meet-a-balls

All week I’ve been hearing about “pasketi and meet-a-balls” since they appeared at a meal on some random TV show I was watching with Rahul (my gentleman friend). I believe both of us made a comment about wanting spaghetti and meatballs. Only he chooses to pronounce “spaghetti” like a 3 year old and “meatballs” with a hand gesture like a mobster.

I’m not the biggest fan of Italian restaurants. They always sound good in theory but then I end up leaving with too many breadsticks in my tummy and too much cheesy, saucy leftovers in a box. Once I was certain the craving for spaghetti and meet-a-balls was not going to pass, I figured I’d rather try my hand at them in the kitchen than go to a restaurant and risk the breadstick situation.

They were really easy to make and made his whole apartment smell intoxicating. Choosing to mix the lean beef with the fatty pork made the meatballs just moist enough but I didn’t feel like a greaseball eating them. And you can easily use a pre-made sauce instead and still get delicious results. This makes a decent amount of food so you’ll have plenty of leftovers. Or, you could be social and invite over other people. But I’m far too protective of cold spaghetti leftovers to do that.

I was quite impressed with my first batch of homemade pasketi and meet-a-balls. I’m definitely going to be making this again and freezing it when I have room in my freezer!

Homemade Spaghetti & Meatballs (serves 4-6)
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb mild pork sausage (Italian spices)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 large white onion, diced
1-28 oz. can crushed tomatoes with Italian spices (or regular with 1 T Italian spices added by you)
1-15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
spaghetti
In a large bowl, combine pork, beef, parmesan, breadcrumbs, and egg with your hands until well incorporated. Roll tightly into balls, approximately 1-1/2 inches thick — this will yield 18-22 meatballs. In a sauce pot or Dutch oven with a thick bottom, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When oil is glistening, turn down the heat and carefully place several of the meatballs in bottom of the pot, being careful not to overcrowd them. Brown the meatballs on both sides, but do not cook through. Remove to a plate and repeat until all the meatballs are browned on the outside. Add a bit more olive oil to the pot as well as salt and pepper. Add the diced onion to the pot and stir, letting cook for a few minutes. Next, add the cans of crushed and diced tomato to the onions and stir. Allow the sauce to bubble and stir in the red wine. Turn the heat to medium-low and add in your meatballs. Stir to coat all the balls in sauce and cover the pot. Simmer for 20-30 minutes and the meatballs should be fully cooked. In the mean time, boil some spaghetti noodles. Serve the meatballs and sauce over spaghetti and garnish with parmesan cheese.