I've been making my Meatball Marinara for a while now and perfecting it over time, so I thought I would share this evenings dinner and recipe with you guys. Its is technically simple and tastes luxuriously rich which compliments the thick meaty herbyness of the meatballs and Tripoline (or linguine) pasta really well.
What you will need:
Utensils
- large deep frying pan ( I used a cast iron frying pan)
- medium bowl
- pot to cook long pasta (linguine, spaghetti, Tripoline)
- a little flour for dusting
- chopping bored
- a steel fork
- sharp chopping knife
- a steel dessert spoon for stiring (this works better then a wooden spoon as you can manipulate the meatballs without dropping them and splashing tthe sauce around)
- wooden spatula (optional frying off oinions and browning meatballs)
- Ladel for serving
Meatballs
- 500g minced beef (I prefer to use the fattier mince for meat balls)
- one free range egg
- 5 tea spoons Paprika
- 1 tea spoon Cumin
- 3 tea spoons of dried mixed herbs
- Optional 1 fresh mild chill (green or red)
- 1 tea spoon of olive oil
- a couple pinches of salt and ground black pepper
Time to start!
Firstly get a medium bowl, place in it the mince and tea spoon of olive oil,add a pinch of salt and pepper, then mix and break up the mince with a FORK.
Now when mixed evenly and the texture seems desirable, you can add your spices :D
So that is:
- 5 tea spoons Paprika
- 1 tea spoon Cumin
- 3 tea spoons of dried mixed herbs
Put these all in the center of your bowl of mince, crack that free range egg over the top, then begin to bind and mix everything together with a fork (not a spoon as the fork helps to separate the mince patty)
The egg will help mix in all the spices and bind to the meat.
When the egg is all mixed in, you are done.
This is where you can add in the optional chopped chillis, Make sure your chillis are finely choped into small cubes about 3mm, mix in again with fork.
Finally, Now the fun bit!
lightly dust a table surface with flour. Get your clean hands and dive into the mixture kneading the mixture a bit, dont be afraid to get stuck in but don't over mush it, as it will become a paste and you dont want that
Pull out a wad roughly the size of a golf ball...yes... and roll into a golf ball with your hands.
Remember that you want these densely packed.
Roll your balls in your hands
...and for fun and risk...
Throw your meat balls up in the air fast! so they spin and you can catch them with a slap in the hand, without squishing them.
If you are having trouble with that... finish rolling them on the flour dusted surface and place in plate ready for later.
You should be able to make about 12 meat balls but you will not need mored 6 to 8 meatballs to cook with and serve 3 to 4 people. make sure you put the extra in the fridge in tupawear or cover plate
Now..
Chop up some onions (diced)
Then, put some oil in the pan and heat on a medium to high heat, put in onions and meat balls then seal off and brown the meatballs in the pan, this should take a couple of minutes.
Add some chopped tinned tomatoes, (dont throw out the tin yet )
Then add 2 tea spoons of paprika, 1 tea spoon of cumin, and a couple of pinches of salt and pepper,
... simmer for 2 to 3 minutes after mixing in.
leave to simmer on medium to low heat while you prepare the next stage.
Keep the chopped tomato tin to one side.
chop 2 cloves of garlic
Boil about two cups of water in the kettle, Take the empty chopped tomato can and add 5 tea spoons of tomato puree or fill about 1 quarter of the can with tomato puree.
Add chopped garlic and fill the rest of the can with boiled water
Mix till combined into a thick sauce
Add half of the mixture to the pan, stir, then add the rest and stir,
Turn the heat to medium to low heat so it is simmering and not bubbling and leave for 10 minutes while you prepare your spaghettis/ linguine and if you can,
I highly recommend: Tripoline
Take some boiling water either from a kettle or boil in the pan, make sure it is deep enough for the pasta, ( I used a relatively small pot and that worked well as the tripoline pasta softens quickly in the boiled water.) The whole packet of pasta should feed 4 people genorously
Make sure you add a dash of olive oil and salt before the pasta starts to cook as this will prevent these types of pasta from sticking together. leave to boil on a medium heat fror ten minutes (4 to 5 minutes if you are using fresh pasta) stirrring along the way.
When the pasta is cooked (al dente) strain through a collender
while you are doing this flash some cold water over the pasta,
This glazes and prevents sticking, but only do this for a couple of seconds.
You should be keeping a third eye on your sauce all the time, stirring and making sure the heat is not too high and the sauce is not sticking.
Then, mix the pasta around gently once and strain off excess water.
Thats it your pasta is done and take the meatball sauce off the heat.
Serving Time
Get a large serving plate and gentley take two genorous handfuls of tripoline and place in the center of the plate at an even density ( not piled up like a mountain)
Then get a ladel and serve 2 to 3 meatballs in the center of the pasta, add an extra ladel of just sauce on top of them.
The meatballs will be so dense and flavoursome that 2-3 meatballs is definateley enough with one ladel of extra sauce
maybe a bit extra sauce if you are having more pasta.
The sauce will be very rich and too much will ruin your meal.
I do recomend a glass of chianti 
or freshly made lemonade with this meal
And Finally , last but not least...
Garnish with fresh basil or parsely or a mild cheese such as cheddar mozzarella... I do not recommend Parmesan as it is usually very salty. It is better to Opt for the sweeter and milder cheeses available, that have a firm texture and will not melt away into the sauce.
And there you have it my Super Special Meatball Marinara with Tripoline, btw dont forget you have some pre-made meat balls in the fridge to feed 2-3 people another night, meaning your meal will be even quicker to make!
Being part Sicilian I am really proud of this recipe so make sure you enjoy!!!
Feel free to let me know what you think if you have a go at the recipe and if you have any questions or comments on the taste combos! also click this link if you would like to..
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:) :) :) steem on my darlings !!
All pictures of the process were taken by me on my microsoft lumia phone. cartoons curtousy of curation of cc
This post received a 2.7% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @synapse! For more information, click here!
thanks synapse and randowhale, what did you think of the post?
Holy crap!! I just ate, and nowim hungry again!! my favourite meal is pasta!! :)) mmmm
It would be great to see you at our steemit meet up on 16th September in Birmingham!
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hello thankyou for the lovely comment, my apologies for only seeing it now, I will definately try to get involved with some steemit events, I am based in Germany at the moment, then Birmingham again and then China .
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