A Classic in 30 Minutes Flat?

Posted by Michael on Sep 25, 2009 in Recipes | 0 comments

Once upon a time, well, an hour ago, I was driving three year old Alexandra home from nursery school.

She had a great time, playing today in the gym instead of outside because of the rainy weather and had worked up quite an appetite since breakfast.

“We’ll go right home and I’ll make some spaghetti with pesto and tomatoes,”  I happily told her.

“No!”, she shot back.  “Spaghetti and meatballs…….please?”

As luck would have it, I had about 3/4 of a pound of fresh ground beef leftover from last night’s dinner of barbecued burgers on fresh made buns, so meatballs was actually going to be possible.   And using some quick tricks, I could have in on a plate in 30 minutes flat too.

I like meatballs that are on the softer side which is acheived in one of two ways – long stewing or mixing with bread crumbs.   Because of time, I went with the latter, quickly whizzing up one of the fresh buns from last night in my hand mixer’s processor attachment.    I already had a sauce pot on medium-high heat with a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in it to receive the meatballs as I made them.

Using garlic powder saved a bit of time but do so ONLY if you have good quality garlic powder.   I have a $4 can of Szeged garlic powder that I got at the gigantic imported food store Starsky in Mississauga a while back.   Good stuff.

I make good use flavour enhancers like Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and cooking sherry to add depth to the dish without the hours of simmering it would take to do otherwise.

Once the meatball mixture is mixed, you can take a good handful of the mixture and quickly squeeze out clumps of the mixture between your index finger and thumb, like pressing it through the “okay” sign with your hand.   Forget about using spoons, scoops or other tools to make the meatballs.  Get your hands in there and get it done.  Doing it this way, I had all the meatballs in the pot less than two minutes after the mix was made.   Add a bit of chopped onion, then add and fry up some tomato paste, then a can of tomatoes and seasonings and you’re on your way.

I like this dish topped with tonnes of parmesan cheese because it reminds me of eating in restaurants when I was a kid and put about $4 worth of parmesan on my $2 plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

And now, not surprisingly, this classic is one of my daughter’s favourites.

I started cooking at 11:52 am and the dish pictured was on the table for 12:25 pm.   Alexandra’s potty break cost me three minutes.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Daddy’s Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti for two (get a good brand like DeCecco or Barilla)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup good quality ground beef

1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs

pinch each of dried oregano, thyme and basil

1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon or so garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

28 oz can tomatoes, run through a food mill, or a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon cooking sherry

salt and pepper to taste

tonnes and tonnes of parmesan cheese

Heat a sauce pot over medium high heat while you assemble your meatballs.   Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, dried herbs, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and a good seasoning of salt and pepper.   Use the technique above to separate the mixture quickly into clumps, then use both hands to roll the clumps into neat little meatballs.   Add the meatballs to the pot as you roll them, giving the pot a shake once in a while.  Chop the onion and add it to the pot.  Stir and shake for another minute then add the tomato paste.   Stir and shake for a couple more minutes then add the can of tomatoes or diced tomatoes, the cooking sherry, more dried herbs and a bit of salt and pepper.   Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently until your pasta is ready.    For the pasta, fill a large pot to the top with fresh cold water and add a few tablespoons of salt.   Bring to a boil and add the spaghetti.  Boil until it’s al dente (not too far – you don’t want it crunchy, but you also don’t want it mushy.  It should have a bit of a bite), about 10 minutes.   Drain well and place the spaghetti back in the pot.   Drizzle with a couple teaspoons of olive oil, toss, then plate it up with buckets of parmesan cheese, or as desired.