Essentials: Spaghetti and Meatballs
I’ve been burned more than a few times by recipes that bloggers lavishly hailed as amazing but that in my kitchen (my fault?) were only so-so. I’m forgiving, though, because the successes are worth it, and because I know that people are just doing what they have to do to keep cooking and writing. All these peeks into people’s kitchens and lives make up for any number of recipes that don’t quite deliver.
This is my longwinded way of saying that I try to be disciplined and I try to keep my feet on the ground—I don’t say this kind of thing often, but Ina Garten's recipe for spaghetti and meatballs is The. Best. Ever. I know, I know, your grandma’s, your great uncle’s…I don’t care.
This recipe for pure comfort and satisfaction and greedy gobbling makes me feel a little less deprived when I contemplate the fact that there’s no sheaf of family recipes for me to inherit. As far as I’m concerned, this is the Platonic ideal of delicious, unsophisticated spaghetti and meatballs, not just the best I’ve ever made but—I’ll say it—the best I’ve ever eaten.
About the author: Robin Bellinger recently escaped a career in book publishing, which was cutting into her cooking time. Now she's a freelance editor and can bake bread on Tuesday afternoon if she feels like it. She lives in Midtown Manhattan with her husband and blogs about cooking and crafting at home*economics.
Real Meatballs & Spaghetti
-serves 6-
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style
The meatballs and sauce freeze beautifully and are nice to have on hand for emergency dinners.
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs (made from 4 slices, crusts removed)
1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil
For the sauce:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For serving:
1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Procedure
1. Put the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.
2. Pour equal amounts of vegetable and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4 inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don’t clean the pan.
3. For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.
4. Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan cheese.
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20 Comments:
I'm sure this thread will be filled with variations and strong opinions, so let me say that there is a reason I will not make this version of meatballs and stick to mine. For years, I did make them the way Ina suggests, with a combination of meat and breadcrumbs. Then I tried using milk soaked bread in place of breadcrumbs. The verdict was conclusive. Using bread soaked in milk simply produced a softer more succulent meatball. And, returning to the conversation about food costs, think about the idea that meatballs can be an excellent way to make the most out of an inexpensive kind of meat - and the poor would have used smaller amounts of meat and larger amounts of stale milk soaked bread.
The peasants were right. Neccesity is the mother of greatness.
potroast at 1:06PM on 03/28/08
I couldn't agree more! This is the only recipe I use when I want to make a casual, but impressive, Italian meal.
Tip: The meatball recipe works very well with ground turkey, too, but only if you use all ground dark meat. (The ground white meat, or breast, is just too lean.)
Brownie at 2:37PM on 03/28/08
This recipe is also fantastic when using ground lamb in place of the veal (if you're squeamish about the treatment of the animal or just like the taste of lamb).
bwellborn at 5:18PM on 03/28/08
@potroast, you are right about the milk soaked bread. That's how I make meatloaf and it is oh so good. I love Ina's Family Style cookbook, all of the recipes are delicious. Yesterday I found some beautiful wild caught shrimp so I made the linguine with shrimp scampi, and my guests loved it. I suspect that spaghetti with meatballs is coming soon.
ride&cook at 5:20PM on 03/28/08
This recipe is truly divine. I've made it many many times and without fail it is delicious. The first time I cooked for my boyfriend's parents, I made this. That's trust in a recipe! I like to keep the breadcrumbs in 1/2 inch chunks so they really soak up all the goodness. Soooo (sigh) good.
carriek at 11:21PM on 04/01/08
I did like the meatballs as well but thought the sauce was a bit weak and I really LOVE Ina and her recipes and shows. I think that if you used San Marzano tomatoes, it might be more tasty. It is surprising that Ina didn't suggest this herself as she always goes the extra yard for special ingredients.
suschef at 3:46PM on 04/02/08
Thanks to "bwellborn" for the mentioning the animal mistreatment issues surronding veal. I completely agree and never use veal. So, now I have alternatives to veal, such as dark meat turkey or even lamb, thanks to all of you reviewers' for your comments and suggestions!
I'm making meatballs tonight!
cori2722 at 4:48PM on 04/02/08
Just finished the recipe I had wanted to try for awhile. My husband insists that sauce have peppers, so I added a little red and green in with the onions and garlic. I bought a really nice Chianti import and I had a loaf of sourdough bread just baked, so I ended up using that for the larger crumbs. I also had to rush so baked the meatballs - there were lots - at 400 degrees, then added most of them to the sauce to finish up. Because I baked the meatballs, I sauteed the vegetables, then added them to the wine and tomatoes, therefore missing out on the browned bits this time. I cooked the sauce down, tasted, and added just a bit of sugar, then added the meatballs. My husband said he thought tasty and I thought worth the extra time to prep and cook. There will be enough meatball for hot subs another day - hooray.
judi0044 at 2:36PM on 04/03/08
I like the idea of using white bread soaked in breadcrumbs, what's the quantity conversion from breadcrumbs?
vbrewer1 at 11:28PM on 04/03/08
it was late when i wrote my comment, what i meant to say was how much milk soaked white bread would you use in lieu of breadcrumbs. any help would be appreciated, i want to make this over the weekend.
vbrewer1 at 9:15AM on 04/04/08
Soaking the bread in buttermilk is EVEN BETTER!!!
Mrs1737 at 11:32PM on 04/04/08
Yesterday, I cooked spaghetti and meatballs from the James Beard cookbook and it was very good...no bread or breadcrumbs in the meatballs. I will try Ina's recipe soon, every one of her recipes that I have tried has been a winner.
elaine nan at 9:00PM on 04/10/08
While this recipe for meatballs is indeed spot-on, you are right...Ina can't compete with the generations of Italian cooks in my family...this just tomato sauce heated up for half an hour without any character. Solution? Use a real sauce recipe, take a Saturday morning, cook up a big pot and freeze in quarts. Then when you need your quick meal, make Ina's meatballs, defrost the good stuff and simmer away. You'll be much happier!
BarbaraJo at 6:02PM on 04/11/08
For those concerned about the ethics of using veal, I would suggest finding a trustworthy butcher. Many animals are bred humanely now, in serene environments. The meat is much pinker than historically, because calves are outside and moving; it's also flavorful, unlike meat of yore. I use veal , if I know from where it comes. In response to the meatball recipe, I agree with soaking bread in milk; this recipe looks very typical to me, nothing special, though I'm sure it's tasty.
degualle at 11:23AM on 04/13/08
I have been making meatballs (a recipe from Giada's show) for awhile now using breadcrumbs soaked in whole milk and ground turkey.
They are moist, tender and delicious. Even better the next day!
I would not use this recipe because of the veal.
I adore Ina and use alot of her recipes but will stick with my other meatball recipe for now.
lj1mom at 11:52AM on 04/26/08
I have been making Ina's Spaghetti & Meatballs for a few years and there is nothing better. Personally, if you really watch Ina, she is very percise on every measurement and very matter of fact of how she cooks. She wants it to taste perfect. I have read where she will make the same recipe 20-30 times a day until she gets it right. Do you really think the Yummo woman does that??? I think not!!! Ina takes her cooking very serious and I think she is one of the best stars the FoodNetwork has.
josies at 10:01PM on 05/10/08
My late husband's grandmother, an old Italian lady, whose family came from Tuscany never fried her meatballs, nor did she use milk and bread, yet her meatballs were wonderful. She cooked her sauce (home made from scratch) , she did fry sausage, then added it, and the uncooked meatballs to the sauce. She never served it the day she made it, but after sitting in the fridge overnight, the fat would have solidified at the top, where she could easily skim it off.
Mares at 9:53PM on 08/28/08
This is a very good recipe. It hits all my grandma notes. Only thing is I brown meat often and put it in the sauce. I make the meatballs with whatever bread I have. I brown them then they go into the sauce. They will never be dry because they were braised in sauce. They will always be tender. Tonight I made lasagne. My sauce has a beef short rib, 2 pork chops and the ground beef, pork veal mix.
Ilike to brown the meat first it seals in the juices, a good sear gives meat flavor. Then into the sauce.
This is not rocket science. Everyone should be able to make a good pasta meal. I taught Husband in about 4 tries.
JerzeeTomato at 10:11PM on 08/28/08
definitely soak the bread in milk and do not use seasoned breadcrumbs!
ever, ever ..... nona never used seasoned breadcrumbs.
i pop my meatballs on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven 375 to get a nice color on them before adding them to the sauce.
such a heavy meal...... good once in awhile, though.
pooch at 8:46PM on 05/16/09
My very Italian friend always makes a huge pot of sauce and a lot of meatballs. She soaks her breadcrumbs in milk and bakes the meatballs in the oven. She always browns some kind of pork product; i.e., sausage, piece of pork roast, chops) before making the sauce and leaves it in to flavor her long-cooking sauce.
I love her meatballs, but prefer my sauce. That's what makes the world go round.....
duncan1205 at 4:43PM on 08/23/09