Spaghetti & Meatballs | Byron Talbott

Hey what's up guys, today I'm going to show you how to make a very easy and delicious spaghetti and meatball recipe. So first up, you're going to grab a bowl and put some ground meat into it. Here I'm using ground pork. You can use ground turkey, chicken, or beef, it's really your preference. Next you're going to add your chopped up parsley, then some chopped up garlic. Here I'm using whole wheat breadcrumbs. You can use, again, really whatever breadcrumbs that you desire. Then next I'm going to add some shaved parmesan cheese, some chili powder, some oregano, and some chili flakes. Once you're done adding all these ingredients, just give it a really good solid mix, making sure that all the ingredients and the breadcrumbs are absorbed in with the meat. And then you're going to start forming your meatballs. Alright so when you start forming your meatballs, you're going to want to compress the meat in the beginning in between your hands, allowing it to really become one solid mass. And as you start rolling, you're going to want to sort of loosen your grip just so you have a really nice, smooth meatball. And this will prevent any large cracks from running through the center of that meat, which in turn will prevent your meatballs from falling apart as you cook them. Once you're done forming all your meatballs, these are about an ounce and a half a piece, you're going to want to get a large saute pan on high heat with some olive oil in there, and then sear your meatballs for about 5 minutes or so until they turn really nice and golden brown. Alright, so once your meatballs have a proper sear on them, you're going to add some chopped up raw garlic to the pan. Give it a few shakes, and then you're going to add your tomato puree, followed by some salt, pepper, some dry oregano, and some brown sugar, and then you're going to finish it off with some tomato paste and a good helping of olive oil. Give this a few stirs, and then you're going to let this reduce for a solid hour on low heat. Once your meatballs are done, you're going to have a pot of boiling water going, and generously season it with some salt. Drop your spaghetti pasta in there, and you're going to cook this for about 5 to 7 minutes until the pasta is nice and al dente. Then you're going to give it a good strain, and then coat the pasta in a generous helping of olive oil so that the noodles don't stick together, and then we're going to plate this up. Alright, so when you plate the pasta, just gently lay it on the plate using almost like a twisting motion, and this will give the pasta almost like a spiral weaved look, and help give it some body as well. After that, you're going to generously spoon some of the sauce over the top of the pasta along with the meatballs, and then you're going to generously top all of this with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, and then I like to use some freshly picked basil leaves. Just the smaller leaves off of the plant, and it gives it just a beautiful pop of green to this beautiful dish, and all there is to do is enjoy this with your friends and family, and have a wonderful dinner. Here you go, my dear. And this is a spaghetti and a meatball. Spaghetti and a meatball. Mmm. Mmm is a good sign so far. Mmm. So first I'm going to get a little pasta. That was a big bite. Yeah, it takes a while, right? You've got to commit when you're eating spaghetti and meatballs. You do. This is true. You have to commit. You've got to commit. You can't just take like a wimpy bite. You know what I mean? Sometimes people make meatballs like huge. These are not too big. So I just cut mine in half. And we have leftovers, so I think we should make meatballs. Oh, yeah. Ooh, yeah. Doesn't that sound good? Yeah, it does. Oh, my word. So what do you think? I think it's perfect. Pretty good? Yeah, and I love it's like slightly spicy. Yes. I make my meatballs just to like have a little bit of spice with the chili flake and some chili powder. Mmm. I was thinking we should have that moment. What's that movie? That Disney movie where we both like have one end of the spaghetti and we're like... Oh, the Lady and the Tramp? Yeah. Oh, that would be good. We need to have a Lady and the Tramp moment. I know. I'm going to edge the meatball over to you. Oh, that would be cute. You know. Probably not going to happen, though. Mm-hmm. Well... Good job. Good? Two thumbs up? Four stars? Rachel's L.A. Times article? Yeah. Yeah? For sure. Awesome. This is good. Mm-hmm. Really good. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. I know everybody has their like, you know, mama's spaghetti recipe. Everybody has their own like tailor-made spaghetti recipe. This is mine. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. If you did, please thumbs up and subscribe, and as always, I'll have the full recipe broken down in written format on my website, so if you guys, you know, prefer that, you can go check it out. ByronTalbot.com. And I'll see you guys next time with another fantastic recipe. Bye, everybody.