Meatballs in sauce with tagliatelle
A classic of Italian cuisine, the dish that brings every family together: meatballs in tomato sauce, perhaps with handmade tagliatelle. Any pasta would work fine, as the meatballs are the true stars. In Italy, they come in various sizes, but what you might not know is that in Sicily, meatballs are oval.
The reason is simple: you can eat them faster without having to cut them. Haumm… in one bite without even opening your mouth too wide….
The breadcrumbs I use are Sicilian style, so by following this link you can see how I prepare it.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Slow Fire
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
- Energy 630.88 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 75.42 (g) of which sugars 3.83 (g)
- Proteins 31.83 (g)
- Fat 22.08 (g) of which saturated 7.35 (g)of which unsaturated 7.82 (g)
- Fibers 5.80 (g)
- Sodium 788.41 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 334 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 14 oz beef (ground)
- 3.5 oz stale bread
- 3.5 oz breadcrumbs (Sicilian style, see recipe)
- 2 eggs
- 7 oz milk
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- 2.1 oz onion
- 1.8 oz carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 liter tomato puree
- 1.4 oz extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- 10.5 oz semolina flour
- 5 water
- to taste salt
Meatballs in Sauce with Tagliatelle
Tools
what we need
- Pan
- Pot
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Pasta machine
- Tray
- Bowl
- Colander
Preparation of Meatballs in Sauce with Tagliatelle
Let’s make the tagliatelle
Let’s start with the tagliatelle.
I put the flour, water, and salt in the Thermomix, and it did everything in 3 minutes.
If you don’t have a mixer, do it by hand with the same quantities.
Once the dough is mixed, dust the work surface with a bit of flour and form a ball from the dough, then divide it into 4 parts.
Next, set up your pasta machine, starting with the medium thickness, and pass the dough through 3 times. Then set it to the thinnest setting and pass each piece through again.
Now that it’s all smooth, change the attachment on the machine and cut the tagliatelle.
Place them on a floured tray and sprinkle more flour on top
Choose good quality ground beef, and ask the butcher to grind it twice.
I prefer it lean, but you can choose according to your taste.
Cut the stale bread into pieces, place them in a bowl with the milk, and wait for it to absorb all the liquid.
In a rather large bowl, place the ground beef, eggs, Sicilian-style seasoned breadcrumbs, and the soaked, squeezed bread. Do not discard the leftover milk as it can be used to further moisten the mixture if necessary.
Mix the ingredients
Form the meatballs,
In a pan, add a sprig of rosemary, some EVO oil, and heat it up
Once the oil is hot, place the meatballs in the pan and let them cook for 2/3 minutes per side
Turn them only once.
Absorb the excess oil with paper, at this point you can decide to stop here and eat them as they are, but I will continue the recipe to make them with sauce.
In the same pan as before, without washing it, add more EVO oil if necessary, and make a fine chop of carrots, onion, and celery, allowing it to sauté for 3 minutes.
After that, add the tomato puree.
Adjust with salt and stir.
Cover with a splatter guard and let it cook on moderate heat for 20 minutes.
When you notice that the sauce is thickening…..
Add the meatballs, being careful to stir very gently,
Cover again with a splatter guard, lower the heat to the minimum, and let it cook for 5 minutes.
Cook the pasta.
Serve the meatballs along with the tagliatelle.
Here are my Meatballs in Sauce with Tagliatelle ready.
Storage
Meatballs in Sauce with Tagliatelle.
You can store the meatballs either raw or cooked. In the fridge for 3 days, in the freezer for up to 3 months.
