I always like to have something delicious to look forward to on a Friday night. By the end of week I'm usually exhausted (and a little stressed!) and cooking something yummy gives me an immediate sense of calm. I'm weird like that.
So last night it was spaghetti and meatballs time! This is my favourite meatball recipe, mainly because they're baked so they're a lot healthier than many recipes that fry them and you don't have to faff about with a load of oil. Not what I want for my calm Friday night.
The meatballs take approximately 5 minutes to make. I like recipes that you throw into a bowl, scrunch all the ingredients together and roll them up. I use this mini ice cream scoop for rolling so that they're all the same size.
Then you just bake them up for 30 minutes. So easy and yummy.
For the sauce, everything pretty much gets thrown into a pot and simmers for the same time as the meatballs are in the oven. You could blend the sauce so it's completely smooth which would look lovely, but I don't mind it chunky. Plus I couldn't be arsed to get my hand blender out of one of the million boxes still fully packed in the new house...
I like to play music that puts me in the mood for my food, so I was blasting Dean Martin's 'That's Amore' last night, pretending I was in New York's Little Italy. But that's just me...
For the garlic bread it's just about mashing up the ingredients and spreading it on the bread!
As it was just two of us, I cut up one of the halves and froze them individually for another day. You can just put them in oven, in the foil, directly from frozen until they defrost and go crispy - about 20 minutes.
Just in case you wanted to see the inside of my freezer where the garlic bread foil boats now live:
We moved house recently, and my new giant freezer makes me so happy it's embarrassing.
Once everything is done, assemble and serve. Ta-daaaa!
Recipe is below. Enjoy!
Spaghetti & Meatballs with Homemade Garlic Bread
Make 24 meatballs (4 people) | 45 minutes total | 12 WW SP
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 250g (1/2 pound) beef mince
- 250g (1/2 pound) pork mince
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 250g (3/4 cup) breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 180ml (3/4 cup) warm water
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
For the sauce:
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 120ml (1/2 cup) red wine
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley + extra for serving
- 1 tbsp parmesan for serving
- 240g pasta of your choice (I used 60g per person)
For the garlic bread:
- 1 long ciabatta loaf
- 120g (8 tbsp) butter
- 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1/2 tsp salt
Method for the Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Pop the pork, beef, egg, parsley, breadcrumbs, water, nutmeg, salt and pepper into a bowl. Using a fork, fluff it together so everything is gently incorporated - don't mash it too much.
- Using a small ice cream scoop (or your eyeballs), roll out 24 small meatballs and put them onto a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180C or 350F.
- Meanwhile, into a preheated saucepan on a medium heat, add the finely chopped onion. Cook until soft and add in the garlic for another minute.
- Add in the wine and cook for a few minutes until the liquid is almost gone. Add in the tomatoes.
- Add in the parsley, salt and pepper and simmer on a medium-low heat for 30 minutes.
- Cook the pasta according to the instructions and add to the sauce.
- Add the cooked meatballs to the pasta and sauce and serve with a sprinkling of parsley and parmesan.
Method for the Garlic Bread
- For the garlic bread, mash up the butter, garlic, parsley and salt.
- Cut the ciabatta loaf in half and spread the butter mix on both sides.
- Put them on a baking tray and pop them under the grill for 6-8 minutes until they're crispy and golden. Serve with any delicious pasta.
