On The Menu: Simple Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ok!  First recipe posting, Spaghetti and Meatballs.  I'm not going to instruct you on how to cook spaghetti, because you can read the back of the package for that.

This little gem is about homemade meatballs. Super easy homemade meatballs.  First thing I'm going to tell you, is the more fresh the ingredients, the better. Obviously.  If you have fresh garlic to mince, fresh basil leaves to grind, and fresh parmesan (!!<--WHY is spell check saying that's wrong? I even double checked it! Hrmph.) to grate, your meatballs will taste infinitely better.  If you're like me, however, I can't always afford to get "the fancy stuff." :)

So let's start out with this.

What we have is about a pound of ground beef, Worchestershire Sauce, Garlic, Basil Leaves, Pepper, 2 eggs, Parmesan Cheese, and Bread Crumbs. I don't know about you, but I don't have bread crumbs lying around the house (except on my kitchen floor, shhh!)  So I tossed 3 pieces of bread in the oven, about 250 degrees, for about 10-15 minutes, that'll dry out your bread. Then I ripped those up and threw them in my blender (because I don't have a food processor, *whimper) and ground them up into fine little bread crumbs, perfecto!

Next, we toss everything into a bowl.  I didn't REALLY measure anything, and you really don't need to.  IT IS SUPER HARD TO SCREW THESE UP!! Couple shakes of garlic, couple shakes of basil.  A few swirls around the bowl of Worchestershire, couple shakes of pepper (I didn't add salt, because the Parmesan has salt in it, but you're welcome to throw that, and literally anything else you can think of in there.)  I'd say about 1/4 cup Parm, and about 2/3 c of bread crumbs.

In retrospect, with this batch, I could have easily used one egg, and probably put in more garlic.

Gross, right? It gets more gross, because now you have to mix it all up WITH YOUR HANDS!! Bwahahahaaaaaaa. I tried to get my daughter to help and she looked at me like I was crazy.  I settled for chasing her around the house with goopy hands. Satisfying.

You should end up with a consistency that looks kinda like this:

Hmm. Little blurry. Don't judge my photography skills, please.  If its looking a little too goopy, add more bread crumbs, or parmesan.

Start forming your meatballs, I used one heaping tablespoon for each.

And place them on a cookie sheet. These then go into the fridge for about 5-10 minutes, just to firm them up a bit so they'll hold their shape.

Next, we're going to warm some olive oil in a deep skillet (We're going to use this same skillet for the sauce, so make sure it's big enough.)

Haha, my stove is dirty. MOVING ON!

When you get your skillet nice and hot (stick it on medium-medium high) start placing your meatballs in.  Our goal here is to brown the outsides of the meatballs, not cook all the way through.  They will finish cooking in the sauce.

They should look about like this:

Next we pour our sauce into the skillet.  If you make your sauce from scratch, you are a better person than I. (Finances dictate an 0.88 cent can of THIS!)

Add your browned meatballs to the sauce and bring it to a simmer.  Your meatballs will get infused with the yummy sauce, and cook all the way through in about 15-20 minutes.

You can always check for done-ness by simply taking a meatball out, cutting it open, and it should look like this.

Eat that one, then test another, just to be sure.  Then eat that one too.


When it's all said and done (I trust that you have cooked your spaghetti by now, and that you weren't relying on me to give you the go-ahead.)  You'll have a delicious little dish! Plate it up!

Serve to the family and await final judgement.

Success!!


Enjoy!