Giuseppe's Mouthwatering Meatballs and Spaghetti

I have ordered Meatballs and spaghetti in restaurants on several occasions and I was always dissatisfied. The restaurants were well known and the chefs were all professionals and each time their efforts failed miserably. I knew meatballs and spaghetti should be great since most Italians love this dish when it's prepared at home. It took a while for me to also develop a great tasting dish. Thanks to different ideas from Giada, Rocco's mom, Johanne Killeen and my butcher in Beechhurst, NY, I believe have a terrific winner here.


For the Meatballs:
12 ounces ground beef (chuck works well)
2 slices white sandwhich bread, remove crust and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup pecorino romano or parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
pinch nutmeg
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves diced
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes,crushed
1/3 cup olive oil
mozzarella cheese, grated
Fresh basil leaves
1 T. flat leaf parsley

For the Sauce:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup yellow onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup good young red wine, such as chianti
1 (28 oz.) can, whole, peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, drained and crushed by hand. You can also use crushed tomatoes
1 T. fresh flat leaf parsley, shopped
Kosher salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
a few sprigs of fresh basil

For Serving:
1 pound spaghetti, cooked according to package directions. Drained with some olive oil. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water

Meatballs:
Place bread and bread crumbs, parsley, onion, parmigiano reggiano or pecorino romano cheese, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, beaten egg, salt, pepper, nutmeg and 3/4 cup warm milk in a bowl and mix together. Add ground meats and combine thoroughly with a fork. (Using the fork will prevent over mixing and compacting which can toughen meatballs.) Put a little olive oil on your hands and form mixture into balls about the size of golf balls. You should have about 8 or 9 meatballs.

Pour about 1/2 inch of olive oil into a straight sided 10 inch pan and heat over medium flame. Add the meatballs to the pan (working in batches if necessary) and brown meatballs. (At this stage, they should be rare. They will cook through later in the tomato sauce.) Browning the meaballs will take about 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs to a warm plate covered with a paper towel. Discard the oil but do not clean the pan.

For the sauce, heat the oilive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine, cook on high, and with a wooden spoon scrape up all the brown bits in the pan. (There is intense flavor in those brown bits.) Stir in the tomatoes, salt and peper.

Transfer the meatballs the sauce, cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30minutes,or until the meatballs are cooked through. With 5 minutes remaining, shower with mozzarella and scatter half of the basil leaves on top. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the mixture. Serve the dish hot and pass grated parmigiano-reggiano or a cheese grater and a black pepper mill around the table.