Spaghetti and Meatballs

Like I talked about previously, I decided to cook on Wednesday night.  Which meant I took several trips to several different places to find things and try to refurbish my kitchen...but what else did I have to do?  I didn't necessarily ENJOY walking all over the city trying to find bread crumbs or ground turkey or standing there in the middle of the store looking like a clueless dummy but hey!  It's all part of the process!  We ate leftovers on Thursday night and I'll add more to my recipe repertoire more next week.  

We've had our fair share of delicious Irish food so I made a classic American dish.  Or Italian.  I made Linguine with Turkey Meatballs and Quick Sauce from Giada's cookbook, Everyday Pasta.  This has been a dish we've used in our home since we've been married, but I've tweaked it a little bit and usually change it up every time I make it.  

Note to reader: I don't have a lot of natural light in my kitchen with which to make great pictures.  And I don't know how to use this camera.  My apologies.  

Let's begin.

The Cast of Characters, as PDub would say: onions, garlic, spaghetti noodles or linguine, parsley, basil, oregano, fennel seeds, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, olive oil, canned diced tomates, cannned whole tomatoes, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, pancetta (but I used prosciutto, not at all the same but it worked I guess), store bought tomato sauce (because I couldn't find the other stuff I usually use), and ground beef.  And two bottles of wine for when this goes terribly awry.  

I only shipped over one pot, and our apartment didn't come with one.  So I boiled some hot water and cooked the noodles before I did anything else and let them drain in the sink to free up my pot.

Now we're going to focus on the meatballs.

Giada calls for 1/2 of a yellow onion, but these were small so I went for the whole thing.  You also attempt to cut up your pancetta or prosciutto or whatever you're using, but be careful!  It's tedious to cut those slices and you don't want to chop part of your finger off.  Trust me, I know.  Then you throw some olive oil in a pan and saute the onions until they're a little caramelized/charred and until the pancetta/prosciutto/bacon you're using is crispy.  Mmmm!

You'll set your pan of onions and prosciutto aside to cool, and then add the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.  Giada uses exact measurements but I can't be bothered with that anymore.  She calls for a pound of ground turkey (I used a pound and a half of ground beef because I can't covert grams to pounts in my head yet), 1/2 cup fresh parsley (I just start chopping and throw it in there), 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese (again, I just eyeball it), 1/4 cup bread crumbs (I added a little more, probably a third of a cup), 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatos, 2 beaten eggs, 3/4 teaspoon of salt (who needs exact measurements?) and 3/4 teaspoon of ground pepp.  After the onions and prosciutto have cooled a bit, add those too.  

Then mix it up!

I line a baking sheet with foil and use some Pam (though I didn't have any, so I just spread some olive oil around with my hand), and used a small, perfectly sized ice cream scoop given to me by the Chapmans to make the meatballs.  They come out perfectly sized every time!  It makes quite a bit, as you can see.  

Then you pop those suckers into a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  

(I had to do some conversions on my computer for those damn degrees again.)  And make sure your oven won't set off the smoke alarm, like mine almost did.

Now...the sauce!

We like a chunkier sauce, and even though Giada doesn't call for this, I usually chop up an onion or two and a bunch of mushrooms and throw those in the pot with a little olive oil to begin the sauce.  

And you gotta add LOTS o' garlic.  (Giada calls for 2 whole garlic cloves to be thrown in with the tomatoes to flavor the sauce and then you take them out, but I need my garlic IN the sauce!  I refuse to take it out.)  Now saute the onions and mushrooms first for awhile, and THEN throw the chopped garlic in when you think you're about to add your sauce.  Evidently garlic burns easily or something.

Mmmm.  Looks and smells delish.

Look who's home from work to help me cook!  Yay!  I'm seriously loving this suit thing.  Isn't he cute?

You should also probably refill your wine glass at this point and pour a glass for your hard-working husband too.

Now, we'll add the sauce.  Giada calls for a 28 oz. can of whole San Marzano tomatoes that you squeeze yourself into the pot.  I've found that this isn't enough sauce, so I generally add a couple more cans of chopped tomatoes and some canned tomato sauce too.  This time, I had to use some store-bought tomato and basil sauce as a base, THEN add the chopped/diced tomatoes for more chunkiness.  If that's a word.

I'm crushing these whole tomatoes with my hand.  Make sure the sauce doesn't fly everywhere.  Cause this did.  Ah well.

Chop up some basil.  Lots of it!  I love basil.

Then add the basil, some more parsley, some salt, pepper, a couple of shakes of oregano, a couple of shakes of fennel seed (which is mostly used on pizza but I just throw it in my sauce too, why the hell not?), and some red chili flakes if you're feeling wild and crazy.  Stir that up and let it simmer over medium heat and check back in a bit for flavorings.  

The meatballs are ready!

Yummmmm.

Now throw those pups into the sauce and stir it around and let it simmer another 5 minutes or so, and then you're ready to eat!

Spaghetti, meatballs and sauce, topped with some freshly shaved parmesan and a sprinkle of more basil.  Perfection.

One satisfied customer!

Overall, I think it was a success!  Never mind that we ate at 9:30 and went through an entire bottle of wine.  That's just part of it!  

Now I think at this point I'm supposed to write out the exact recipe if anyone wants to make it at home, but like I said...I don't use an exact recipe.  So if you want me to write something out, just email me!  

Bon appetite!