Spaghetti and meatballs are very popular in Italy and also in the United States.
The dish is delicious and filling, and you get to play with the noodles.
A good pasta sauce requires simmering for a long time to allow the flavors to develop.
You can save a lot of time by using a good-quality
Pasta Sauce.
Read the ingredient list and avoid sauces that use corn syrup or non-traditional ingredients.
Ingredients:
1 jar of pasta sauce
1 pound of ground beef
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 egg
1/2 pound dry spaghetti noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
Preparation
Meat Balls:
Chop the onion finely. Combine the ground beef, chopped onion, fennel seeds, black pepper, and egg
in a bowl. Mix the ingredients thoroughly, and then shape the ground meat mixture into 1-inch meat balls.
Fry the meatballs in a large skillet with one tablespoon of olive oil. When the meatballs are
done, drain the oil and put the meatballs in a bowl. Sauce with Meatballs:
Chop the garlic and fry it in one tablespoon of olive oil until golden brown.
(Hint: At this point you can make garlic toast by brushing some of this oil and garlic mixture
on slices of Italian bread and putting them in a toaster oven.)
Add the pasta sauce and heat until it
starts to simmer. Add the meatballs and heat for 5 more minutes. Boiling the Pasta:
Pour 3 quarts of water in a 4 quart pot and bring to a boil. Add the dry noodles and boil
for 10 to 15 minutes, until done, but don't overcook. Drain and place noodles in a bowl. Serving:
To serve, put some noodles on a plate, and top with the meatballs and sauce.
Sprinkle with ground Parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers for extra zest.
Italian Meatballs
Some recipes for Italian meatballs add Parmesan cheese within the meatballs, rather than using the
cheese as a condiment on top of the dish at serving time. This is a very flavorful recipe.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons of bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1 egg
1/8 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
1-1/2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2-1/2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
Preparation
• Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
• Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onions in hot oil until translucent, about 20 minutes.
• Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl. Stir onions, bread crumb mixture, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and Parmesan cheese into meat mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
• Preheat an oven to 425 °F (220 °C).
• Using wet hands, form meat mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Arrange onto prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes
Index
