spicy spaghetti and tender meatballs
my take on the classic with more of what you want and less of what you don't
lately i’ve been going through a sort of spaghetti and meatballs phase. don’t get me wrong, the italian-american dish is an absolute classic and a favorite of mine generally speaking, but the past few weeks have had me craving it (and therefore cooking it) more than usual.
most recently, i made a batch alison roman’s “goodbye meatballs.” they were delicious but, of course, being the overthinking-highly-critical-but-also-somewhat-cocky-when-it-comes-to-cooking person that i am, i thought: i can make these better and more tasty, with more of what i want and less of what i don’t. so i did.
the more of what i want? tender meets bouncy meatballs. a richer, spicier sauce and a lot of it. cottage cheese, duh. fennel, duh. the less of what i want? no annoying meatball pan frying. so if you’re a fan of spaghetti, meatballs and everything i just mentioned, consider this is your recipe, too.
the meatballs are made with a sort of pseudo panade that softens up the panko breadcrumbs in a mixture of cottage cheese and egg before mixing with the ground meat. clean hands are the best tools for a lot of things and mixing meatballs is one of them. this recipe lets you leave behind the gentle, afraid of over-mixing mindset and instead mix like you would for a dumpling filling, using your hands to sort of beat the mixture roughly in one direction until it’s sticky and cohesive. this lends a slightly bouncy texture to the still soft and tender meatballs.
the sauce isn’t so different from #alison’sversion, there’s just more of it plus it has fennel for texture and flavor and chili flakes and gochujang for some heat. i love the combination of fresh and canned tomatoes here, but you can leave out the cherry tomatoes and rely solely on canned if you’d like, just make sure to use whole, peeled tomatoes as they lend a different texture to the sauce than crushed tomatoes or tomato passata.
if you make the recipe as written to serve two, there will be leftover meatballs and sauce. i find three to four meatballs and 125 grams pasta to be a portion, but obviously that may vary. store the sauce and meatballs together in an airtight container in the fridge. to warm through, add to a dutch oven or a pot with a splash of water and let simmer, partially covered, over low heat for about 15 minutes or until the meatballs are hot all the way through.
serves 2 as written with leftover meatballs and sauce (adapt to serve 4 by cooking 500 grams of spaghetti)
for the meatballs
2 cloves garlic
1 small red onion (about 60 grams before peeling)
15 grams parsley
15 grams coriander
170 grams cottage cheese (substitute: full fat ricotta cheese)
20 grams grated parmesan cheese
15 grams panko breadcrumbs
1 large egg
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
500 grams ground meat (mix of beef and pork is ideal)
for the sauce
1 red onion
5 garlic cloves
1 head fennel
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 oil-packed anchovy fillets (optional but highly recommended even for “not an anchovy person” people; they make a huge difference in flavor without reading as fishy. give them a chance and you will likely never go back!)
1 teaspoon chili flakes
200 grams cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 - 3 tablespoons gochujang (less if you want it less spicy, more if you want more spicy)
800 grams canned whole, peeled tomatoes
for serving
250 grams spaghetti (substitute: rigatoni or bucatini)
grated parmesan cheese
peel and grate garlic into a large bowl. peel and mince onion and add to the bowl. mince parsley and coriander, setting about half of each aside for later and adding the other half of each to the bowl with the onion and garlic. add cottage and parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, egg, salt, pepper and chili flakes. use a mortar and pestle to crush the fennel seeds and add to the bowl; if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a spice grinder, crush/chop them with a chef’s knife or just add the fennel seeds whole. mix well to combine and let sit for about 10 minutes.
in the meantime, turn on your oven’s broiler, move a rack to the top of the oven and start prepping the ingredients for the sauce. peel and thinly slice the onion and garlic. halve the fennel through the root, remove the core, then thinly slice.
after the cheese mixture has rested, add the ground meat to the bowl and mix well in one direction with your hands to combine and create an almost pasty mixture similar to a dumpling filling. shape into 12 large meatballs and transfer to a baking sheet or tray. broil the meatballs for about 7 - 8 minutes or until the tops of the meatballs are brown. remove, turn off the oven and set aside.
add olive oil and butter to a dutch oven over medium heat. add onions, garlic and fennel and season with salt and pepper. let cook until the onions are softened and translucent, about 8 minutes, then add the anchovies, chili flakes and cherry tomatoes and let melt into the mixture for about 5 more minutes, or until some of the cherry tomatoes burst. add tomato paste and gochujang and cook until the mixture starts to stick to the bottom of the pot. add the canned tomatoes (you can either squish them with your hands before adding to the pot or break up directly in the pot with a spatula) and one can full of water (about 400 ml) and stir well to combine. bring up to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
once simmering, add the meatballs and any of their juices to the sauce. reduce the heat to low and simmer the meatballs uncovered until the sauce is thickened and the meatballs are cooked through completely, about 45 minutes.
once the meatballs are about halfway through cooking, set a large pot of water on to boil. once boiling, season generously with salt and cook the spaghetti to al dente according to the package instructions. drain, reserving some of the cooking water, and add back to the pot. use a spoon to scoop some of the tomato sauce into the pot with the pasta and toss well, adding a splash of reserved pasta water as needed until the spaghetti is nicely coated in the sauce. serve spicy spaghetti with meatballs; i like 3 per portion. garnish with reserved parsley and coriander, more parmesan cheese and a light drizzle of olive oil.
#surprise #ilovemeatballs #readthecaption
the Easter egg at the end😌 you're always the meatball pro!