Pasta With Meatballs

Name: Pasta With Meatballs
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: italian
Ingredients: 8 ounces ground pork; 8 ounces ground beef; 1 large egg, lightly beaten; 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese; 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 3 tablespoons bread crumbs or semolina; 1 teaspoon salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 onion, peeled and halved; 2 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 tablespoon unsalted butter; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 cups tomato passata (available at specialty food stores) or pureed canned tomatoes (not canned tomato puree, which is thicker); Pinch of sugar; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 cup whole milk; 1 pound spaghetti, tagliatelle or linguine, cooked to taste

By Nigella Lawson

Total Time: 1 hour
Rating: 4(830)
Comments: Read comments

Carbohydrate avoidance be damned: pasta with meatballs is the perfect culinary counter to the cruel world. Just looking at a slippery, tomato-sauced tangle of spaghetti topped with juicy toothsome meatballs makes you feel better; eating it is the instant antidote to whatever ails you. The recipe here makes more sauce, perhaps, than you'd normally want to use to dress a pound of pasta, but when I sit down to eat with the children I want to make sure I'm not going to have to get up and make them anything else to eat before they go to bed. (Of course you can freeze a portion of little meatballs in sauce for easy access in meals ahead. They need not accompany a bowl of pasta. My children like them just as much with a mound of plain white rice. Who wouldn't?)

Featured in: AT MY TABLE; Turning a Kitchen Into Child's Play

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the Meatballs

8ounces ground pork
8ounces ground beef
1large egg, lightly beaten
2tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1garlic clove, peeled and minced
1teaspoon dried oregano
3tablespoons bread crumbs or semolina
1teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For the Sauce

1onion, peeled and halved
2garlic cloves, peeled
1teaspoon dried oregano
1tablespoon unsalted butter
1tablespoon olive oil
2cups tomato passata (available at specialty food stores) or pureed canned tomatoes (not canned tomato puree, which is thicker)
Pinch of sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½cup whole milk
1pound spaghetti, tagliatelle or linguine, cooked to taste

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

Step 1
Prepare meatballs: In a large bowl, combine pork, beef, egg, Parmesan, garlic, oregano, bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly but lightly, handling mixture as little as possible.
Step 2
Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of meat mixture into balls 1 inch in diameter, and place on plastic. Refrigerate while making sauce.
Step 3
Prepare sauce: Combine onion, garlic and oregano in a food processor, and puree until smooth. Combine butter and oil in a wide, deep pan, and place over low heat until butter melts. Add onion-garlic mixture. Simmer, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes; do not brown. Add passata and 2 cups water to pan. Season with sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.
Step 4
Simmer for 10 minutes, then add milk and bring sauce back to a simmer. Gently drop in meatballs one by one so that they do not break (make sure the meatballs are submerged); do not stir pan. Cover pan partially with a lid, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Step 5
Adjust seasonings to taste. Place hot pasta in a large serving bowl. Pour most of sauce (reserving meatballs) on pasta, and toss to combine. Top pasta with meatballs, and serve.

Ratings

4 out of 5

830 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Suzanne7 years ago

I did a taste test for the meatballs. Oven roasted vs dropped raw into the sauce (my sauce). The raw, dropped in the sauce won 100%, hands down. And oh, btw, never brown them, they are not rocks, but light and fluffy delights. From an Italian.

Jim7 years ago

Sorry, if you do not sauté/brown the meatballs first, they taste like boiled meat having very little interest or flavor. Don't be lazy . . . brown the meatballs and then put them into the sauce.

C.Ferretti6 years ago

As I am from Perusia, IT, we use Marjoram and parsley and a bit of lemon peel in our meatballs instead of oregano. It is a more delicate flavor— oregano can be overpowering and was used to give the sauce more flavor if you lacked meat. Cooking the meatballs in the sauce releases these flavors and the cheese into the sauce and gives it a silky body. Also no oregano in the sauce... we also don’t purée the onions and if we chop them we always leave an 1/8 of the onion to stud with 3 or 4 cloves—

Alfonso Lev Solis5 months ago

Absolutely delicious recipe—no ifs, ands, or buts about it!

Alex5 months ago

I don't know if anyone else found this, or if it was the onions I used, but pureeing the onions & garlic first seemed to make this sauce very bitter. I had to discard it and run out for shop-bought at the last minute!

The best5 months ago

This is my family’s go to recipe. Tender meatballs and a great sauce. I usually add a bit more Parmesan and garlic to the meatballs. So yummy

Private comments are only visible to you.