SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS IN TOMATO SAUCE
Meatballs in tomato sauce are the ultimate comfort food you can have. Soft and tender meatballs made out of three different kinds of ground meat in tasty sweet tomato sauce with al dente spaghetti are one of our family favorite staple meal.
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 300 grams ground beef
- 300 grams ground pork
- 300 grams ground veal
- 2 medium eggs
- 110 grams bread crumbs with Italian seasoning
- 4 medium cloves of garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons marjoram dry
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped finely
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 medium onion chopped finely
- 2 slices white toast
- 100 ml warm milk
Tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped finely
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped basil leaves
- 2 medium bay leaves
- 4 medium balls of allspice
- 4 cups crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons of ketchup
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 pinch cinnamon
Pasta
- 500 grams spaghetti
- 5 litres cold water
- 1 tablespoon salt
Toppings
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan for topping
- 16 leaves fresh basil
Instructions
Meatballs
- In a large bowl, add all the ingredients for meatballs and pour over the warm milk. Mix well with your hands or spatula and with a help of an ice cream scooper form meatballs.
- Place the meatballs in a large plate or baking sheet and cover with food foil. Place in the refrigerator in the meanwhile.
Tomato sauce
- In a large sauce-pot, reheat olive oil and add chopped onion, garlic, basil leaves and the rest of the spices (bay leaf, allspice). Cook for 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
- Add 2 tablespoons of ketchup and stir well. Add two cans of crushed tomatoes, two tablespoons of ketchup and beef broth. Salt and Pepper. Stir and let simmer with lid on, approximately for 30 minutes, on low heat.
- Remove allspice balls and bay leaf from the tomato sauce. With a hand blender, blend until tomato sauce is smooth. Sprinkle the sauce with sugar and cinnamon. Stir and salt to taste.
- Remove the meatballs from the refrigerator and bring the tomato sauce to light simmer. Add all the meatballs in the sauce and stir them well. Cover the sauce-pot and simmer the meatballs for 25-30 minutes.
- Check for doneness by taking out the biggest meatball. Cut through the meatball and if there is no pink colored meat inside, it means it’s done.
Pasta
- Follow the instruction for spaghetti cooking in the packaging. Place spaghetti, on the plate and pour over the tomato sauce with meatballs. Sprinkle with Parmesan and garnish with a few basil leaves.