spaghetti and meatballs

Forgive me reader(s) for the lack of posts but...I've been running low on blogging mojo.

Enjoy the pictures (if at all possible) and this simple recipe for spaghetti and meatballs by Jamie Oliver while I try to unlock this Pandora's Box with a Rubik's Cube shaped enigma inside.

-Sean

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Adapted from Jamie's Food Revolution, Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary

- 14 plain crackers (I used regular ol' saltines)

- 2 tablespoons of milk

- 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard

- 1 pound of ground beef

- 1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs

- 1 large egg

- 1 onion

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 2 teaspoons of red chili flakes

- 28oz diced tomatoes

- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

- 1 pound of spaghetti

- small bunch of fresh basil

- Parmesan cheese for grating

Meatballs

1) Crush the plain crackers until crumbled and soak in the milk in a large bowl. Pick of the leaves from the fresh rosemary, finely chop and add to the bowl with the soaking crackers.

2) Add the mustard, ground meat, and dried Italian herbs to the bowl also. Crack in the egg and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix everything together with your hands until it just comes together and it's combined. Don't overwork the meat!

3) Divide the meat into 4 large balls and make meatballs to size of preference. I made 3 smaller meatballs from each quarter giving me 12 total.

4) Drizzle each meatball with olive oil and toss to coat. Place on a plate and set in the fridge until needed.

Sauce + Cooking the Meatballs

1) Finely chop the onion and the garlic. In a hot pan, add olive oil and then the onions. Sweat down for about 7 minutes until softened and slightly brown. Add in the garlic and red chili flakes after.

2) Once the garlic is fragrant, add the can of tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and some basil leaves. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Reduce to a simmer and let it simmer away.

3) In another hot pan over medium/medium-high heat, add olive oil and fry the meatballs in batches if you need to. Cook on all sides for about 8 minutes until golden on all sides. It's okay if it's slightly pink in the inside at the 8 minute mark. Why? Because we're gonna toss the meatballs in the sauce to simmer while we cook our pasta.

The Finish

1) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add dried spaghetti and cook per package directions till al dente.

2) Drain the pasta, reserving a little bit of the pasta water to thicken the sauce if need be later. Add the spaghetti to the sauce and toss to coat.

3) Place spaghetti and a few meatballs into each plate, garnish with fresh basil and grate some Parmesan cheese over it. Eat and be happy.