Spaghetti and meatballs is liked all around the world, however right here’s the reality, in most components of Italy we don’t serve it the best way you is likely to be used to. Historically, pasta is the primo, and meatballs are served individually as a secondo, normally with a easy salad or greens on the facet.

However in Abruzzo, and particularly within the province of Teramo, we’ve got a particular exception, and it’s a masterpiece. We make spaghetti alla chitarra with tiny meatballs, often known as le polpettine, so that you get pasta, sauce, and meat in the identical good mouthful, each single time. That is the one genuine Italian model of spaghetti and meatballs, not the enormous meatballs sitting on high like a ornament. And the sweetness is, these mini meatballs usually are not full of a protracted record of components. They’re humble, easy, and highly effective, made with simply three important components, precisely the best way Nonna Igea taught me.

This recipe comes straight from the village the place she grew up, handed down with satisfaction, and I’m sharing it with you utilizing Nonna’s methodology, with a number of fashionable touches that make the method simpler at residence. If in case you have by no means skilled spaghetti and meatballs like this, you need to strive it a minimum of as soon as, as a result of this isn’t only a dish, it’s a regional treasure.

Watch How Spaghetti and Meatballs is Made in Italy | Grandma’s Secret from Abruzzo

Make Spaghetti and Meatballs the Abruzzese Approach, Simply Like Nonna

Vincenzo’s Plate Ideas for Making Genuine Spaghetti and Meatballs

Decide Your Mince

You need to use veal mince, beef mince, pork mince, or a mix of them. In Abruzzo, veal is quite common, however what issues most is high quality. Select mince that’s contemporary and never too lean, as a result of a bit fats retains the polpettine tender and juicy.

Cheese Please

For the cheese, you need to use both Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano. Pecorino provides a sharper, saltier flavour. Parmigiano is nuttier and barely sweeter. The quantity is as much as you, however I take advantage of a minimum of 4 beneficiant handfuls. This isn’t the time to be shy.

Don’t Cross on Passata

Nonna all the time used one full bottle of passata for the sugo. You’ll be able to completely make your personal at residence, simply observe my recipe. However if you need a simple choice, purchase two small cans of peeled tomatoes and mix them in a private blender.

Necessary tip: don’t add the liquid from the can into the blender. Mix solely the tomatoes. The liquid goes straight into the pan. Why? As a result of mixing every little thing makes the sauce too watery and barely bitter. Maintaining the juice separate helps management the feel and offers you a thicker, richer sugo.

Thick Pasta Solely

For this straightforward recipe you need to use thick spaghetti, often known as Spaghetti alla Chitarra. This pasta is square-edged and holds the sauce completely. Nonna makes it contemporary, and in case you can, it is best to strive a minimum of as soon as. However in case you are shopping for dry pasta, search for spaghetti quadrato manufacturers like La Molisana or De Cecco. Skinny spaghetti is not going to do that dish justice.

Use the Proper Pot

For filming, I typically use a shallow chrome steel pan so you’ll be able to see the sauce cooking clearly. However when cooking correctly at residence, use a big heavy pot like a Dutch oven. The sauce must simmer gently for one full hour and a deep pot distributes warmth evenly and prevents scorching.

Mix the Soffritto

I mix my soffritto earlier than including the passata as a result of I favor a clean sauce the place the carrot and onion disappear into the sugo as a substitute of sitting in huge chunks. It creates a extra elegant texture. However don’t mix the celery. Add it later whereas the sauce simmers so it perfumes the sugo gently with out overpowering it.

Moist Palms, Comfortable Meatballs

All the time preserve a small bowl of water close by and frivolously moist the palm of your fingers earlier than rolling the polpettine. This prevents sticking and helps you form them easily. Be affected person. Don’t rush. Make them small and uniform. Mini meatballs imply each forkful of pasta will get sauce and meat collectively in a single good chunk.

Three Methods to Cook dinner the Polpettine

There are 3 ways to cook dinner the mini meatballs.

1. Nonna’s Approach – Boil them for 1 minute in gently boiling water. Then mix them later with the pasta and sauce. This retains them tender and prevents them from breaking.

2. Fast Fry – Calmly fry them in a small quantity of EVOO for about 1 minute. This provides further flavour however is barely heavier.

3. Straight Into the Sauce – I don’t suggest this. The meatballs can break aside and change into dry.

Nonna’s methodology ensures each meatball stays intact and turns into completely coated in sugo.

The way to Serve Spaghetti and Meatballs

Twirl the spaghetti into a phenomenal nest on a flat plate. Then spoon a bit further sugo excessive so the pasta stays shiny and moist. Then scatter the mini meatballs generously on high so each serving will get a lot.

End with a beneficiant bathe of freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano. And after I say beneficiant, I imply beneficiant.

Serve instantly whereas it’s scorching and silky. Egg pasta absorbs sauce rapidly, so don’t let it sit too lengthy.

Spaghetti and meatballs is likely to be well-known all over the world, however this model is pure Abruzzo. Within the province of Teramo, we don’t pile big sized meatballs on high of pasta. We make tiny, delicate polpettine that soften right into a slow-cooked tomato sugo and wrap themselves round thick strands of Spaghetti alla Chitarra, creating what may simply be the most effective bowl of spaghetti you’ll ever have.

This recipe makes use of only a handful of straightforward pantry staples. Floor beef, egg yolk and loads of grated Pecorino Romano kind the mini tender meatballs. No bay leaves, no breadcrumbs, no pointless extras. The sugo begins with a blended soffritto cooked gently in further virgin olive oil, then mixed with clean peeled tomatoes and an entire stick of celery to provide vibrant taste to the sauce because it simmers for almost an hour. Recent basil is torn in by hand on the finish, by no means reduce, so it retains its aroma vibrant and clear.

That is how spaghetti and meatballs is completed in correct Italian manner. And when you strive it this manner, it is extremely laborious to return.

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook dinner Time: 1 hour hr 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 folks

For the Pasta & Closing Touches

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The way to Make the Sauce

• Minimize the onion and carrot in small items. Add them to a small private blender with a splash of water and mix till clean. That is your soffritto base.

• Place a big pot on medium-low warmth. Pour in 4–5 tablespoons of additional virgin olive oil. As soon as heat, add the blended soffritto. Stir gently and let it cook dinner for about 7 minutes till gentle and aromatic.

• Mix the peeled tomatoes in your blender. Don’t add the liquid from the can but. Mix solely the tomatoes till clean.

• Add the leftover tomato liquid straight into the pot with the soffritto. Then pour within the blended tomatoes and stir properly to mix.

• Break the celery stick in half and add it entire into the sauce. Let the sugo cook dinner on medium-low warmth for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir often and permit it to softly simmer.

The way to Make the Mini Meatballs

• Place the bottom beef into a big bowl. Add the grated Pecorino Romano and the egg yolk.

• Season with salt and pepper to style. Should you love cheese like I do, you’ll be able to add a bit further. Combine every little thing gently along with your fingers till totally mixed.

• Calmly moist your fingers in a small bowl of water. This prevents sticking.

• Roll the meatball combination into tiny meatballs, about 1cm in measurement, roughly the dimensions of a pea or small marble. Maintain them small and uniform.

• Place the fashioned mini meatballs onto a plate lined with baking paper. Put aside.

The way to Cook dinner the Mini Meatballs (Nonna’s Approach)

• Earlier than cooking the meatballs, spoon a portion of the completed sauce right into a separate giant pan. That is the place the meatballs will end cooking. Set the remaining sauce apart for the pasta.

• Convey a big pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of rock salt.

• Gently drop the mini meatballs into the boiling water. Cook dinner for about 1 minute, or till they start to drift. Don’t discard the boiling water. We are going to use it to cook dinner the pasta later.

• Utilizing strainer, take away the meatballs and switch them straight into the pan with the reserved sauce.

• Place the pan over medium-low warmth and let the meatballs gently simmer within the sauce for about 10 minutes. Stir fastidiously utilizing a wood spoon in order that they keep intact.

Combining the Pasta and Sauce

• As soon as the sauce has completed cooking, take away and discard the celery stick.

• Style and alter the salt if wanted. Flip off the warmth. Tear contemporary basil leaves along with your fingers and stir them into the sauce.

• Convey the identical pot used for the meatballs again to a boil. Add the contemporary Spaghetti alla Chitarra. For the reason that water is already salted, there isn’t any want so as to add extra salt. Cook dinner for about 2 minutes, or till al dente.

• Earlier than you drain, reserve a mug of pasta water.

• Switch the cooked pasta straight into the massive pot with the primary sauce. Place it again over low warmth and gently toss to coat.

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