Godfather Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
Godfather Sauce
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 spicy Italian sausages (about 12 ounces total)
- 5 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- Kosher salt
- 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 medium Roma tomatoes cored and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 28 ounce can peeled whole tomatoes, with juices
- 2-3 tablespoons red wine
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
Godfather Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef (85% lean)
- 1/2 cup panko crumbs, toasted
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup copped fresh curly-leaf parsley
- kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
To Finish
- kosher salt
- 12 ounces spaghetti
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Make the Sauce:
- in a medium skillet, het the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausages and cook steadily, browning them on all sides, until cooked through 8-10 minutes. Remove the sausages (reserve oil in skillet) and drain them on a plate lined with paper towels. Add the garlic slices to the skillet and season with the salt. Reduce the heat and cook until the garlic is brown about 2 to 3 minutes. then add the tomato paste and sauté it over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it melds with the oil and garlic, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes and their juices. Cook for a few minutes over high heat, stirring from time to time, until the sauce tastes cooked. Add 1/2 cup of water and simmer over loe heat until the flavors settle and mellow, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the wine (add a splash of wine) and simmer until the wine blends with the tomatoes, 3 to 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Stir in the basil leaves and sausages.
Make the Meatballs:
- Put the beef in a large bowl and spread it across the bottom of the bowl and up the sides. (This will help to distribute the seasonings evenly throughout the meat.) Add the toasted bread crumbs, Parmesan, egg, chopped parsley, salt to taste, the red pepper flakes all over the meet and use your hands to mix the ingredients together.
Taste Test:
- Roll 1 small meatball, about 2 inches in diameter. Heat the oil in a small skillet over high heat. When the oil begins to smoke lightly, shit off the heat (to avoid splattering) and add the meatball. cook until it is browned on all sides and cooked through but still pink in the middle, 2 to 3 minutes. Taste for seasoning and texture. If the meatball is to wet, add some more bread crumbs to he mixture. If it's too dry, add another beaten egg or 2 to 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan. Taste for seasoning. Roll the remaining meat mixture into he balls; it should make eighteen to twenty 2-inch meatballs.
Cook the Meatballs:
- Place the sausages on a flat surface and cut them into 1-inch-thick rounds. Place them, along with the meatballs, in the simmering sauce (you are not going to brown the meatballs, and this is a big difference in how the goodfella's cook them.) Simmer the sauce over medium low heat until the meat is cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Keep the sauce warm over low heat.