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Monday, August 17, 2009

Pasta Night One

I have been on a pasta kick lately. Probably because I can't stomach anything related to chicken. Since I can't seem to eat chicken, what is the next best.....Well, really it's the best thing to me in the first place. PASTA!


I am the type of person that can eat pasta every single day. Example, on Friday, I went to an Italian restaurant and had pasta. Saturday, the husband and I went to lunch and guess what I had? Pasta. Yesterday, I barely ate anything, so that doesn't count. And tonight, guess what was on the menu? Yes, pasta.

The recipe below was actually made last weekend. I just have been lazy and haven't posted. Don't let my laziness fool you. The spaghetti and meatballs were delicious. I have only ever made turkey meatballs, so I had to hunt for a real meat meatball recipe.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't make the sauce in her recipe. I was trying to use up some jarred sauce that I had in the fridge. I know, jarred sauce. I am not a snob. I eat jarred sauce on occasion. As long as it on PASTA I could care less.

Elly's recipe is very easy to make and just like it states, makes about 25-30 perfect, tasty meatballs. I also admit that I was singing "On Top of Spaghetti" while making these. My husband thought I was nuts, but I digress.

Not only are these easy, but I liked the addition of the parmesan cheese. The added a little something extra. Plus, there were enough for leftovers. Jason ended up eating them the next night with some mashed potatoes. He said that they could very easily have passed for meatloaf if formed into a loaf rather than a ball. Mental note: Try this next time.

I didn't have any breadcrumbs on hand, so I made my own. I toasted some old bread and then processed it in the food processor. It worked well, but next time, I will use actual store-bought breadcrumbs. It saves extra dishes, that's for sure.

You could easily substitute the ground beef for veal, pork, ground turkey or chicken. I imagine any combination of the above would be tasty too. Enjoy these! They were fun to make and even more fun to eat!

On top of spaghettiiiiiiiii, all covered with cheeseeeeeeeee......

Meatballs

1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 pound ground beef
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh
1/4 parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions, a pinch of salt, and cook about 2-3 minutes before adding parsley and garlic. Cook 1-2 minutes more and set aside to cool.

3. Meanwhile, combine breadcrumbs and milk in large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.

4. After 10 minutes, add the onion mixture, beef, egg, parmesan, salt, basil and pepper to the breadcrumb bowl. Mix well, but not for too long or you will toughen the meatballs. Form into 1-1.5 inch balls and place in a pan coated with cooking spray.

5. Bake in oven for about 15 minutes or until done.

6. Add cooked meatballs to pasta sauce and simmer a little, while pasta is cooking.

1 comments:

Shanny said...

ooh yum!! Suddenly I want pasta...