Spaghetti and meatballs

Reading about a certain food always throws a craving on me. I was reading about meat balls a few weeks ago and finally got around to making some yesterday.

 

My favorite spaghetti sauce is Puttanesca sauce so I gathered what I needed. Yes, I grabbed the peppercorns instead of the capers. That was corrected before it was too late.

Let's get the ball rolling...

 

To the ground beef I added garlic that was run through the microplane. 

 

A good healthy squeeze of concentrated tomato paste was added.

Some of the spices I use in the spaghetti sauce I also added to the meat mixture, but with a very light hand. I also added a drizzle of caper juice to loosen the meat up a little. 

 

I used a tablespoon measuring spoon so I would have some kind of consistency in the sizes of the meatballs. Trust me, I really need to do this. 

 

Put the meatballs in the skillet to brown.

 

Transferred the meat balls to a bowl so I could drain off the excess fat and use the skillet to make the sauce. 

Here is where I started to deviated a little from how I usually make a Puttanesca sauce. I kept the fond that developed in the bottom of the skillet from the browning of the meatballs. I thought that would add another layer of flavor. To that I added some olive oil and the minced garlic. 

 

I used a carton of Trader Joe's Starter sauce. I rinsed out the carton with a little Zinfandel and added that to the tomatoes, another deviation. And quite a nice one I might add.

 

To this oregano, red pepper flakes, anchovies and capers were added.

 

Then the meatballs and Kalamata olives were added.

 

A sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley and some shaved Parmesan cheese topped the plate.

Get a meatball on that fork for Pete's sake.

Comments

[shawn martin]

Great looking pasta.
(I miss pasta)

So sorry to hear about yer pup.

[koko]

Thanks Shawn. Sorry you can't have pasta. Maybe some day for an occasional treat.

We really do miss her. We are fostering a couple of kittens right now and are having fun with them. We thought it would help us to not be so sad but as much fun as we are having with them, it'll take time to get over her.