Spaghetti 101

For my first post I thought, what would be better than my favorite food ever in life??  Spaghetti with mozzarella stuffed turkey meatballs. 

For this classic dish, there’s not just one “correct” way to make it. 

But this is how I make my sauce-

2 large cans of San marziano diced tomatoes (they’re a little more pricy but well worth it) 

1 medium sized yellow onion, diced

Several cloves of fresh garlic, minced (the more the merrier)

A handful of fresh basil 

Salt and pepper to taste

A pinch of sugar

1 cup of dry red wine

Drizzle of olive oil

Put all the ingredients in a slow cooker on medium low for 5 hours and  take a nap… It’s as simple as that. 🍝

    

 
 While that’s bubbling away, you can get working on the meatballs. (Don’t forget to stir the sauce every so often) 
I prefer ground turkey, but Italian sausage/ground beef would work just as well. 

For the meatballs-

1 pound of ground turkey

Fresh mozzarella pearls 

1/4 cup of Parmesan (NOT the kind in the green Kraft container 😡) 

1/4 Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (or flour mixed with Italian seasoning) 

1 egg

Salt/pepper

1/8 cup of Finley chopped onion

Combined all the ingredients together (except the mozzarella) with your hands in a large bowl. Form little balls, whatever size you please. Stuff the mozzarella inside and form until mozzarella is inclosed inside the ball. Drizzle olive oil in a pan. Cook the meatballs just until they get a little brown color on the outside, about 3 minutes on medium heat. They don’t need to be fully cooked you just want them to hold their shape.  Transfer the meatballs gently to the crockpot with the sauce and let them get all nice and cozy for a few hours. 

I like a smooth not chunky sauce, but if you like chunky sauce omit this next step. 

Take the meatballs out, set aside. Use a food processor/blender/hand blender and purée sauce until desired smoothness. 

Return the meatballs back to sauce. 

Boil spaghetti noodles on high heat for 10 minutes. Be sure to generously salt the water. 

Drain noodles, return them to the pot and add sauce to the noodles, stir until sauce sticks to the noodles. Transfer to a plate and top the noodles and sauce with the meatballs and more parmesan cheese. 

 

And there you go, my homemade spaghetti and meatballs. 

  
Until next time my fellow foodies…