Title: Pasta with Meatballs
Categories: Pasta Ceideburg
Yield: 4 Servings

2	c	Peeled fresh plum tomatoes or canned Italian plum tomatoes.
4	tb	Butter
2	sm	Onions, chopped fine
1		Clove garlic, chopped fine
4	sl	Bacon, cooked and crumbled
		Salt and black pepper
1/2	c	Marsala
1/2	ts	Dried oregano
1/2	lb	Vermicelli
1	c	Fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
MEATBALLS
1/2	lb	Ground chuck
2	sl	French bread, moistened with 1/2 cup milk and squeezed dry
1	tb	Minced parsley
2		Eggs, lightly beaten
1/4	c	Grated Parmesan cheese
		Salt and ground pepper
3	tb	Vegetable oil

Here's the recipe I made the other night with the nice pasta sauce. The meatballs were mediocre, mainly because I'd never made meatballs before that I can remember. The sauce, on the other hand, was very tasty. For the pasta I used rigatoni++the first type of pasta I made with the new machine.

Serves 4 to 6.

1. Put the tomatoes trough a food mill to puree pulp and remove seeds.

2. In a large skillet or medium saucepan, melt half the butter and cook the onions9on until soft. Add the garlic, tomato puree, and crumbled bacon. Then add salt and pepper to taste and boil this sauce hard for five minutes.

3. Add the marsala and oregano, and cook for another 5 minutes. Set aside.

4. Put all the meatball ingredients except the vegetable oil in a bowl, and mix with your hands. Shape the mixture into 12 balls, and in the skillet brown them on all sides in the vegetable oil. Do not overcook, they will cook further in the sauce. Add the meatballs to the tomato sauce and keep warm. (You can brown the meatballs ahead of time and add them to the sauce when you are ready.)

5. Cook the pasta until al dente, drain well and return to the pot in which it cooked. Add remaining butter and toss well. Add several large spoonfuls of the tomato sauce and toss well again. Transfer pasta to a large serving platter or bowl. Pour sauce and meatballs overall, serve and pass the cheese.

Wine: A chianti classico

From "The Joy of Pasta", Joe Famularo and Louise Imperiale. Baron's Educational Series, Inc., N.Y. 1983. ISBN 0-8120-5510-1.

Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; May 2 1991.

previous

next