Spaghetti and Meatballs is the most Italian food (other than pizza) that most of us can think of. Strangely enough, most Italians would never combine the two. If they do, the two items would be served separately rather than as one dish. However, in North America, spaghetti and meatballs are classics. It also happens to be one of my wife's all-time favourite dishes, so we had it last night for her Mother's Day dinner. Today, I'm going to show you exactly how I made it.
The Sauce
It should go without saying that you are never going to make a great bowl of Spaghetti and Meatballs without first making a great sauce. What is really important to note here is that great does not mean complicated and it absolutely does not mean a lot of ingredients. Case in point, the sauce we are going to look at today has only eight ingredients. That's all. If you want to learn more about building great sauces from scratch, take a look at my post on tomato sauce.
Making the Sauce
To start the sauce I first diced 2 medium onions which came out to be about 1 cup. While I was dicing the onion I heated a large pot over medium-high heat and added in about 3 tablespoon of olive oil. I added the onions into the pot and cooked them for about 10-15 minutes or until they started to caramelize. It is important to stir the onions every few minutes so they don't burn.
While the onions were cooking I used the time to prep my other ingredients. First, I chopped up 3 cloves of garlic which was about 2 tablespoon in total. Once the onions were caramelized I added the garlic in and cooked it for about 2 minutes.
While the garlic cooked with the onions I opened a can of whole Italian tomatoes, poured them into the bowl, then crushed them with my hands. You can use a hand blender if you'd prefer, I just like to get my hands dirty. Then, I dumped the tomatoes into the garlic and onions. Depending on how much liquid there is in your tomatoes you may need to add a bit of water to the sauce.
For the last few steps of the sauce, I chopped up about 1-2 tablespoon of rosemary and added it to the pot. Finally, I seasoned the sauce to taste with salt, pepper, and sugar then let it simmer for 20 minutes and set it aside until I was ready to use it.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 796 ml Can Of Whole Italian Tomatoes dumped into a bowl and hand crushed
- 1 cup Diced Onion
- 2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 1-2 tablespoon Fresh Chopped Rosemary or basil
- 3 tablespoon Olive Oil
- Salt, Pepper, and Sugar to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat then add in the olive oil and onions.
- Cook the onions for 10-15 minutes or until they are lightly caramelized then add in the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes, and a ¼ to ½ cup of water if needed then add in the rosemary and seasoning.
- Bring the pot to a boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and sugar as needed. Remove from the heat and set aside until ready to use.
Meatballs
With the sauce out of the way, let's now take a look at the meatballs.
First of all, I should say that for a very, very long time I hated meatballs. (I feel like this is becoming a theme on the blog.) I found them to be dry, chewy and tasteless; it didn't matter who made them, I hated them. Then, I started working at an Italian restaurant and discovered how good a meatball could actually be. A good meatball is tender, juicy and full of flavour. Easy to say, but how do you accomplish it?
The Meat
The first step to making a delicious meatball is using the right meat. There has to be fat in the meat, meaning you should not use lean ground beef to make a meatball. This lack of fat will lead to all the common issues people encounter when making meatballs like dryness and chewiness. Having said that, I also wouldn't suggest using full-fat ground beef. I generally suggest a nice medium ground. Not only does it have more flavour than lean ground beef, but it is also considerably cheaper.
If you want to really step up your game, substitute a quarter of the ground beef for ground pork. I didn't do that in this recipe but it does make a really great meatball. For more tips on choosing and working with different cuts of meat, check out my guide to cooking meat.
The Flavourings
The next step to making a great meatball is the flavourings. I find that meatballs are like burgers. People add way too many ingredients, and the flavour becomes jumbled. Like with most things I cook, I prefer a more minimalist approach. I also much prefer fresh herbs to dried herbs if you have them.
For these meatballs, I used about 1 cup of very finely minced onion, about 2 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon each chopped parsley, rosemary and dried oregano (the one exception to the fresh herb comment), ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, and ½ cup fresh grated parmesan. Of course, I also added salt and pepper, which was about 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt (less if you are using table salt) and about ½ - ¾ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper.
The Binders
The last things to add to the meatball mix are binders. For this, I used about ½ - ¾ of a cup of bread crumbs (gluten-free of course) and 1 large egg. That's it.
Now that all the ingredients for the meatballs were in the bowl and ready to go, it was time to mix. For this, I used my two favourite tools in the kitchen: my hands. I mixed not only until the ingredients were fully incorporated but also until the meat got a little tacky. This has a specific culinary name that you really don't need to know. All you do need to know is that by mixing the meat until it is tacky, you are creating a mix that is going to give you smooth, tender meatballs. This took 4-5 minutes.
Forming and Cooking the Meatballs
With the meat all mixed I poured about ¼ cup of olive oil into a roasting pan and preheated my oven to 400°F, then I started making the meatballs.
The size that you choose to make your meatballs really comes down to personal preference. I like medium-sized ones, while some people like really big ones and some people prefer very small ones. Make them however you'd like; just make them all the same size. Once all of the balls have been formed and placed in the roasting pan, put the whole thing in the heated oven for about 35 minutes or until they are nice and brown. You can flip them halfway through cooking if you'd like.
After that initial cook, I removed the meatballs from the oven and drained off as much of the fat as I could from the roasting pan. Next, I added about 2 cups of beef stock (you could also use red wine) to the roasting pan, along with about ⅓ of the tomato sauce. I tossed the meatballs around to coat them, turned the oven temperature down to 325°F, covered the roasting pan with foil and put it back in the oven for another 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, I removed the foil cover from the meatballs and put them back in for another 20 minutes. This braising step is what makes these meatballs incredibly tender.
Finishing the Dish
While the meatballs were finishing in the oven, I brought a large pot of water to a boil and cooked my pasta. I also heated the remainder of my sauce back up. Once the meatballs were finished, I added 8 of them (4 each for my wife and me) to the hot sauce, added in the pasta and tossed.
At this point, I also add about 2 tablespoon of garlic butter. This may seem odd, but it adds so much flavour it is incredible. This is optional; however, I highly recommend it. Also, finishing tomato sauces with a bit of butter (plain or garlic) is always the way to go. Try it for yourself. I then plated the spaghetti and meatballs and finished them with freshly grated parmesan, freshly chopped parsley, and a bit of freshly cracked pepper.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg Medium Ground Beef
- 1 cup Minced Onion
- 2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Chopped Parsley
- 1 tablespoon Chopped Rosemary
- 1 tablespoon Dried Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- ½ cup Freshly Grated Parmesan
- 1 ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt 1 teaspoon if using table salt
- ¾ teaspoon Black Pepper
- ¾ cup Bread Crumbs Gluten-Free
- 1 lg Egg
- ⅓ batch Basic Tomato Sauce
- 2 cup Beef Stock
- ¼ cup Olive Oil
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil, tomato sauce and beef stock in a large bowl and mix until the meat is tacky, about 5 minutes.
- Add the olive oil to a roasting pan.
- Form the meat into 23-24 even size balls and place in the oiled roasting pan.
- Bake the meatballs in a 400°f oven uncovered for 35 minutes flipping them halfway through.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven and drain off all the excess fat.
- Add the beef stock and tomato sauce to the roasting pan, cover with foil and bake in a 325°f oven for 35-45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10-20 minutes.
- Toss the meatballs with tomato sauce and pasta and serve.
Final Thoughts
This is genuinely one of my favourite meals to cook at home, and my wife would happily eat it every week if I let her. If you give this recipe a try, I think you'll understand why -- the secret really is in mixing the meat until it's tacky and then braising the meatballs low and slow in that sauce.
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