new age nonna

One of the great things I love about cooking at home is starting from scratch. Ever since I was a little girl and grew up around my nonna rolling out her own pasta dough or using fresh tomatos from her garden to make tomato sauce, I was always amazed at how much better things taste when alot of love goes into it. Though making any meal from start to finish can be time consuming, you feel way more accomplished in the end and it will taste way better than the alternative -- items from my x-list such as prego tomato sauce (absolutly a no-no).

For those classic spaghetti and meatball lovers, here is a recipe for the most delicious meatball you will ever have. This recipe pays tribute to a few sources, a little nonna, a little mom, a little me.

The Perfect Meatball
serving size: approx. 10-15 meatballs (depending on size)

Ingredients:

1 lb extra lean ground veal
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 spanish onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1/2 cup chopped fresh oregano
3 tablespoons of worchestershire
1/3 cup finely grated parmesean cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup homemade tomato sauce

**Note* make the tomato sauce in a seperate pot, when sauce is ready add 1/2 cup of it to the meatball mixture**

combine all ingrediants in a large bowl and mix with hands. When everything is evenly mixed, round the meat into balls of your desired size. In a heavy bottom pan, heat up some extra virgin olive oil on medium-high heat and working in batches (do not crowd the meatballs) brown the meatballs on all sides until you have a light brown sear (approx. 1 min on each side). Remove meatballs from pan for the next batch and repeat process until all the meatballs are seared (you may need to add some more EVOO as you go along). Place the meatballs into your large pot with your homemade tomato sauce and let meatballs simmer in the sauce for 1.5-2 hours.


Best served with long noodle pasta such as capellini, spagettini etc...

Sprinkle a touch of parmesean on top and you're done!

Happy Cooking :)

love from Chef Natty