Spaghetti and Meatballs

A typical Sunday meal, Spaghetti and Meatballs is an easy and fairly cheap way to go. Especially since there are always leftovers for either another meal during the week or for lunches. I use store bought meatballs in a pinch but homemade taste so much better! I don't have a recipe per se but rather I gather my ingredients and go for it.

Garlic, Salt, Breadcrumbs, 1 egg, Basil, Pepper, Tomato Paste, Tomato Sauce, Sweet Italian Sausage, Hamburger, Onion, and Parmesan Cheese, Noodles of choice (oil for cooking)

This is all you need to make a fantastic meal. Start with the meatballs since they take a while. Keep in mind that your meatballs don't have to be perfect...mine are different sizes and not a single one of them is a perfect ball, but who cares as long as they taste awesome! I multitask during meatballs. I chop up half of my onion (the other half can be saved for something else, I don't like to use a ton of onion) and I roast a couple links of sausage to put into the sauce.

(To roast sausage: place your links in a baking dish and put in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the outside casing is golden brown)

Put your hamburger (approximately 1 lb), meat from one sausage link, the egg, 1/4 c Parmesan Cheese, 1/2 c breadcrumbs, about 1 tsp of garlic and salt/pepper into a big bowl.

Now some of you are probably hemming and hawing about my choice of meats...this is what I had. I like to buy the meatball mix at the store. They mix veal, beef and pork together and that works awesome too. I do insist on the sausage though...it adds a nice flavor to the meatballs. If you don't use sausage you will have a 'flat' tasting meatball. 

Take off your rings and put your hands in and squish it all around...if you are queasy touching meat then this isn't for you, that's what soap is for. Mix it until everything is encorporated:

Now form your meatballs. I prefer smaller ones, they cook better and they are bite size.

For cooking you will use a big dutch oven or equivalent. This requires only 1 pan for the entire sauce so make sure you choose something big enough to accommodate the meatballs and the pasta sauce. Put about 2-4 tbls of oil in the pan over medium high heat. Allow to heat for around 1 minute and add in your meatballs. Only put in a few at a time because you have to have room to move them around.

The key here is to keep them moving and don't have the heat too high. They will stick a little bit but that's ok, it will leave behind brown bits that will make your sauce delicious. Each batch will take about 10 minutes to cook. Keep them moving and cook until they are nice and brown. You might have to periodically add a little more oil but don't drown your meatballs, just enough to keep them from gluing to the bottom of the pan. When they are done place on a plate covered with a papertowel to absorb any extra oil. Sprinkle with a little salt while they are still hot. Add the next batch to the pan and repeat until your meatballs are all cooked. Mine took 3 batches and made around 3 dozen meatballs minus a few that we had to test...you have to make sure they are good! :)

Now you have a pan with some oil and brown bits in it

...add your onions! Cook for about 5 minutes, the onions will start to look translucent. Now add in a little more garlic (about 1 tbls) and cook for about 30 seconds. Garlic burns really easily so once you smell it pour in your pasta sauce. I like to use Classico sauce, it has a nice flavor. Add in the tomato paste too. Put a little water (about a cup) into your pasta sauce jar to get out the sauce that got stuck in the jar and add that into the pot too. I add in about 1 tbls of basil, 1 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper along with the meats.

The longer you cook this the better it will taste. Ideally this is something that you would start at lunch time and cook over very low heat until dinner time. Just remember to cover your pan...pasta sauce splatters everywhere while cooking and makes a mess.

Just boil up some pasta, serve with some Parmesan Cheese sprinkled on top with some buttered homemade bread on the side and everyone will be happy!

This recipe makes 2 meals for two people (the leftovers usually taste even better since the. Double it if you have a big family. If you have too many meatballs for your sauce, freeze them so you have homemade ones on hand without all the work. Or use them for lunches and make meatball sandwiches.

My batch made a meal for us tonight, leftovers for a lunch and another meal, plus about a dozen meatballs for sandwiches!