I may have mentioned this before but I recently joined Barefoot Bloggers. It’s a group of food bloggers dedicated to trying Ina’s recipe. Each month the moderator posts two Ina recipes (chosen by other BB bloggers) and everyone has to cook the recipes by a given day and blog about it. Easy enough. I joined because a.) I love me some Ina and b.) I like any excuse to cook some Ina dishes.
This week’s recipe is from her cookbook (which I don’t own). Now I recently made another recipe for Spaghetti and Meatballs courtesy of Lidia Bastianich. It turned out great — just how I thought this dish could be. I didn’t think this recipe could top the last one but since it’s Ina approved I thought there was the possibility.
The first thing I loved about this recipe was that the meatballs required not one, not two but THREE types of meat. Beef, pork and veal. Let me just say that finding a small quantity of veal wasn’t easy. Most of the supermarkets sell it prepackaged in quantities of a pound or more. Not even the butcher up the street had it! I ended up going to Whole Foods and picking up some FRESH GROUND veal. How lovely is that? You can’t top customer service at Whole Foods. I also liked that the sauce had red wine in it. I’m a sucker for pasta sauce with wine. It’s my kryptonite.
This recipe was a lot less labour intensive than I thought it would be. Sure it takes some time to form the meatballs but overall there was very little chopping. The most intense part was frying the meatballs. In retrospect I think I should have baked them. It would have been a lot easier and had almost the same results (probably less overall browning).
I enjoyed this recipe not necessarily more than the Bastianich version and perhaps even a bit less. I can’t put my finger on why. Downsides included: meatballs weren’t as firm as I would have liked, meatballs need a bit more of a kick and the sauce was a bit too watery. These are all things that could be easily rectified.
I wouldn’t give this Ina recipe a WOMP WOMP (not an abbreviation for this blogs title but the sound of something falling flat) but it’s likely not making its way into regular rotation.
Check out Barefoot Bloggers to see what other bloggers have to say.
Real Meatballs and Spaghetti
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1/2 pound ground veal
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 slices, crusts removed)
- 1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 extra-large egg, beaten
- Vegetable oil
- Olive oil
For the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon good olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For serving:
- 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
- Freshly grated Parmesan
Directions
Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.
Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don’t clean the pan.
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.
Copyright, 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
I thought this was a great recipe. I will have to check out your other one now!
I totally agree! I think the sauce was a little watery. I was telling a friend of mine this morning (who has yet to make it) that she should def. add some tomato sauce or a couple tablespoons of tomato paste to the sauce. There was just something “off”. Ah, well. At least you have a great recipe already!
~Cat
Glad to see you agree. I didn’t want my first post as a BB to be negative and I did love the meatballs.
Very nicely written review. I just couldn’t get past the wine in the recipe. I won’t make pasta sauce with wine again. Not my thing. Good post
Whole Foods is awesome! I went there for my ground pork and veal as well. I agree 100% with your review of the recipe. I think its an o.k recipe if your not used to the real deal, like Lidia. This dish just wasn’t authentic.
I thought this one was going to be more labor intensive too. Sorry you didn’t like the sauce
Mine turned out really good, but I used crushed tomatoes that were very saucy and added a little Italian seasoning to the meatballs since I only had plain bread crumbs, so maybe that made a difference.
I just moved and there is no Whole Foods near me now, and I miss it so much sometimes I want to cry(sad, huh?)!
Welcome to the group! My sauce was a little watery at first too, so I let it cook a little longer to reduce some, but the addition of the wine was delicious!