No Reviews
You must be logged in to post a review.
Nonna Lina’s Spaghetti And Meatballs
x
Print Options
Description
This is our family recipe for Spaghetti and Meatballs given to me by my mother-in-law, who makes the best red sauce I’ve ever tasted, and I have been making it myself for over thirty years.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 3 pieces Meat - Sausage, Chicken Or Beef
- ½ cups Finely Chopped Onion
- 3 whole Garlic Cloves, Minced
- ¼ cups Chopped Basil
- 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ¼ cups Chopped Parsley
- 1 dash Red Pepper Flakes
- 6 ounces, fluid Can Tomato Paste
- 26 ounces, fluid Can Pureed Tomatoes
- 3 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1 pound Spaghetti
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- ½ pounds Ground Pork Or Veal
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Chopped Parsley
- 2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1 whole Large Egg
- 1 cup Soft Breadcrumbs
- ½ cups Milk
- Salt and Pepper
Preparation
Brown the meat pieces in the oil until well colored. Add the garlic, onion, and saute until tender. Add the paste, tomatoes, water and herbs, and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to your own personal taste. Turn mixture down to a simmer.
Add the bread crumbs to the milk to moisten. Mix all the ingredients together with the bread crumb mixture. Shape into golf ball sized balls, and gently drop into the simmering sauce.
Do not stir for the first 15 minutes or so until the meatballs begin to firm up.
Continue to cook for 2 hours over very low heat, stirring occasionally, and adding extra water as needed if the sauce becomes too thick. This sauce, with or without the meatballs can now be used over your pasta of choice. Just before serving, stir the 3 tablespoons of grated cheese into the sauce. Though most people would choose spaghetti, personally I prefer rigatoni or penne.
Serve over pasta cooked al dente, and offer a little more Parmesan cheese at the table. With the addition of a nice mixed salad and some crusty Italian bread, this pasta dish would easily make a complete meal. I would choose a robust Chianti wine to accompany this meal.
Related Recipes
Prep: Cook:
Serves: 4 Level: Easy
Prep: Cook:
Serves: 4 Level: Easy
Sage Garlic Lamb with Feta Yogurt Sauce
by Molly Mulligan in
Main Courses
by Molly Mulligan in
Main Courses
Using few ingredients, this recipe for ground lamb is so tasty!...
Prep: Cook:
Serves: 4 Level: Easy
Cabbage Rolls
by Beth Pierce in
Main Courses
by Beth Pierce in
Main Courses
These delicious traditional stuffed Cabbage Rolls are made with ground sausage...
Prep: Cook:
Serves: 12 Level: Easy
Prep: Cook:
Serves: 8 Level: Easy
11 Comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
seedlady on 10.20.2009
Sorry, confused.
brown meat pieces and make sauce, I got.
Meatballs? moisten breadcrumbs then add ground meats, parsely, parm, egg, S&P ??
what do you do with the meats from the sauce if you use beef and chicken parts? Bone and chop and put back into the sauce or save for another dish?
sorry… it does sound wonderful!
Karen@JustCallMeGrace on 8.31.2009
I made this tonite with just a few changes: I added 2 roasted peppersto the sauce, used 3# of tomatoes from my garden for the sauce and used 1# of hamburger and 1/2# of Italian sausage for the meatballs. I blended the sauce after cooking for about 10 minutes, then simmered for about 1/2 hour. It was delicious. THanks for posting it.
jillpickle on 8.31.2009
Thanks for the help Deb! Look forward to making these!
notjulia on 8.31.2009
Your instructions say to add paste, tomatoes, water and herbs… but you don’t say how much water, at least I don’t see it in the ingredients list.
italianfoodforever on 8.31.2009
AND I just want to say that many folks are not happy that the meatballs are placed uncooked into the sauce because most recipes fry the meatballs first, but these are the most tender meatballs you will ever taste when you cook them in the sauce like my MIL taught me to.