Spaghetti and the Marriage Meatball

I bought some ground beef from one of my farmer friends this weekend at the Waldorf Market and debated what to make with it. I was considering burgers or a tomato meat sauce, when my husband threatened to leave me if I didn't make tomato sauce with meatballs. So, no pressure or anything.

Considering the fact I have never made meatballs in my life, I thought that was a pretty bold request.

I did a bit of research, and it seems the best way to make the meatballs moist (horrible word, moist, I know) is to mix the bread crumbs FIRST with a liquid, and allow the liquid to absorb into the crumbs. In fact, I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl before adding the meat at all.

So to this mixture I added:
- spelt bread crumbs,
- milk (but it could be any sort of liquid, I guess, since milk is so nice and kosher with ground beef)
- parsley
- garlic
- a bit of shredded hard cheese
- onions finely minced along with a few tears
- a bit of red wine
- some tomato paste
- spices of a whack
- an egg
- a minced jalepeno
- oregano
- pepper

Once it was all mixed and disgusting looking, I added the meat and just mixed it until it came together. It pays to be gentle with your meat (shut up Jude, you dirty minded bastard) so that it doesn't get too tough.

I fried them in a bit of EVOO just to get a bit of that lovely brown flavor.

In the meantime, I made the tomato sauce. Fry some onions in EVOO, add a whackload of garlic, dump a bottle of tomatoes in, add a bay leaf or two and a bunch of seasonings and get it simmering.

It was a this point that my husband walked into the kitchen, and saw the sauce with meatballs gently simmering. He was surprised and told me he was "only joking", and didn't *actually* expect meatballs. Once he stopped choking on the one I crammed down his throat, he proclaimed our marriage safe. Oh joy!

As each batch of meatballs got fried, I dropped them into the sauce to simmer and finish cooking until everything was ready.

I made spelt spaghetti, in a huge pot of boiling salted water. As soon as it is al dente, you drain the water, toss it in a big bowl, and add a ladelful of sauce to it and give it a jujh. Everybody can add their own amount of sauce afterwards, once it is on their plates.

With this meal, there was salad (of course) and some bruschetta on ace bakery bread, for those that can eat wheat. The rest of you (I'm talking to YOU my darling husband) can SUCK IT.
That is all.