August 17, 2022 2 min to read

Spaghetti & Meatballs

I was always fascinated by spaghetti and meatballs. I remember my mom making them when I was a kid and thinking they were the coolest thing ever. She would start by browning the beef in a skillet, then add garlic, onion, and tomato sauce. The smell of the cooking meat would make my mouth water.

After the beef was cooked, she would add it to a pot of boiling water along with the spaghetti. The whole house would fill with the delicious smell of simmering tomato sauce. Once the pasta was cooked, she would add some grated Parmesan cheese and serve it up hot.

I loved watching her cook and hearing her stories about growing up in Italy during World War II. She would tell me about how food was rationed and how people had to be creative to make do with what they had. It wasn’t until later in life that I realized how lucky I was to have been born into a family with such rich traditions.

My mom’s spaghetti and meatballs were always political because she used to talk about how Mussolini made everyone eat boring food like rice and beans during his regime. She would say that Italians are a passionate people who love their food, so they rebelled by secretly making dishes like spaghetti and meatballs that were full of flavor.

It seems like every country has a dish that becomes emblematic of its culture or history, something that represents more than just sustenance; something that tells a story about who we are as a people. For Italy, it is definitely spaghetti and meatballs.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 28 ounces crushed tomatoes

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. To make the meatballs, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, milk, salt, pepper, garlic, egg, Parmesan cheese, and parsley in a bowl. Mix well and shape into 1 1/2-inch balls.
3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened.
4. Add meatballs to the skillet and cook until browned on all sides.
5. Pour crushed tomatoes into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
6. Add meatballs and sauce to the dish and stir to combine. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

The text for this blog post and recipe were AI-generated using GPT-3. Use at your own risk.