Italian Meat Balls

Hello everyone! Hope all is well. Today I have decided to make Italian meat balls and spaghetti for my hubs for dinner. He said all I cooked lately is Chinese. Ha! Being 17 weeks pregnant all I have been craving is Chinese/Vietnamese/Korean savory dishes. But when we were in Philadelphia about 3 weeks ago I was craving hoagies and all kinds of Italian foods. So today I will grant his wish, I am making Italian meat balls with spaghetti. I told him over email I am making “something good” and my dad will be over for dinner. He automatically assumed it will be Chinese foods with vegetables…haha…little does he know.

So to make these delicious meatballs I put in a twist of my own touch. Follow below.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (85% lean) 1 lb ground pork ½ c blended cheese (toscano, cheddar and premium aged parmesan), you can get this at Trader Joe’s or parmesan cheese works too 3 large garlic cloves minced 1 c parsley finely chopped 2 large eggs ¼ c Italian bread crumbs ¼ sweet onion finely chopped

2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Directions:

1. In large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients in that order. This is the fun part (jk, my least favorite part) using your hands to combine everything together. You may use a spatula, spoon or even disposable gloves which I did use but end up tossing them out. It’s best to use your hands here.

2. Roll the meatballs into a medium size and set them onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper lining.

3. Using a medium size frying pan, add in 2 tablespoons of EVOO on medium high heat, gently put one meatball at a time onto the pan. Let them brown for about 3 minutes on each size.

4. In the meantime turn on your oven to 400 degrees. Once the meatballs are brown on both sides, transfer them to the oven and let it bake for 30 minutes. The reason I fried them first is so that the heat traps the juices in. Once done, take it of the oven and set aside to cool.

Marinara Sauce

I had to cut some corners on this one, but I did use the traditional mirepoix, 50% onions, 25% carrots and 25% celery

Ingredients:

¾ sweet onion, chopped 2 small carrots, peeled and chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 2 tbp EVOO

3 ripe medium size tomatoes, chopped 1 10 oz Trader Joe’s basil marinara sauce

Directions:

1. Moving over to my brand new Le Creuset signature pot, I added in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and the onions, let that sweat out a bit for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

2. Next, add in the carrots celery and tomatoes, let that cook for about 5 minutes. The tomatoes are roughly chopped and that’s ok I will use a blender at the end to blend them all together.

3. Lastly, add in Trader Joe’s tomato basil marinara sauce. This is where I decided to cut some corners since I am not making the marinara sauce from complete scratch. Let this simmer for about 1.5 hours on low heat since I am using a cast iron pot. If you are using a regular pot, I would put it on medium low heat.

4. Once the vegetables are soft, transfer them into a blender and let it do its work (blend). Pour the sauce back into the pot and continue to let it simmer for another 20 – 30 minutes. Add in your salt, sugar and pepper to taste. Add in the meat balls once the 20 – 30 minutes is up so that the sauce coats the meatballs completely.

Spaghetti

Directions:

1. Boil a pot of water, add 1 table spoon of salt once water comes to a boil

2. Add in 1 pound of spaghetti, and set timer for 9 minutes for al dente.

3. Once the spaghetti is ready, transfer it over to the sauce with the meatballs. Coat the spaghetti thoroughly with the sauce.