Spaghetti and Meatballs
The Italian-American Sunday classic: plump beef and pork meatballs poached in a long tomato sauce, served over spaghetti with more Parmesan than seems reasonable, which is the correct amount.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Spaghetti and Meatballs, in 5 ideas
- A panade of bread soaked in milk is what keeps meatballs tender. Dry crumbs make them dense and bouncy.
- Meatballs poach in the sauce rather than drowning in oil. A quick sear for flavor, then the sauce finishes them and borrows their richness.
- The sauce is Marcella-simple. Tomatoes, onion, butter, time. Resist adding everything in the spice drawer.
- Salt the pasta water like the sea. And finish the spaghetti in a ladle of sauce so it gloss-coats every strand.
- Meatballs freeze perfectly in their sauce. This recipe doubles with no extra real work, and future you says thanks.
What you need
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 8 oz ground pork
- 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more to serve
- 2 eggs
- 3 garlic cloves, minced, divided
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- 2 cans (28 oz each) whole tomatoes
- 1 onion, halved
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1 lb spaghetti
How to make it
Method
Start the sauce: put the tomatoes, their juices, the onion halves and the butter in a wide pot. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, breaking the tomatoes up now and then. Season with salt.
Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 5 minutes. Mix with the beef, pork, Parmesan, eggs, half the garlic, the parsley, salt and pepper, with a light hand.
Roll into balls a little smaller than a golf ball, about 16 of them.
Sear the meatballs in a film of oil until browned on two sides; they finish in the sauce, so do not cook them through.
Lift the onion from the sauce and discard. Slide the meatballs in and poach at a bare simmer for 20 minutes, until cooked through and tender.
Cook the spaghetti in well-salted water until just shy of done. Drain, reserving a cup of pasta water.
Toss the spaghetti through a ladleful of sauce with a splash of pasta water until glossy. Serve in warm bowls, meatballs on top, sauce over, and Parmesan without restraint.
Mix meatballs by hand and stop the moment everything is combined: overworked meat is what makes them tough.