatballs on all sides; while you are browning them bring your marinara sauce to a simmer. At this point add enough marinara sauce to cover the meatballs a little more than half way, cover the pot, and bake them for a half hour. While they're cooking, bring pasta water to a boil and cook your spaghetti. Drain the pasta, season it with the sauce, and serve it with grated cheese for those who want it.

A note: These meatballs will also work well in lasagna.

More meatballs that will work well with pasta, and some Italian meatball sauces:

Sasicheddi
Meat rolls Frank's grandmother, who was from Termini Imerese (Sicily), used to add to her pasta sauce.

Joey Pots & Pans Famous Meatball Recipe
Zesty meatballs with hot peppers, cheese, and all sorts of other good things.

Maccheroni alla Chitarra con Polpettine
A Classic feast-day dish from the Abruzzo region, with stewed meats and meatballs in a rich tomato sauce.

Maccheroncini con le Polpettine
This is Ada Boni's meatball sauce for pasta; rather than use tomato sauce she calls for the drippings from a roast.

Gran Ragù della Festa
An extraordinarily rich, festive Sicilian stew with braciole, meatballs and sausages that also provides sauce for the pasta. In many occasions it was the reason for the festivities.

A few things off the Net:

Anthony's Pasta Sauce and Balls
A son's tribute to his Dad: an exhaustive instructions on how to make pasta with meatballs in a tomato sauce.

Mama's Italian Spaghetti Sauce
Marie T Smith's adaption of her mother's Spaghetti sauce recipe for the microwave. Makes a huge amount, and includes both sausages and meatballs, in classic South Italian style. In short, good for making and freezing most of for hectic days. No garlic, which is a little unusual; if you want it you can add it.

Sunday Gravy
Reminiscences of growing up in a Sicilian household, and the Signature Dish.

And Finally:
Want ground meat in your pasta sauce, but not meatballs? Try Sugo alla Bolognese.

A presto,
Kyle Phillips

Got more sites / recipes to suggest? Let me know.

Previous Features
Basic Italian Recipes

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