Spaghetti & Meatballs

It is Sunday and Spaghetti & Meatballs are on the menu. Rick would normally make these but he is busy this weekend making shelves for the laundry room so this is my attempt at making them. I already know that I will hear "Their not as good as Dads" but I can live with that.

I did do some things differently. I did not make the sauce in the same pot that I browned the meatballs as I find this muddies up the sauce too much. I also used jars of Passata rather than cans of crushed tomato which makes a less thick sauce.

For the meatballs I use regular ground beef. This is sometimes hard to find at the everyday grocery store as they generally carry only medium, lean & extra lean. Using regular does make a juicier meatball as the fat content in the meat is higher and we all know that "fat is flavour". If you go to an independent butcher you can usually buy regular ground.

This will serve 6 people with meatballs to spare

Ingredients:

3 lbs regular ground beef
4 medium size onions diced and equally divided into two batches
1 head of garlic minced and equally divided into 2 batches
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
5 eggs
salt & pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
3 jars of passata or 3 cans of crushed tomato
2 bay leaves
1 T dried oregano
1 500 gr box of spaghetti for 6 people

This is actually enough to serve 12 if needed simply add another 500 gr box of spaghetti.

In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, half the onions and garlic, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, eggs, salt & pepper. Go light on the salt as the cheese is already salty. Form into meatballs. I used approx 1/3 cup for each meatball which made 26 in total.

In a large pot on medium heat add half the olive oil. Saute the balance of the onions & garlic about 5 minutes. Add the tomato and season with the oregano, bay leaves, salt & pepper. Set heat to simmer.

In a separate skillet add the balance of the olive oil and on medium to high heat brown the meatballs in batches. You are not cooking them at this point you are simply browning them and they will then cook in the simmering sauce. As you brown a batch you can add them directly to the sauce and continue until all the meatballs have been added.

Let the sauce with the meatballs simmer for 1 to 2 hours stirring occasionally.

When ready boil spaghetti and serve topped with the meatballs & sauce.