BASIC: MEAT BALLS & SPAGHETTI

BASIC: MEAT BALLS & SPAGHETTI

This recipe is supper easy.  A little mixing, a little cooking and you have a meal with left overs.  Now this is a very basic recipe with no bells and whistles, so if you are a advanced cook do not hesitate to add extra things.
  

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of ground turkey, beef or chicken.
1/2 package of spaghetti noodles
1 Tablespoon of each, Cinnamon, Paprika, Thyme, Tarragon.
1 Teaspoon of Black pepper.
1 Tablespoon of Mayonnaise.
1 Cup of Bread Crumbs. (Panko is the brand I like)
14 oz  Can Stewed Tomatoes.
6 oz Can Tomato paste
2 cups water or broth.  Broth is better.
Cheese (optional)

Put your meat in a bowl, add spices.  Yes I love my spices.  And as you can see I put the thyme back in the cupboard and it fell back out, and decided to spill out all the way.  So I probably have two table spoons or thyme.  No big deal.  
One time I had the pepper shaker lid pop off and I had 1 cup of pepper on the meat.  Yeah way too much pepper.    When dealing with raw meat I will scrape off and toss as much as possible.  But if their no meat involved I will try to save it, but keep it in a different container and use it first.  

After mixing in all the spices, add 1 table spoon of mayonnaise and mix in.    I use mayo as a substitute for eggs and it helps bind the mixture and make it moist.  And it has a lot less cholesterol.

Add one cup of bread crumbs and mix in.

All mixed in.

Now use a table spoon and make little meat balls all of equal size.  The picture is a little further down.  Instead I fighting the computer I, let it win this time.

Place the cans in the pan and turn on, high and roll them back and forth until the paper burns off.    No just kidding.  
Open and add to pan. 













Here we go.  Add more spices.
Tarragon, And Cinnamon. About a Tablespoon each.  And add one cup of water, but broth is best.  Turn on medium high.  

Cook until the liquid is absorbed into the tomato paste, then add another cup of broth or water. 











Now turn on high and stir until the mixture starts to boil really good and you see little bubbles all over the place.  This is when you want to add all the meat balls.  When their all in, turn the stove down to low and cover with a lid.

MEAT BALLS

Yummy.   These should cook about 35 to 45 minutes on low.   

Lid on.   This is my versatile pancake pan, that I don't use for pancakes.   I use it for tortillas, mandarin pancakes, I use it for a lid, for several of my bigger pots and pans. 

Now for the Noodles. 
Put water in a deep pot.  And turn stove on high, when you see lot's of little bubbles forming on the bottom of the pan, break the noodles in half and put them in.  

Push all the noddles below the water, if a few stick out that ok.   And you can already see the starch starting to leach from the noodles.

Now look at all the starch, and it's really boiling.  Now there is one more little tip to see when the noddles are done, but out of a gazzillion pictures of boiling water my camera will not pick it up.   So when your looking at the raft of starch as it builds up you will see little white lines, this is because the starch is building layers. This is the time to try the noddle.    Noddle should not be chewy, they should be soft.

Do not cool these noodle underwater, drain off hot water and leave in pot and cover. They will be fine until you need them.

Here is the finish product.  Add some noodles a few meat balls and sprinkle with cheese. And you in business.   These also freeze wonderfully.
How to reheat your frozen meal.
Take out pan and put frozen meal in pan, add 1 cup of broth or water.  Turn stove top on low.  Check often. It should take a half hour to be ready.    And here is something to keep in mind.  Nuking it in the Microwave is faster, but doing it on the stove top you will save the flavor.   That is why you never see me cooking with the microwave. 

So make up some garlic bread, add your cheese and dig in.