Spaghetti and Meatballs with simple garlic bread

Meatballs:

4 slices dry bread

3 tbsp milk

1 lb ground beef

2 eggs

1/2 cup freshly grated Romano (grate using a blender for best results)

2tbsp chopped parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp crushed oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1. Tear bread into pieces. Soak in milk and then stir until a paste
2. Add all ingredients including soaked bread and mix well (use hands) form into small balls (about 20. About 2 inches across)
3. Brown slowly in 2 tbsp of hot oil. Add to sauce

Sauce

• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes
• 2 6 oz cans tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 1/4 tsp crushed oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• Meatballs
• 1 lb cooked spaghetti

1. Heat oil in large pot in medium until shimmering
2. Cook onion until soft. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds.
3. Rub oregano between your palms and brush into pot. Add all ingredients except meatballs.
4. Stir together.
5. Using potato masher (beedle), mash tomatoes roughly (you can skip this step. My mom doesn’t do it but I do)
6. Bring to slight simmer and keep on a low simmer.
7. Add meatballs when they’re done.
8. Spoon over spaghetti and divide meatballs among those eating

Garlic bread

• One loaf of french or Italian style bread
• 1 stick of butter softened
• Garlic powder
• Salt

1. Cut open bread on one side but leave the two halves attached.
2. Spread with butter. You’ll probably use about 3/4 of the butter but you can use as much or as little as you like of the stick
3. Sprinkle with garlic powder to your taste (my kids don’t like a lot)
4. Sprinkle with a little salt
5. Cut into 2 inch slices but don’t cut all the way through so the loaf holds together.
6. Wrap and foil and bake for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven

I do NOT claim this is an authentic Italian recipe. It isn’t. This is a recipe from an old cookbook from the 1960s with one or two tweaks. My mom made these whenever we had company when I was a kid. My dad’s uncle (born around 1920) had never had spaghetti and meatballs before having these, and after that weekend, he asked his wife make them every week for the rest of his life.

My mom swears the key is to use a blender to crumble the Romano, so it’s more like little balls that melt when they’re cooking. Don’t substitute Parmesan. I soak the bread in milk, but the original recipe soaks it in water. Either way, the meatballs are tender and moist.

As for the garlic bread, it’s not fancy but it is delicious. You can fancy it up with mixing minced garlic into the butter and sprinkling with cheese, but we keep it very simple because that’s how the kids like it and really, how I like it.