Everyday Cooking Adventures' Spaghetti & Meatballs

I glanced through some different meatball recipes to come up with this combination. It reminds me of making My Mom’s Meatloaf, what with the breadcrumbs, egg and meat. I like the combination of ground pork with ground turkey as it keeps the meatballs moist and flavorful.

©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

The amount of breadcrumbs I use somewhat can vary based on how moist the ground meat is or how big the egg is, because if the mixture is too wet it won’t stick together in a ball so I need to add a little more breadcrumbs as needed.

©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

Tonight, I used angel hair pasta instead of spaghetti because it was all I had, but it worked just fine. Once your prep all the mincing part of the recipe, you’ll speed through the rest in no time. Here’s my angel hair and meatballs:

©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

Spaghetti & Meatballs

By: Everyday Cooking Adventures, 2013

Serves: 2
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

spaghetti or angel hair pasta
12 oz. jar of Organic tomato sauce or vodka sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bell pepper, minced
1/2 white or yellow onion, minced
dash of red pepper flakes (to your liking)
2 TBSP fresh Italian parsley
1 TBSP fennel seed
1 TSP thyme (ground, dried leaves, or fresh)
1 TSP sage (ground or fresh)
1 TBSP rosemary (dried or fresh)
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
4 oz. ground pork
4 oz. ground turkey
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Pour the pasta sauce into a saucepan and warm on medium-low heat, covered but barely simmering.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the garlic, bell pepper, onion, red pepper flakes, parsley, fennel seed, thyme, sage, rosemary, salt and black pepper, breadcrumbs, and egg. Toss with a fork to combine and add the ground pork and turkey, turning to coat the meat with the herbs and breadcrumb mixture thoroughly.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high. Using your hands, form the meat mixture into golf-ball sized rounds. If they don’t stick together add a little more bread crumb and retry. Add them carefully to the pan to brown for 3-4 minutes then turn them onto the other side to brown for another 3 minutes. Using tongs, carefully remove them and place them in the sauce pot and raise heat to medium and let fast simmer for 10 minutes.

4. In a medium saucepan, heat water over high until a soft boil. Add salt and the spaghetti and cook according to package instructions.

5. Drain pasta and put back in pot. Add the sauce with meatballs and gently stir to combine. Sprinkle with as much or as little Parmesan as desired. I serve mine with a roll or garlic bread.