|
Issue Date: October 14, 2001
Perfect pasta
This rich, meaty dish -- a real crowd-pleaser -- tastes like you spent all day cooking it.
When I need to serve supper for a crowd, spaghetti and meatballs is one of the first dishes that come to mind. And why not? Except for cooking the pasta, it's completely do-ahead. Plus, it's festive and economical. But this dish is not problem-free. Without an Italian mama's guiding touch, the meatballs can end up rubbery, mushy, bland, dry or falling apart. And a great sauce often requires hours of simmering to tenderize the tough cuts of meat that add rich flavor.
So to perfect this dish, I wanted to develop a foolproof meatball that was tender yet substantial. And I wanted a rich sauce that tasted as if it had simmered all day rather than the 30 minutes I actually spent making it.
The "meat" of the meatball
First, I developed a composite formula that represented the typical meatball recipe: ground meat, bread crumbs, egg, milk, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper, as well as a bit of minced parsley to freshen the flavor and color.
Then I tested various meats and meat combinations -- 13 in all. No single meat produced the perfect meatball. All-beef balls were dark, coarse and chewy. Both pork and veal meatballs lacked flavor and color. Meatballs need a mix of meats: beef for meatiness and chew, pork for supporting flavor and fine texture, and veal for tenderness. I ultimately chose equal parts beef, pork and veal, also known as "meatloaf mix."
Meatball Wants a Cracker
I found the higher the ratio of bread, the blander and mushier the ball. On the other hand, meatballs made with no filler were dense and coarse. To determine how much and which bread or cracker softened the meatball without diluting its meaty flavor, I made several with dry and fresh bread crumbs, as well as crushed crackers. Saltines made the most tender meatballs, enhancing rather than diluting the meaty flavor.
Although some recipes called for as many as four eggs per pound of meat, I found even two eggs resulted in a too-soft ball with no bite or chew. But eggless meatballs fell apart when cut with a fork, so I stuck to one egg per pound.
Meatballs need liquid for moisture, but must it be distinct? No. Of all the liquids I tried (chicken broth, lemon juice, milk, buttermilk and wine), none allowed the flavors of the meat, cheese and herbs to shine through more than plain water.
At this point, I had a problem. Following the instructions of many meatball recipes, I soaked the filler (crackers) in the liquid (water). The resulting meatballs fell apart during cooking. But when I added the cracker crumbs with the meat ingredients and mixed the water with the egg, it worked. The meatballs were tender yet substantial.
From the start, I'd observed that raw garlic made the meatballs too strong, and sautéed garlic made them too mild. Was there a flavor in between? Fortunately, yes. Toasting unpeeled garlic for just a few minutes took away the raw bite without sacrificing the flavor burst.
Who said they had to be round?
Now that I had the right ingredients, I needed to figure out the best way to shape and cook them. Roasting on a baking sheet was easy and required no extra fat, but the meatballs dried out before they browned. Pan-fried meatballs were tender, with a flavorful crust, but they required endless flipping, rolling and general babying to brown evenly. I preferred frying, so I altered the shape of the meatball from round to a cylindrical marshmallow shape. Cooked in enough oil, the meatball's bottom, top and most of its sides brown with just one turn.
Forming meat into a cylinder is simple. A small coffee scoop is the ideal tool. Fill the scoop with the meat mixture, then tap it out. If the meat starts to stick, just dip the scoop in water and continue.
Full-Flavored Sauce in a Flash
To develop a sweet, meaty sauce fast, I knew I had only a few options. Some cooks flavor the sauce with ground meat, but I wanted a relatively smooth sauce. That left me with bacon, Italian sausage and prosciutto as possibilities.
After making a sauce with each meat, it was clear that bacon made for a thin-flavored sauce with undesirable smoky undertones. Sausage and prosciutto were a different story. The sausage offered big, sweet, spicy flavor. Although more subtle, the prosciutto also was effective. A combination gave me a fast, meaty-flavored sauce.
Tender, flavorful meatballs and a rich-tasting sauce: Mamma mia!
Go to top
Spaghetti and Meatballs with Quick Meat Sauce
Prep and cooking time: 65 minutes
Meatballs
3 unpeeled garlic cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil, for frying
1 pound ground meat (equal parts beef, pork and veal)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
9 saltine crackers, crushed fine
Heaping 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. each black pepper, oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 Tb. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 tsp. tomato paste
Sauce
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, cut into approximate 4-inch lengths
1/4 cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into small dice
2 cans (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
Pasta
2 pounds spaghetti if serving 10, or 1 pound spaghetti and 1 recipe polenta (use boxed) if dividing meal over 2 nights
Meatballs: Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add unpeeled garlic and toast until skins are spotty brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from skillet, peel, mince and set aside.
Heat oil over low heat in a large Dutch oven. In a big bowl, break up meat into small clumps. Add garlic, cheese, cracker crumbs, salt, pepper, oregano, basil and parsley; mix lightly with fingers. In a small bowl, whisk water, egg and tomato paste. Add egg mixture to meat mixture; mix lightly with fingers. Using a 2 Tb. coffee scoop, form into marshmallow or drum shapes. (You should have 20 to 24 meatballs.)
Cook in batches over medium-high heat until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Sauce: Reduce heat under now-empty Dutch oven to medium; cook sausages, turning often, until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add olive oil, then garlic and prosciutto, to the pot; cook, scraping up brown bits, until garlic is fragrant and starts to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and enough water (1/2 to 1 cup) to make a sauce that is neither gloppy nor watery. Return sausages to the pot, bring sauce to a simmer, partly cover, then cook over low heat until sauce tastes sweet, rich and meaty, about 15 minutes.
Fish out sausages and transfer to a plate; cover and keep warm. Add meatballs to sauce and return to a simmer. Partly cover and simmer until fully cooked and flavors blend, about 10 minutes. Transfer meatballs to a plate; cover and keep warm. (Meatballs, sausages and sauce can be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days. To make two meals, divide sauce. Add meatballs to one half and sausages to the other. Serve meatballs with 1 pound cooked pasta, and for another meal serve sausage with same or over polenta.)
Bring 1 gallon of water to boil. Add spaghetti and 2 Tbs. salt to boiling water; cook until just tender. Drain and return to kettle. Add about 1/3 of the sauce to the spaghetti and toss to coat. Transfer to a large, shallow serving bowl. Top with remaining sauce. Arrange meatballs on top and sausages around the perimeter. Serve immediately, passing around grated Parmesan cheese separately.
Serves: 10 (in one meal).
Per serving: 854 calories, 34g protein, 78g carbohydrates, 44g fat (13g saturated), 3.6g fiber, 1,129mg sodium.
Pam Anderson is the author of "How to Cook Without a Book" (Broadway, $25) and "The Perfect Recipe" (Houghton Mifflin, $27).
|
