- Spaghetti and meatball night
should include the absolute best meatball.
Making average meatballs is a thing of the past.
(mellow R&B music)
- Spaghetti and meatball night
is one of our family's favorites.
It's such a comforting, classic meal.
You got the simmering pot of water for the pasta.
We've got garlic bread in the oven,
covered with Parmesan and oregano.
We've got a simmering sauce going.
But it's the meatball, my friends,
that's the most important component
and we've perfected the steps,
getting you the best flavored and easy to cook meatball
to ever grace your spaghetti and meatball night.
Let's get it started.
We'll get our two fresh ingredients
ready to go into our meatballs, starting with fresh garlic.
Smash a couple cloves and mince them with your chef knife.
Fresh garlic is a must if we're gonna call this a classic.
While we're at the cutting board,
let's get our flat leaf Italian parsley into the action.
These two fresh ingredients will add brightness
and big flavor to our meatballs
and that's all the knife work we really need.
Time for the star of the show,
Certified Angus Beef Ground Chuck.
If it's not Certified, it's not the best.
To add to the classic Italian flavor,
we'll add just a quarter pound of sweet Italian sausage.
Many classic recipes also include veal,
but that's not going in our meatball.
Certified Angus Beef is so tender, we don't need it.
In with breadcrumbs.
These are plain breadcrumbs, not panko or seasoned,
for this particular recipe.
Into the bowl with a good amount of grated Parmesan.
Now our fresh garlic, then an egg.
I like to crack the egg into a separate bowl
for a couple reasons.
Number one, I like to make sure I don't put an egg shell
into the mix without seeing it.
Number two, I can quickly whisk it up
so I can incorporate it more easily
into the other ingredients.
And in with the rest of the seasoning,
the fresh parsley we chopped a minute ago,
some dried oregano,
some fresh cracked pepper, and some kosher salt.
Red pepper flakes would be a good option here too.
My family just doesn't care for 'em, so I leave 'em out.
Up to you.
Now to mixing things up.
I like to use a bowl scraper like this to chop the beef
and get all the other ingredients worked in.
By lifting and chopping it does a good job.
Notice I don't use my hand too much when mixing things up.
You want to keep the fat cold
and not warm it up with your hands.
Let's get to forming the meatballs.
With a portion scooper,
I can get meatballs all about the same size.
First, I'll portion them
and just set them on a sheet tray or a clean plate.
This keeps one hand clean and makes for quick work.
You should end up with about 16.
These will be baked in the oven,
so I'll put some tomato sauce
in the bottom of the casserole pan.
I'll explain more on this in a minute.
Without too much time in your hand,
work the portions into meatballs.
Gently work each one between your palms
and place in the thin layer of sauce
do what you can to give each a little space.
You'll love how fast this recipe comes together.
This way of cooking is great
because we avoid that stovetop mess if we were to fry them
and we can get our spaghetti cooking.
For me, it's gonna be traditional spaghetti,
but you can use the thin spaghetti or angel hair.
Either way, make sure you follow those packaged directions
and get it al dente!
After 20 minutes,
you'll see that the meatballs have browned evenly.
You can then rotate them
and we'll get a caramelization on the other side.
Your kitchen is gonna smell amazing here!
And then we'll go back in the oven
for just about 10 or 15 minutes
to cook them all the way through.
Before we build this perfect pasta, make sure to subscribe.
Now, don't miss this!
We built so much great flavor from that rendered fat
and the seasoning from the cooking of the meatballs.
With those meatballs out,
we're gonna combine this into our favorite pasta sauce
for the ultimate flavor.
Pro tip here, take a ladle of the pasta water
and get the consistency just right into that sauce.
You want to up the game a little?
Chop up some fresh basil
and put it right into that warm sauce.
A little more hot pasta water and the sauce is good to go.
All right, let's strain our spaghetti.
I like to use this metal mesh strainer with the handle.
Then put the spaghetti right back into the same pan.
Another pro tip, don't upset every Italian
and pour olive oil over the pasta you just strained.
A ladle of sauce is what the pasta really wants.
If you want olive oil, do it after the sauce is on it.
Putting in olive oil first makes it all slick
and you might think that's helpful
to keep your spaghetti from sticking,
but the sauce will also not stick to your spaghetti.
Get those meatballs back into the sauce.
And now we'll plate it up with spaghetti down,
we put on a good amount of sauce and your meatballs.
Top with some Parmesan
and a little more of that fresh basil.
Simple techniques.
Not a lot of mess.
Tons of flavor.
Mangia!
(mellow R&B music)
The struggle is real.
Spaghetti and meatball night will never be the same.
See you next time in the Test Kitchen.