Thursday, March 27, 2008

Recipe: Spaghetti and Meatballs

Posted by Greg in meatballs, Recipe, spaghetti, video

While real Italians would never serve spaghetti and meatballs on the same plate, we must sheath our Mediterranean food snobbery in recognition of the fact that it’s a damn tasty dish, no matter how it’s served. It’s a simple dish that we hope becomes part of your repertoire, but like most simple dishes, it is founded on attention to detail. First, find yourself quality tomatoes (you can’t go wrong with anything that says Product of Italy and/or San Marzano on the label). Second, make sure you cook your pasta — and this is imperative — perfectly. This means monitoring your spaghetti as it cooks. Once you hit the 4 minute mark, begin tasting every fifteen seconds. The difference between al dente, blah, and mush is a matter of seconds (and never rinse your pasta — you’ll wash away all that glorious starch).

On the meatball side of things, the ingredients can vary according to taste and indeed, we encourage you to experiment. We like lamb for its intensity, even in small doses, but you could just as easily use pork, veal of beef. The only bit of advice here is to use equal parts bread and meat. Keep in mind, meatballs, or polpetti, were created as a way to stretch leftover ingredients. While our wallets and meatballs may be fatter here in America, nobody likes a dense meat sphere on their plate. Balancing it with bread ensures a light, airy result.

Recipe and follow-along-at-home video after the jump.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrOYYzQrIFY]

Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 can San Marzano tomatoes (or failing that, Pomi boxed, chopped tomatoes)
• 1 quarter onion (red or otherwise), diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon thyme (double or triple if using fresh)
• salt to taste
• pepper flakes to taste
• a drizzle or two of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. dry spaghetti

Procedure

• In a saute pan, pot, or metal bucket, cook the diced onion and garlic in olive oil for about 7 minutes or until soft. Salt.
• Crush tomatoes, add to pot. Salt.
• Add thyme.
• Simmer (as opposed to boil), stirring every so often, for about 30 minutes, uncovered.
• Set aside.

Meatballs

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb ground lamb
• 1 cup (or so) cubed Italian bread, soaked in water and squeezed dry
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (as opposed to the more regal and expensive parmigiano reggiano)
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 1 egg
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• (if you happen to have fresh parsley around, it would be lovely)

Procedure

• Take your minced garlic and saute it briefly in a splash of extra virgin olive oil, until light golden brown. Set aside.
• Add all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well by hand. Form into balls.
• Place balls in baking dish and broil until deep, golden brown. Turn over so that top and bottom brown.

Pasta

• In a big pot (or metal bucket), boil lots of copiously salted water. Add pasta. Cook to al dente perfection.
• Using tongs, remove pasta from water, drain, and add to tomato sauce.
• Continue cooking sauce as you stir pasta through. Add a child’s fistful of cheese.
• Remove from heat, add a dollop of extra virgin olive oil. Serve.

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