email this pageThe Great Meatball Debate
Mark—I like the sense of abundance you get with a big, juicy meatball.
Pino—That’s my problem with it—the proportions are all off. Italians like their food to make sense aesthetically, for the sauce to fit with the pasta. And there’s nothing more incongruous than a big meatball with a skinny strand of spaghetti. I say serve the spaghetti as a first course and save the meatballs for a second.
Mark—For my customers, there’s nothing more beautiful than a pile of spaghetti topped with a couple of meatballs.
Pino—In Italy meatballs have always been very much an improvised dish. The frugal housewife would buy the butcher’s leftovers, which she’d chop up and mix with some stale bread to bind everything together. It was a testament to the cook’s talent that she could make something so good out of scraps of meat. The most important ingredient wasn’t the meat. It was the stale bread—the way it absorbed the flavors of the meat and in turn gave the meatballs a tender texture.
Mark—Meatballs are all about the meat. As soon as Italian-Americans could afford to buy meat, they created big, juicy meatballs. I think their happiness and generosity and love of life are symbolized by this dish.
Pino—Well, I think that the Italian culture of parsimony has produced a better dish than Italian-American prosperity.
Instead of making big round meatballs the size of golf balls, I make grape-sized balls and flatten them a little. This way when you pan-fry them, they cook all the way through and get a perfectly crunchy crust.
Mark—But I don’t pan-fry my meatballs. I simmer them in the tomato sauce until they’re cooked through.
Meatballs with Spaghetti
Strictly an American invention, Mark Strausman’s spaghetti and meatballs are the classic dish most remember from childhood. “I don’t fry my meatballs, as Pino does. I simmer them in the tomato sauce until they’re cooked through. If you are like Pino and can’t bear the idea of meatballs on top of spaghetti (I’d like to know how many of you there are out there!), you can prepare this dish without the spaghetti and simply serve the meatballs in the sauce with lots of crusty artisan bread.”
Ingredients
Meatballs:
1 cup day-old sourdough bread cubes (crust removed)
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
8 ounces ground veal
8 ounces ground chuck
8 ounces lean ground pork
8 ounces sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings and crumbled
3 tablespoons dried oregano
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sauce and Spaghetti:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 (28-ounce) cans Italian plum tomatoes, with juice, puréed in a food processor
1 teaspoon, kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 1/2 pounds hot cooked spaghetti or linguine
2. Heat large Dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, add olive oil. Add onion and cook until soft and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove pot from heat.
3. Place veal, beef, pork and sausage in a large bowl; using your hands, mix well. Add oregano, cheeses, eggs, parsley, bread mixture, onion, salt and pepper; mix well.
4. To prepare sauce, heat a large saucepan over medium heat; add olive oil. Add onion and garlic, cook 5 minutes. Add tomato paste; stir 1 minute. Add wine, tomatoes, salt and red pepper flakes, if using, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer gently 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Form 16 golf-ball size portions of meat. Add to sauce.
6. Simmer gently until meatballs are thoroughly cooked and no longer pink in center, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Serve meatballs and sauce over spaghetti. Serves 8.
Relish Classic Dishes, "Two Meatballs," Sept. 2008.
Recipe adapted with permission from Two Meatballs in the Italian Kitchen (Artisan Books), copyright 2007 by Pino Luongo and Mark Strausman.
Pasta with Meatballs and Mushrooms
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Ingredients
8 ounces ground veal
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Sauce and Spaghetti:
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling (optional)
1 medium onion, chopped
12 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups fresh sweet peas or thawed tiny frozen peas
1/2 cup vegetable broth
6 fresh mint leaves
1 1/2 pounds hot cooked, fresh or dried linguine (1/2 cup cooking liquid reserved)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2. Heat 1⁄4 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, place meatballs in the pan, without crowding, and sauté until browned and crisp on one side, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until other side is browned and crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove meatballs with a spatula and place on paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining meat mixture.
3. To prepare sauce, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper, and sauté 5 minutes. Add peas, toss, and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth and mint and cook another 5 minutes. Add meatballs, toss well, cover and keep warm.
4. Add cooked pasta to sauce. Add butter, cheese, and a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta cooking water, and heat over very low heat. Toss thoroughly, drizzling with more olive oil if desired. Serves 8.
Relish Classic Dishes, "Two Meatballs," Sept. 2008.
Recipe adapted with permission from Two Meatballs in the Italian Kitchen (Artisan Books), copyright 2007 by Pino Luongo and Mark Strausman.
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