Spaghetti & Meatballs (small batch)

 

 

One thing that I have always enjoyed is Spaghetti & Meatballs.  It is something which my children always enjoyed when I was bringing them up as well. It was a real family pleaser full-stop!

Whilst I am not always very fond of Spaghetti Bolognese (its a texture thing), I don't seem to mind meatballs.  I think it all goes back to my childhood when my mother would make what she called Italian Spaghetti.

 

Mom was very thrifty and didn't buy really good quality ground beef. It would be filled with lots of bits of gristle, etc.  I could not stand the feeling of it in my mouth. It actually made me gag.  To that she would add a can of Catelli spaghetti sauce.  That was Italian Spaghetti, or at least her version of it.

To be honest, both my sister and I were very happy to just have a plate of the spaghetti noodles with a knob of butter and some cheese.

As an adult, making my own Bolognese sauce, I have come to like it much more, as I do use a quality ground beef.  But the texture can sometimes still kick in my gag reflex.  Oddly enough, this doesn't happen with meatballs.

 

My mother really didn't enjoy cooking.  Whereas I love it. She had a cookbook in her bookcase, Martha Logan's Meat Cookbook.  Every time I would come home to visit after I left home I would spend some time copying out the recipes from that book. 

Although the book was published in 1952, most were very sound and reasonable recipes. Other than some cooking times things had not changed all that much.

It was very easy for me to adapt the recipes to modern techniques and tastes. So it was with this recipe, which in the book was called "Italian Meatballs on Spaghetti."

 

I added a few herbs to the meatballs themselves.  And I added some flavors to the sauce. Other than that I left it all pretty much the same.  Today I have small batched the recipe to make only three servings, but I can certainly give you the full recipe if you want it.  Just message me. I am happy to help out!

The sauce is quite plain actually, all of the herbs are in the meatballs, which in turn help to flavor the sauce.  I think if you highly seasoned the sauce it would be too much. 

Certainly you could use a jar of good quality tomato marinara sauce instead of making your own from scratch if you wanted to, but I love the texture of the homemade sauce myself.

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS (SMALL BATCH)

It looks like a rather long list, but most of it is spices and herbs. It really very simple and uncomplicated.

• 1/2 pound (225g) ground beef
• 1/4 pound (114g) ground pork
• 1/4 cup (25g) fine dried bread crumbs
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1 large free range egg yolk
• 1 TBS oil

For the sauce:

• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 1 cup (240ml) water
• 1 cup (161g) chopped tomatoes in juice (freeze the rest of the tin)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 TBS good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1 bay leaf, broken
• salt and black pepper to taste

To serve:

• Hot cooked spaghetti
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• garlic bread

 

Use the best quality of meat that you can afford to buy.  Using a mix of beef and pork helps to keep the meatballs nice and moist. You can use all beef if you wish, but make sure you don't use extra lean. The fat in the meat will help to keep them from drying out.  80% lean is the best option.

I opted to use onion and garlic powders (NOT salts) because it gave the meatballs a smoother texture and you know what children are like when it comes to finding chunks of stuff, like (specifically) onions, in their food. 

You can leave the crushed chili flakes out if you don't want things too spicy. 

 

I keep the sauce pretty plain. The meatballs serve to season it. You could chop some onion up and soften it to add, and certainly you could do the same with garlic, but to be honest, its really nice just as it is.

The balsamic vinegar is my addition to the sauce.  If you have some good red wine you could add a splash of that in it's place.  I just never have wine in my house, but I always have Balsamic vinegar.  Don't worry it is sweet enough that it won't make your sauce sour and in fact gives the sauce a nice richness along with everything else.

 

HOW TO MAKE SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS (SMALL BATCH)

I like to keep things fairly simple.  You could also choose to brown the meatballs in the oven if you wished.  About 15 minutes at 400*F/200*C will do the trick, but I like the flavor that the browned bits in the skillet add to the sauce.  This is really a very streamlined recipe, perfect for a weeknight.

Crumble the meat into a bowl. Add the bread crumbs, all of the seasonings and herbs, the garlic powder, onion powder and egg yolk. Mix well together and shape into 1 inch balls. (If the mixture seems dry, then you can add a touch of milk or cream.)

Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat.

Once the oil is hot add the meatballs and brown them all over, turning them frequently.

Add all of the sauce ingredients to the skillet, stirring everything together. Season to taste with some salt and pepper as required. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.

Simmer, half covered, over low heat for 1 hour, until the meatballs are nice and tender and the sauce is thickened nicely.

Spoon the meatballs and sauce over hot spaghetti. Serve with a grating of cheese on top and some garlic bread on the side.

 

This really is delicious.  When the children were growing up I often doubled the recipe and we would enjoy it again the second night, fried in butter. (I know so naughty!)

I have always enjoyed a generous dusting of Parmesan cheese on top of mine.  I think the reason I like meatballs more than ground meat in the sauce is because I can just eat the meatballs on their own if I want to.  I know, quirky, just like me! 

Some other spaghetti recipes on here that you might also enjoy are:

SPAGHETTI FRANCISCO -  The recipe for this delicious casserole comes from a 1976 paperback book entitled The Sunset Cookbook of Favorite Recipes.  Dependable and unusually appealing it is a real store cupboard favorite!!  Creamed corn, tomato soup, onions, mushrooms, peppers, streaky bacon and tomato passata (tomato sauce) . . . cheese and spaghetti! Don't knock it til you try it!

STOVE TOP SPAGHETTI - The pasta actually cooks in the sauce. I like to use leftover cooked pork or beef or both to make this.  If you don't have any leftover roasted meat you can always use browned ground beef. It is delicious either way.  Cheap and cheerful and very tasty!

HAM AND SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE - A hearty casserole with a delicious sauce. This is an excellent way to use up leftover cooked ham. Rich and cheesy!

Yield: 3

Author: Marie Rayner

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 1 H & 15 MTotal time: 1 H & 20 M

An old, old recipe I saved years ago from one of my mother's cookbooks. I adapted it through the years to suit my family's tastes. The original recipe made 12 servings. This version serves 3.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound (225g) ground beef
• 1/4 pound (114g) ground pork
• 1/4 cup (25g) fine dried bread crumbs
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1 large free range egg yolk
• 1 TBS oil

For the sauce:

• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 1 cup (240ml) water
• 1 cup (161g) chopped tomatoes in juice (freeze the rest of the tin)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 TBS good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1 bay leaf, broken
• salt and black pepper to taste

To serve:

• Hot cooked spaghetti
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• garlic bread

Instructions

1. Crumble the meat into a bowl. Add the bread crumbs, all of the seasonings and herbs, the garlic powder, onion powder and egg yolk. Mix well together and shape into 1 inch balls. (If the mixture seems dry, then you can add a touch of milk or cream.)
2. Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat.
3. Once the oil is hot add the meatballs and brown them all over, turning them frequently.
4. Add all of the sauce ingredients to the skillet, stirring everything together. Season to taste with some salt and pepper as required. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.
5. Simmer, half covered, over low heat for 1 hour, until the meatballs are nice and tender and the sauce is thickened nicely.
6. Spoon the meatballs and sauce over hot spaghetti. Serve with a grating of cheese on top and some garlic bread on the side.

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Its very easy to make up some garlic bread. You can use a demi baguette, sliced into 1 inch pieces for this, or you can use plain old white bread, or even stale hotdog buns.  

You can of course use the ready made garlic butter from the shops, but I like to make my own. For each slice of bread you are going to create use 1/2 TBS of softened butter.  To that add 1/4 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp of dried parsley flakes and if you like it spicy a pinch of red pepper flakes.  Mix that all together and spread it on one cut side of your bread.

Place into a hot oven (425*F/220*C) and toast until heated through, the butter has melted and the edges are crispy and golden brown. 

You can also add cheese if you want, but add it to the butter before you spread it on. I like to use finely grated Parmesan cheese and I would add 1 teaspoon per slice.  

This is gorgeously moreish. You will want more than one slice for sure! 

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