World Pasta Day 2018: How to make classic spaghetti and meatballs
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Your support makes all the difference.Spaghetti and meatballs
What I want for you is to enjoy carbs in their most sauced-up, high-octane, lip-smacking forms, so how could I not give you meatballs? This recipe includes a large quantity of tomato sauce because it’s important that you really feel the cinematic slurp on that spaghetti. Excellent though this recipe is, I’ve put it here as much as a prod as anything – a reminder not to get so bogged down with complex braises and ragus that you overlook the best things in life. And just so we’re completely clear, the best things in life include the toasted meatball-mozzarella subs you’re going to make with your leftovers. I’m so excited for you.
Serves 4
360g (12¾oz) spaghetti
For the meatballs
75g (2½oz) white bread (after crusts removed, about 3–4 slices)
140ml (generous ½ cup) milk
250g (9oz) minced (ground) beef
250g (9oz) minced (ground) pork
1 onion, finely chopped
Fresh nutmeg, grated (about ⅛tsp)
2tsp fine sea salt
½tsp ground black pepper
1 egg
3tbsp finely chopped parsley, plus extra to serve
35g (1¼oz) parmesan cheese, finely grated, plus extra to serve
For the sauce
3tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1tsp dried chilli (hot pepper) flakes
400g (14oz) can of chopped tomatoes
300g (1¼ cups) passata
Salt, pepper and sugar
Tear the bread into pieces and put it in a small bowl with the milk. Let the milk soak through. Use a fork to prod and mash until you have a mush (what the professionals call “wet breadcrumbs”).
Add all the meatball ingredients to a large bowl, including your mush. Use a fork to mix everything through, breaking up the egg and meat as you go, and making sure all the seasonings are evenly dispersed. Use your hands to form about 24 balls. Oil your hands if it’s sticky. Rest the balls on a plate in the fridge while you get the sauce on.
In a wide sauté pan (big enough to fit all your meatballs and lots of sauce), heat the olive oil over a medium flame. When it’s hot, add the garlic and cook until soft, before adding the chilli flakes and cooking for another 30 seconds or so.
Add the canned tomatoes and passata and crush the tomato pieces with the back of your wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper, and add a teaspoon of sugar if it tastes really acidic. Stir well and cook over a medium heat for 15 minutes, until it’s thickened up but ample.
Turn the heat right down before you carefully lower all of the meatballs into the sauce. Make sure the sauce is simmering gently, cover the pan and leave the meatballs to poach in the sauce for 20 minutes. Don’t touch the pan or the meatballs while they’re cooking – just keep an eye on things, turning the heat down if it starts to look or sound bubbly and furious.
Get your spaghetti on while you wait, cooking it according to the packet instructions. Serve the spaghetti topped with the meatballs, followed by more parsley and more parmesan, if you like.
Extracted from Carbs by Laura Goodman (Quadrille, £15)
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