Spaghetti & Meatballs

Phillip made these meatballs for me once, and they turned out so good that I thought I would try to make them for him. Sadly to say, he did a better job than I did! They were still really good, mine just fell apart more than his did. I used perciatelli pasta instead of spaghetti, and it worked really well. It is a thicker noodle with a hole in the middle to soak up the sauce. Next time I will form the meatballs more firmly and be more careful when turning them.

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil

Directions

Place the ground meats, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.

Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels.

Serve with pasta and tomato sauce.

Adapted from: Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, page 103-104