Last weekend for our little dinner soiree, I got a bee in my bonnet about making a big spaghetti and meatball Sunday dinner. Now, I can do a pretty decent tomato paste-based red sauce with sausage, or a basic fresh tomato/basil marinara. My history with meatballs is my mom's recipe with carrots and potatoes and a can of Campbell's tomato soup (which is delightful it its own way). But, alas, I had never made the archetypical tomato sauce and meatballs completely from scratch.
I decided to go with the America's Test Kitchen recipe as a good, basic place to start. The tomato sauce was easy: oven-roast tomatoes and puree them; saute garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes; add tomatoes, simmer; add salt, pinch of sugar, parsley. The meatballs were also pretty simple: the trick is to soak some white bread in buttermilk, then add beef, pork, egg, parsley, garlic, parm, salt, pepper; shape, brown in olive oil, stick in the sauce.
I decided to go with the America's Test Kitchen recipe as a good, basic place to start. The tomato sauce was easy: oven-roast tomatoes and puree them; saute garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes; add tomatoes, simmer; add salt, pinch of sugar, parsley. The meatballs were also pretty simple: the trick is to soak some white bread in buttermilk, then add beef, pork, egg, parsley, garlic, parm, salt, pepper; shape, brown in olive oil, stick in the sauce.
The meal was successful: meatballs were moist, sauce had good texture, everyone was happy and full. Of course, this was only a beta test: it was a little on the bland side for my taste. I actually find that to be generally true with the ATK cookbook: foods turn out technically sound, but not too exciting flavor-wise. Next time I will:
- Increase the amount of ground pork in the meatballs (instead of 3:1 beef:pork, I might go 2:1. I might even use a little sausage... or bacon/pancetta!)
- Put way more herbs and spices and some finely chopped onion and green pepper in the meatballs
- Put a touch of tomato paste or sauce in the meatballs
- Not bother with fresh tomatoes for the sauce unless I can find a bunch of REALLY good ones. The romas I used didn't have a ton of flavor, so it wasn't really worth the hassle. My usual thick red sauce with canned tomato paste usually has a better tomatoey flavor, so that's probably what I'll fall back on. And, of course, more herbs, spices (definitely more red pepper flakes)...
Not bad for a first try, but with lots of room to improve. I foresee Sunday spaghetti and meatballs as a possible regular event... but not tomorrow. Tomorrow is training for the Mac and Cheese-off coming to our kitchen next week. Report on that TK!
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