Watching a lot of American movies, there are always Italian mobsters sitting in restaurants and eating spaghetti with meatballs. While visiting Italy last year, I have not seen such a dish offered there in restaurants, therefore decided to try and make this dish myself.

As it turns out, it’s not hard to make, but tastes so delicious. Now I understand why those Italian mobsters like it so much. 🙂

Here is how to make it. First you need to start on the tomato sauce.

In a large, deep frying pan or a Dutch oven combine canned tomatoes with juices, tomato paste, 1 cup of water, onion, sugar, oregano, bay leaf and ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon garlic and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 1¼ – 1½ hours.

While the sauce is simmering you can prepare the meatballs. Those can also be made in advance, and stored in an air-tight container in the fridge until needed.

Preheat the oven to 205°C (400°F). Line a baking sheet or tray with parchment paper and set aside. 

Soak the bread in water and squeeze out excess moisture.

In a large bowl combine the soaked bread, minced meat, garlic, salt, freshly ground black pepper, parsley, Parmesan cheese and eggs. Mix well.

Take about 1-2 tablespoons of meat mixture and shape into a ball. Place on the prepare tray and repeat with the remainder of the meat mix. I made about 45 meatballs from this mix.

Bake the meatballs for about 20 minutes or until no longer pink.

Once the spaghetti sauce has been simmering for 1¼-1½ hours, add the baked meat balls to the tomato sauce. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Discard the bay leaf from the sauce.

Here you can decide how to serve the meatballs. With spaghetti or by themselves. Mixing the spaghetti through the sauce or just placing the sauce on top. With additional Parmesan cheese or without.

Enjoy!

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