Spaghetti and meatballs

Couldn't miss on this blog a dish – and that I've always found it odd – became one of the flags of the made in Italy in the world? Spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce. My first memory of this dish is tied to the Disney movie Lady and the tramp: dinner by candlelight in the alley of a restaurant to Italian spaghetti and meatballs is unforgettable and I like to think that the reputation of this dish originated from there. Let's say that the Sicilian sauce meatballs are an extraordinary delicacy of the times of my childhood, But even in my “perverse” family (culinary talking huh…) used pasta. Now, though, I also experienced this dish and I will tell you: I'm not stupid Americans…

Ingredients for 4 people:

for the meatballs

• 400 grams of ground beef by first choice
• 2 slices of sandwich bread
• whole milk, to taste
• 1 whole egg
• 40 grams of grated Parmesan cheese
• 20 grams of grated pecorino cheese Dop
• salt to taste
• a handful of chopped parsley
• little chopped garlic
• breadcrumbs to coat the meatballs
• peanut oil to fry the meatballs

for the sauce

• 700 milliliters of peeled tomatoes in pieces or tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• Golden onion
• half a glass of white wine
• salt to taste
• extra virgin olive oil as required
• a pinch of sugar

And still

• 360 grams of spaghetti
• pecorino stagionato PDO as required

For the meatballs, put the bread in a bowl and soak it with milk. Put in a large bowl the minced meat, the egg, garlic and parsley, Parmesan cheese and grated pecorino, then add the cream soaked bread and mix everything with care. Season with salt and pepper. Form round balls as big as a walnut and dip in grits, then FRY in peanut oil until they are golden brown.

Meanwhile, prepare the tomato sauce: Finely chop the onion and put it in a saucepan with oil. Sauté gently over a low heat and then add the tomato and white wine. Turn up the heat and allow to soften the wine alcohol, then add the pulp or puree. Add salt and put a pinch of sugar: Cook the sauce for 10 minutes over low heat and then place the fried meatballs. Sauté the all other 15 minutes over a low heat and set aside.

Boil the pasta in salted water, drain it al dente and dress with the sauce and meatballs. Serve the noodles so they are surmounted by the meatballs with gravy and serve garnished the dish with plenty of grated pecorino cheese.

THE PAIRING: For its directness, for its scents and easy adaptability to red sauces we chose Elite red Pgi Calabria produced by Cellar Visalli, in the province of Reggio Calabria, using the Gaglioppo and Nerello Calabrese.