Real Meatballs and Spaghetti

In the past, I have made my own spaghetti sauce, and I've had success with it.  But, I haven't had anything that was SO great and incredible.  Except this one.  It is really good.  I mean really, really good.  The sauce is a simple sauce, nothing complicated or overly done.  For something like this, I don't want anything that is going to try to draw attention to itself with fancy ingredients.  This is simply put, a beautiful recipe.  Thank you Ina Garten. 

The meatballs are a bit more time and labor intensive - so feel free to do something different if you're in a hurry.  But, what ever you do - DON'T SKIP THE SAUCE! 

On another note - my family loves a lot of sauce on their noodles, and I always felt that Ina's recipe never provided enough sauce.  So, I have doubled the sauce recipe :-)

Real Meatballs and Spaghetti
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

For the Meatballs:
1/2 lb. ground veal
1/2 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground beef
1 C fresh white bread crumbs
1/4 C seasoned dry bread crumbs
2 T chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 extra large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil

For the Sauce:
2 T olive oil
1 whole white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 C good red wine, such as Chianti (I used a Malbec, as this is my favorite wine)
2 - 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 T chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
3 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

For Serving:
1 1/2 lbs. spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

DIRECTIONS
For the Meatballs:
Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg and 3/4 C water in a bowl.  Combine very lightly with a fork.  Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2" meatballs.  You will have 14-16 meatballs.

Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large 12" skillet (I used a large Dutch oven) to a depth of 1/4".  Heat the oil.  Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium heat, turning carefully with a spatula or 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 bud don't clean the pan.

For the Sauce:
Heat the olive oil in the same pan.  Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5-10 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 3-5 minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper.

Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 25-30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.  Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan cheese!

Please click here for a printable version of this recipe - Kitchen Groovy

Enjoy and live with gusto!