Pasta with Tiny Meatballs

Pasta with Tiny Meatballs

Pallottine, 30 min, serves 4

Ingredients

sausagemeat      400g
parmesan         40g, grated
tinned tomatoes  2 tins
garlic           3 cloves, sliced
olive oil        2 tbsp
spaghetti        400g

No egg, no breadcrumbs, no salt in the meatballs. Sausagemeat already has the binder and the seasoning in it.
Squeezing good sausages out of their skins beats a supermarket tub, which is mostly trimmings and fat ground to a paste. Slit them lengthways, about 3 minutes for 8.
A pinch of fennel seeds and chilli flakes pushes it towards Italian salsiccia.

Recipe

1. Mix in a bowl, then pinch off chickpea sized bits and roll. About 50:

[sausagemeat 400g, parmesan 40g grated]

Roll the mix into a rope first and cut it into lengths. Far quicker than pinching from the bowl.

2. Fry them in the oil in the Dutch oven for 3 minutes, shaking the pan rather than turning them.

3. Garlic in for a minute, then tip both tins of tomatoes straight in on top. Salt:

[garlic 3 cloves sliced, tinned tomatoes 2 tins, salt to season]

Meatballs stay in the pot. No lifting out, no second bowl.

4. Simmer 15 minutes, lid off.

Lid off so it thickens. Don’t go longer, small meatballs tighten up and go tough.

5. Spaghetti in the big pan meanwhile.

6. Drain and tip it into the Dutch oven. Toss and serve out of the pot.

Small on purpose. They spread through the pasta so every forkful has one and you never need a knife.
This is the original that Italian American spaghetti and meatballs came from, pallottine, from Teramo in Abruzzo.

❄ Freezer
Freeze: the meatballs raw, spaced on a tray, then bag once solid.
Use: into the sauce from frozen, add 5 minutes to the simmer. Never freeze the pasta.