A thrifty cook is constantly looking for affordable dishes that yield many servings, keep well, and satisfy. And while I encourgage experimentation, one of the most important principles of practical cooking is developing a steady, dependable repertoire. Everyone deserves a sense of mastery, and mastery comes with practice.
One dish that lends itself to repetition, both for its crowd-pleasing potential and its comforting nature, is Meatballs and Spaghetti. Ten dollars and a couple of hours in the kitchen can feed a party of eight, or feed two for a week. There is something both dramatic and familiar about piling fist sized meatballs, coated in sultry sauce, on a tangle of spaghetti, like unlikely boulders on a gentle hill.
More rewarding still is developing a signature sauce, a special way of coaxing the ingredients so the recipe is uniquely one's own. There is a scene in Goodfellas where Paul Sorvino slivers garlic with a razor blade so that when it hits the heated olive oil, it melts. As a tribute to the great director, and because the wine is pretty decent, I like to use Francis Ford Coppola's table wine in his sauce and sip from a short tumbler, cook's treat.
This recipe is an adaptation of one from Lidia Bastianich, a true Italian cook, and the Coppola wine comes from Matt. Serve a green salad (just lettuce!) on the side, tossed lightly with a lemon vinaigrette (instead of vinager, use lemon and its zest), and drink the same wine used in the sauce.
The Meatballs
1 lb ground beef with decent fat content
(if veal or pork is on sale, do a half pound of each. Generally beef will do just fine and is always affordable)
1 cup bread crumbs
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
2 handfuls chopped parsley
1 tablespoon red chili flakes
1 large egg
generous grinding of black pepper
1 T salt
plus 2 cups all purpose flour (set aside on a plate for dredging the meatballs)
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well incorporated and roll into balls. Mine are golfball sized because I like the ratio of meat exposed to sauce, but the baseball sized ones look dramatic on the plate. (Just make sure to cook the bigger ones longer.) Roll the balls in flour and set on a tray, then set aside and fix the sauce.
The Sauce
1 large can whole plum tomatoes
1/2 to 1 small can tomato paste
1 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T salt
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 cup Coppola table wine (or nicer stuff if you want to spring for it)
Saute onion and garlic until soft over medium heat (I start from a cool pan so that the garlic doesn't singe and get bitter), add chili flakes and tomato paste, then squelch the tomatoes and add their liquid and the cup of wine. Add salt and pepper and bring to the boil, turn down heat, and cover with the lid just off kilter (this lets it reduce some without splattering red dots all over the kitchen). Incidentally, the dose of tomato paste is bold--the effect is a thick, tangy sauce, and concentrated so that less is needed to coat the spaghetti. Do adjust the paste to your own palate.
Meanwhile, heat a largeheavy skillet and add olive oil, about a quarter cup. Brown the meatballs in batches so that each ball has room to turn over (I brown the golfball sized ones on two sides; the larger ones need three). As they are finished, place them in the simmering sauce with tongs. If it looks like the sauce needs liquid, add a little water, stock, or wine and stir it around from time to time so that the bottom doesn't scorch (this can happen with sauce because of the high sugar and acid content).
Simmer the meatballs and sauce for 45 minutes, partially covered, stirring and adding liquid as needed. The flour from the browned meatballs incorporates and renders the sauce creamy. Halfway through cooking time, boil pasta water and cook til al dente, then toss noodles with some of sauce to pull in its flavor and to keep it from sticking. Serve hot, piled high, with freshly grated parmasan and chopped parsley.
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