Apr 4, 20203 min read

Ultimate Spaghetti and Meatballs!

How to make amazing meatballs to create the most amazing Italian Dinner

I do love spaghetti occasionally, especially when I can make home made meatballs rather than just adding ground meat to the sauce. Now... I know this is a food blog and as such I feel a bit sheepish that on this occasion I did not make the sauce itself, I have made pasta sauce from scratch, and it is simple but time consuming. Check out https://www.c2lifestyle.org/post/shrimp-and-scallop-lemon-white-wine-spaghetti for a homemade lemon white wine pasta sauce!

This night was a weeknight, and I did still work until 5pm despite being from home. #quarantine so I chose where I wanted to invest my time on this dinner... meatballs!

I started with #PCfreefrom Australian ground lamb and the organic free range ground beef from the half cow we purchased from a farm in the Okanagan.

I placed 1 pound of lamb and 2 pounds of beef together in a large bowl. I then minced a whole medium sized red onion and 3 fresh cloves of garlic.

Mix these ingredients together with 2 organic eggs, and a healthy amount of Italian seasoning (If you do not have it oregano and basil work well too) Some additional dehydrated onion and garlic powder and pepper. To mix these, I tend to get my hands in there. Massaging the ingredients together and ensuring there is a consistency that starts to bind well so that you can create the "balls".

I really like to make large meatballs and serve my dish with only a few on the plate. I think it makes a big impact visually and I also like that the balls themselves stay really juicy. Smaller meatballs are easier to accidentally over cook and become dry. That said, you can absolutely form these into whatever size meat ball you want! As an aside, this would also make an excellent burger!

You will note I chose to not put any breadcrumbs or flour in these.... they don't need them to hold together and I prefer to not add fillers if I can avoid it and it does not affect the stability of what I am making. I placed these in a preheated to 350 degree oven in the middle rack. Because I used a drip pan there is no need to flip these during the cooking process. If you are cooking them on something where the meatballs end up sitting in their own released juices and fat, I would recommend flipping halfway through so ensure your meat balls don't end up potentially soggy on one side and crispy on the other. Cook for 30 minutes for this size, either way continue to cook until your meat balls hit the internal temperature of 160 degrees.

I cooked up some organic Spaghetti in boiling water with some avocado oil!

And selected a tomato and basil pasta sauce that I had on hand. Really any blend of sauce would work with this... I just love the simplicity of tomato basil and it ensures I avoid any "hidden cheese" that can show up in some pasta sauces without indication of it in the "name".

Once the noodles were cooked Al dente! I strained and shocked the cooking process by running under cold water for 30 seconds. Doing this ensures the noodles stay exactly how you tested their done-ness, but does not make them cold... it's a balance! I then plated it out!

I layered the pasta with sauce, placed the desired meatballs then layered the meatballs themselves with a spoonful of sauce as well and garnished with fresh basil I have been growing throughout the winter on my window sill.