So after a long day of being outside on what felt like the first real fall day in quite some time, hubs and I both had a craving for old school spaghetti and meatballs. I went with linguine and meatballs, actually, and after a bit of time (maybe an hour?), this was a delicious take on an old favorite. Adapted on the go from, of course, my trusty Epicurious app. What would I do without it?!?
Here's what I used:
For the sauce:
2 28-oz cans of whole San Marzano tomatoes, with the juice
1 really large yellow onion or 2 smaller yellow onions
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
For the meatballs:
1 lb ground beef or other ground meat of your choice
1 cup breadcrumbs - I used the Italian mix
1/3 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup ground parmesan (not shredded - I actually chopped up a block of parm really, really finely since I didn't have ground on hand)
1/3 cup milk
And of course, your pasta. I only cook what I think we'll eat and then I just have to make the pasta fresh with the leftover meatballs and it tastes like brand new.
To begin, you want to get the sauce started. Get a large stock pot out and add both cans of tomatoes. In all the cooking shows I have watched over the years, cooks swear by San Marzano tomatoes, and I have bought into the hype. I have no idea if they are better than the domestic or not, and they are more expensive, unfortunately. If someone loves a domestic brand, I would love the name. I do think the San Marzanos give it that New York pizzeria taste, so I cough up the extra $2-3 bucks a can. Then I quartered my large yellow onion. I diced one quarter, and threw the other 3 quarters in there whole (you will remove them and discard later - if that bothers you, then dice finely and add to the sauce.) Add the 1/4 cup of butter (half a stick) and get the sauce going to a nice simmer and start on the meatballs.
In a big bowl, add the breadcrumbs and the milk together and stir until combined. Let this stand for 10 min while you prep the rest of the ingredients. Monitor to see if you have excess milk. My breadcrumbs absorbed all of the milk, but I did not use fresh breadcrumbs. I used store-bought Italian blend. If you have extra milk, then combine the rest of these in a separate bowl so you can drain the milk out later.
To my breadcrumb mixture, I added the chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and parmesan.
Now it's time to incorporate the meat. I had been hoping to do a ground beef / ground turkey or pork blend (which I think would be delicious) but I got caught walking home in the rain without an umbrella, so ducked into the only nearby grocery store - the Korean market - which didn't have anything but ground beef.
Anyway, put one pound of whatever combination of ground meat you like in a separate bowl. In a glass measuring cup, I cracked 2 eggs and whisked in the chopped garlic. Add that to the meat and combine thoroughly. Then add the meat mixture to the breadcrumb mixture.
Once you are ready, start rolling the meatballs into golf ball sized meatballs and add straight to the sauce. Make sure they are in one layer on top of the sauce. Once you are done, cover the pot and let simmer for 15-20 more minutes. Get the pasta going once the meatballs are done and cook according to the package directions.
Once that is done, plate the pasta, the sauce, the meatballs, and top with freshly grated parmesan. Enjoy! This fed 3, with plenty of leftovers. It would probably feed up to 6-8.
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