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| Michael Kravit |
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Spaghetti Party!
I’ve always had a bit of a problem with the lyrics to that ludicrous song, ‘On Top of Spaghetti, All Covered in Cheese, I Lost My Poor Meatball, When Somebody Sneezed’, which presupposes that the meatballs are cleverly balanced on top of a perfect pile of wound spaghetti. In all likelihood, however, they’re probably nestled into soft and forgiving beds of sauce and even a voluminous sneeze couldn’t send a meatball flying onto the floor, out the door and into the garden. A backhand or an earthquake might do the trick, but a sneeze? No way.
One of my closest friends is a closeted carnivore. It’s hard when you have so many acquaintances who are animal rights activists and meat is so undeniably irresistible. Anyway, she asked me to throw together a cheap dinner party for her birthday. There are two kinds of cuisine that have a relatively low food cost: Mexican and Italian. You know, tacos or pasta. I went with Italian-style meatballs, browned in olive oil and then stewed in tomato sauce on top of a mound of spaghetti. Aside from the vegans who kept asking if there was any sauce that hadn’t “been exposed” to the meatballs, the crowd was pleased and the entire operation cost about 35 dollars. Nobody sneezed, but somehow, one mischievous little meatball rolled out of my apartment, onto West 3rd Street and right past the bouncer into the Fat Black Pussy Cat Lounge.
Spaghetti and Meatballs Serves 4
For the sauce:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large can whole plum tomatoes with basil, torn up into bite-sized pieces
1 yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 basil, cut in thin strips
A pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Sauté the onions over low heat (8 minutes), then add the garlic and continue to sauté, (another 3 minutes.) Add the tomatoes, salt, red pepper flakes and a few twists on the old pepper mill. Let simmer for 25 minutes. Stir in the cheese and the basil. Set aside.
For the meatballs:
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten with the milk
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Combine all of the ingredients, save the olive oil. Mash gently with hands until everything is evenly distributed. Form the meat into little quarter-sized balls. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides (10-15 minutes) and transfer them to the tomato sauce. Place the saucepan back on medium-low heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
Boil water for the pasta. Cook one pound of spaghetti according to the instructions on the package. Drain and serve with the meatballs and sauce.
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