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–+ servings
5 stars (8 reviews)

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Thanh | Eat, Little Bird
Prep30 minutes
Cook45 minutes
Total1 hour 15 minutes
Serves: 3 to 4
The best meatballs which everyone will love! These meatballs are full of fresh flavours with a mix of beef and pork, ricotta and lots of fresh herbs. They go perfectly with pasta for an easy and delicious Spaghetti and Meatballs!
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Ingredients

For the meatballs

  • ½ cup fresh ricotta
  • 1-2 tablespoons parmesan, freshly grated
  • 3 tablespoons Panko breadcrumbs, regular breadcrumbs OR semolina
  • 1 egg
  • 250 g (½ lb) minced beef, (ground beef)
  • 250 g (½ lb) minced pork, (ground pork)
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked
  • 1 garlic clove, finely grated
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped or coarsely grated
  • 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, finely chopped

For the pasta sauce

To serve

  • dried spaghetti, (about 70 g dried pasta, per person) cooked according to packet instructions in salted boiling water, but reserve the cooking water
  • parsley, finely chopped
  • basil, finely chopped
  • parmesan, freshly grated

Instructions 

For the meatballs

  1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ricotta, parmesan, panko breadcrumbs and egg, and set aside for about 10 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to soften.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients for the meatballs to the ricotta mixture.
  3. Use your hands to mix everything together, taking care not to over-work the mixture.
  4. Once everything is combined, roll the mixture into meatballs, whether small or large.
  5. If you wish, you can taste the meatball mixture for seasoning by heating a small pan with some oil, and cook a small patty made from the meatball mixture until it is golden and caramelised.

For the pasta sauce

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
  2. Brown the meatballs in batches until they are golden and caramelised on all over. They do not need to be fully cooked through at this stage.
  3. Remove the browned meatballs to a large plate.
  4. In the same pan which you used to brown the meatballs, sauté the onion and garlic with a generous pinch of salt for several minutes, or until the mixture has softened.
  5. Add the tomato passata or canned tomatoes.
  6. Add about 60 ml (1/4 cup) water to the bottle of tomato passata, swirl it around to "clean" the bottle, and pour this water into the pan.
  7. Add the sugar.
  8. Let the tomato sauce simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
  9. Add the meatballs to the sauce, together with any of the meat juices which have collected on the plate.
  10. Simmer the tomato sauce and meatballs for about 20-30 minutes on low heat, until the meatballs have cooked through completely (the timing will vary depending on the size of your meatballs) and the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
  11. Taste for the sauce for seasoning.

To serve

  1. Whilst the sauce and meatballs are simmering away, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions until it is "al dente", i.e. still with a bite.
  2. Reserve some of the pasta cooking water (about 2 cups) and drain the pasta.
  3. If the tomato sauce needs to be thinned a little, add some of the pasta cooking water.
  4. To serve, add the cooked pasta to the sauce and meatballs. Give everything a good stir and make sure the pasta is coated in the sauce. Add more pasta cooking water as needed. Continue to cook for a few minutes, or until the pasta is fully cooked.
  5. Garnish with fresh herbs.
  6. Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

Kitchen Notes

  • ADDING SALT WHEN COOKING PASTA
    You may have heard of some chefs who say that the pasta cooking water should be “salty like the Mediterranean” as they add a cupful of salt to the boiling water. Personally, I find that a good teaspoon of salt is generally enough to season the pasta as it is cooking. Also, it means that, if I need to use the pasta cooking water to finish the accompanying sauce, it will not be too salty.
  • USING DIFFERENT HERBS AND SPICES
    * My recipe above uses herbs and spices which I always have to hand, but you can easily substitute with your favourite herbs and spices.
    * I always use fresh herbs in my cooking (thanks to my herb garden), but dried herbs also work great as a substitute. I recommend using dried oregano or dried Italian seasoning.
    * For a spicy kick, I recommend adding a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes to both the meatballs and sauce.
  • STORAGE & REHEATING
    * Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge for several days, or in the freezer in suitable containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
    * When reheating, the sauce will be thicker than usual. I recommend thinning the sauce with some boiling water, or by adding some tomato passata or canned tomatoes to the sauce.
  • FREEZER TIPS
    The meatballs can be made ahead of time and stored in the freezer. I generally double the meatball recipe (half to serve right away, half to freeze for later), brown all of the meatballs as per the recipe, let the meatballs cool, and then freeze the partially-cooked meatballs in zip-lock freezer bags. Defrost the meatballs overnight in the fridge. Make the tomato sauce as per the recipe, add the defrosted meatballs to the sauce, and continue as per the recipe.
  • OVEN & STOVE TEMPERATURES
    All recipes on this website have been tested on an induction stove and/or with a conventional oven (i.e. an oven without fan). All recipes on this website use temperatures for a conventional oven, unless otherwise mentioned. Convection ovens (i.e. fan-forced ovens) are typically 20°C/70°F hotter than conventional ovens, but please check your manufacturer’s handbook.
  • CONVERSIONS
    To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition Information

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