Spaghetti with meatballs are a classic dish of Italo-American cuisine, especially loved by children thanks to the famous scene in the Disney movie, “Lady and the Tramp“, which made this dish well-known worldwide.
An almost romantic recipe that immediately brings to mind the accidental and unexpected kiss of the two puppy lovers, the protagonists of the aforementioned movie. Aside from the romance, spaghetti with meatballs is a rich and flavorful dish that will surprise your palate with different textures, where tender meatballs are intertwined with al dente spaghetti, and a velvety tomato sauce envelops it all.
To seal this perfect marriage between spaghetti and meatballs, there couldn’t be anything other than grated cheese that further enhances all the flavors.
Now take a minute to read the recipe and then…let’s cook and eat!!
See also
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 11 oz spaghetti
- 9 oz ground beef
- 2 slices stale bread (crumb only)
- as needed milk
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (+ extra for the pasta)
- 1 egg
- as needed salt
- as needed black pepper (ground)
- as needed chopped parsley
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- 25 oz peeled tomatoes (or tomato puree)
- A few leaves basil
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Garlic Press
- 1 Pan
- 1 Wooden Spoon
- 1 Pot
- 1 Ladle for spaghetti
Steps
Preparing spaghetti with meatballs is very simple and quite quick.
You can also prepare the sauce with the meatballs in advance, even the day before, and then reheat it and add the freshly cooked spaghetti.
First, gather the ground beef in a bowl, the previously soaked and squeezed stale bread, and an egg.
Season the filling with salt, pepper, grated cheese, and chopped parsley.
Finally, add the pressed garlic (if you don’t like it, you can omit it from the filling) and mix by hand until you get a homogeneous mixture.
Form the meatballs the size you desire; I made them quite small (0.5-0.7 oz each) because I love finding the little meatballs scattered among the spaghetti.
Heat some olive oil in a pan and brown the meatballs inside to seal them well, then add the peeled tomatoes previously crushed with a fork (or by hand).
Add salt and basil to the tomato sauce and cook for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, put a pot of salted water on the stove and when it begins to boil, drop in the spaghetti.
When there are a couple of minutes left of the cooking time indicated on the package, use a special ladle to transfer the drained spaghetti into the pan with the sauce and meatballs. Stir and let everything flavor together for a minute.
Add plenty of grated cheese and some more fresh basil leaves off the heat.
All that’s left to do is plate and enjoy your steaming spaghetti with meatballs, maybe with your loved one 😉.
