My Kitchen: Spaghetti and Meatballs

When I was growing up, my mom made a LOT of Italian food. It was delicious, usually came in large portions, and was typically easy. My family is not Italian anywhere in our background, but that didn’t stop us from loving ALL the Italian things. Baked ziti? Check. Eggplant Parmesan? You bet, and one of my grandma’s favorites (and she was Jewish and German!) Chicken Parmesan, stuffed shells, manicotti… I could keep going. Marinara sauce in everything.

And then of course, I married Chris – who has a Sicilian background. I finally have an excuse to make all the Italian food, right?

Anyway, as my mom learned to cook (she was a horrible cook when my parents got married but learned from my Nana), one of the things she excelled at were Italian recipes. I learned them all from her, and one of the first ones I remember learning was her easy meatballs. To be honest, I think one of the reasons I learned this first is because of how cold the meat is when you mix it. I mean, I think my mom just didn’t want to do the mixing anymore!

Anyway, today I’m sharing our easy meatball recipe – like anything else, it does change a bit from generation to generation – little tweaks here and there. I use a mixture of beef, pork, and veal, but by mom still uses beef and turkey. It really depends on what you like and is easily adaptable – you can do all beef, all turkey, add ground lamb, etc. Whatever your family loves. The best part about these meatballs is how easy they are – as in, they cook right in the sauce. There’s no browning, no cooking in the oven – nope, they go right in the sauce. I sometimes make my own sauce, but I also love using Ragu’s sauces – there’s lots of different flavors to suit your taste. I typically use the traditional, but I also love so many of the others – chunky, spicy and mushroom. They’re super flavorful and make it easy to keep traditions like this alive in our busy lives. Enjoy!

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