Spaghetti with (Giant!) Meatballs

This is a dish my son and I love to make together. It's simple, comfort food made from scratch. Nothing fancy, just pure, simple, fresh Italian flavours.

My son had fun mixing and making the meatballs, and we made too much, but I figured we'd eat the meatballs for breakfast this week too. You can also serve them with mushroom sauce (see post on My Mom's Hamburger recipe for the sauce here).

Don't let the picture deceive you. Those meatballs are huge; 2" in diameter!

SPAGHETTI WITH (GIANT!) MEATBALLS

Serves 8

250 grams spaghetti noodles

200 grams ground beef

200 grams ground pork

200 grams ground chicken or turkey

1 cup of stale bread, cut into 1 cm squares

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Bundle of fresh parsley, stems minced and leaves chopped roughly

1 large onion, minced

1 head of garlic minced

3 cups fresh, chopped tomatoes

Splash of balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons brown sugar

375 ml red wine

2 bouillons (beef, pork or chicken, it doesn't matter)

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Procedure:

1.  Soak the bread in the milk in a large bowl. Set aside for about 30 minutes. In the same bowl, mix together all the meats, with egg, parsley, pepper, salt, breadcrumbs and half of the chopped parsley. 

Mix thoroughly (use your hands, which my son did!) and shape them into balls. (My son got carried away and shaped them into giant balls, about 2" in diameter, but you can make them smaller too.) Put them in a foil lined and oiled baking sheet.  Bake in the oven at 350F for about 20 minutes until brown. Make sure to turn each of the balls to brown the other side too.

2. While you're baking the meatballs, make the sauce.  Saute the onions in some oil until they are translucent.  Keep sautéing until they are caramelised. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Once the onions are caramelised, add the parsley stalks and garlic. Saute until the garlic is lightly brown.

Add the chopped tomatoes, bouillons, red wine. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Uncover and mash the tomatoes. Simmer some more until the tomatoes are soft and almost disintegrated.  Season with salt, pepper and sugar and keep on low fire while waiting for the meatballs to cook.

3. In the meantime, cook the spaghetti in hot, (violently) boiling water.

4. Once the meatballs are cooked and brown, add them to the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes more.

5. Drain the spaghetti noodles and add the sauce. Add the remaining fresh parsley leaves and mix well.  Top with the meatballs and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!