Linguine with meatballs are loved by both adults and children, they’re easy to prepare and therefore accessible to everyone. You can use the ground meat of your choice to make them. I often make them with venison, but of course, you can also use beef, or a mix of beef and pork or even veal for a milder taste.
They take very little time to prepare, as you make a flavorful tomato sauce and then shape the unseasoned ground meat into small balls that are dropped into the sauce to cook and absorb flavors.
Of course, you can also use spaghetti instead of linguine, and if you have leftover sauce, you can easily freeze it, so you’ll have sauce ready for times when you come home late or have even less desire to cook ;).
If you like meatballs, also try these recipes of mine:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1 onion (small)
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 700 g tomato puree
- 400 g ground meat (beef, or beef-pork mix, or venison)
- to taste herb salt (or regular salt)
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 400 g linguine
- to taste salt
Steps
To prepare the linguine with meatballs, peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. Heat the oil in a wide pan and sauté the garlic and onion over medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato puree and the previously washed rosemary sprig, stir, cover with a lid, and bring to a boil.
When the sauce starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and shape the ground meat into small meatballs of about 8-9 grams each, which you can drop directly into the sauce as you make them.
Once all the meatballs are made, shake the pan a bit so they roll around and get coated with sauce, then put the lid on the pan and let them cook on low heat for 20-25 minutes, until the meatballs are fully cooked. Occasionally shake the pan to roll them around, without stirring with a spoon. Adjust salt if necessary.
While the meatballs are cooking, bring plenty of water to a boil in a large pot, salt it, and add the linguine.
Drain the linguine al dente, reserving some cooking water, and add them directly to the pan with the sauce and meatballs. Stir and add some cooking water if needed.
Serve your linguine with meatballs immediately.
