The recipe, like so many I've made recently, comes from a cook book. In this case, Fletcher, Janet. Classic Pasta at Home. Time-Life Books (1998), p. 78. I did stray from the recipe somewhat, so I'll go ahead and provide a breakdown.
The Ingredients
For Meatballs
-1 lb. lean ground beef (the recipe in the book calls for 1/2 lb. ground veal and 1/2 lb. ground pork)
-2 eggs, lightly beaten
-1/2 small yellow onion, minced (I used 1/4 medium/large-ish yellow onion)
-1/2 cup fine dried bread crumbs
-1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-1 Tbs. minced fresh Italian parsley
-2 tsp. minced fresh oregano
-1/2 tsp. fennel seeds, lightly crushed in a mortar
-1 1/2 tsp. salt
-ground pepper to taste
For Sauce
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 Tbs. minced fresh Italian parsley
-pinch of red pepper flakes
-2 cans whole plum tomatoes, finely chopped, with juice
-1 lb. dried spaghetti
The Process
So, first things first. I eyeballed the measurements for the parsley and oregano.
To make the meatballs, deposit all the meatball ingredients in a big bowl and mash it together with your hands (which you should really consider washing first). If you like, you can get it started with a spoon or potato masher first, but you'll really need to get your hands dirty. Once the foodpile has been thoroughly combined, separate it out into balls and place them in a single layer on a large plate. Then, do like the daleks say and REFRIGERATE.
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| Once more, a pile of. . . stuff. |
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| This is the story of how the unappetizing. . . |
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| . . . becomes appetizing. |
Begin the sauce by warming up the olive oil in a large frying pan. Saute the minced garlic, parsley, and red pepper flakes in the hot oil. The recipe calls for an (optional) pinch of the red pepper flakes, but I used several liberal shakes. After sauteing for about a minute, add the chopped tomato and juice, bring it to a simmer, and cook it for 15 minutes, uncovered.
Here's a point where I diverged from the recipe a bit. The recipe calls for the sauce to be pureed at this point. I did not do this. Putting the sauce through a food processor just didn't seem right. Instead, I added the meatballs right in and covered the frying pan. Let it simmer (lightly) for seven minutes, then turn the meatballs over and let it simmer for another 8 minutes.
When you add the meatballs to the sauce, start preparing your noodles. Just cook 1 lb. of dried spaghetti according to whatever instructions it gives on the packaging.
When the noodles and meatball sauce are both ready (and the noodles have been drained), deposit the noodles back in their pot, add the meatball sauce in on top of them, and gently toss the combo.
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| Warning! Sauteed garlic may cause drool. |
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| Tomato? TO-MA-TO! |
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| Behold, meatball: your impending deliciousness! |
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| Dooooom. |
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| Delicious doom. . . |
Sooooo goooood. The crushed fennel seeds in the meatballs adds a lot of character to the dish and although I did not notice it, my folks remarked positively on the excessive use of red pepper flakes. Had I been doing the grocery shopping, I would have used angel hair pasta. Not because it would have been better for the dish, necessarily, but because I have an unhealthy obsession with angel hair. The last time I made meatballs I baked them, rather than cook them with the sauce. This was done partly because that's what the recipe called for, and partly because the last time I made sauce, it turned out. . . not as good. That batch of meatballs still turned out fantastically, but this is better suited when you plan on eating them with noodles and sauce.
This entire experiment did give me an idea for another dish. . . meatball burger. . .
It sounds good in my head, at least.
Anyhow, that's all for tonight. Good night world!
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| Behold! His noodley appendage! |
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| Served with the French bread my stepdad and I made for the crawfish etouffee. |
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