Best meatball recipe | Easy pasta ideas | Jamie Oliver (2024)

FAQs

Which pasta is most widely used with meatballs? ›

Orecchiette: Known as small ears, orecchiette pasta derives from Puglia. They are often served with oil-based sauces and especially popular with broccoli rabe and sausage. Spaghetti: The most famous long pasta shape, spaghetti mixes wonderfully with a variety of sauces. It's the classic shape to serve with meatballs.

In Italy, meatballs are most often a stand-alone dish. Called polpettes, Italian meatballs are often served sauceless and are much smaller than the meatballs you're probably used to. Traditional Italian meatballs typically contain equal portions of meat and soaked bread, and other additions such as egg and vegetables.

The most popular dried pasta in Italy is Barilla, which has recently become more widely available in the United States. Like all Italian dried pasta, it is made under rigid Government controls from hard durum-wheat flour, called semola di grano duro in Italian and semolina in English.

Italian-style meatballs often include additional ingredients such as milk, olive oil, ground pork, fresh parsley, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and sometimes a combination of ground beef, veal, and pork [2].

They are super flavorful but what makes them so so tender and moist is this: Plain Greek Yogurt. The lactic acid from the yogurt tenderizes the meat while adding subtle flavor. The addition of egg and parmesan cheese help keep the meat together so that you get delicious weeknight meatballs in minutes.

However, combinations of pasta with meat date back at least to the Middle Ages, and pasta (including long pasta) dishes with tomato sauce and different types of meatballs are documented in certain Italian regions and in modern Italian cookbooks as maccheroni alle polpette (translated as 'spaghetti with meatballs') and ...

Spaghetti is the plural form of the Italian word spaghetto, which is a diminutive of spago, meaning 'thin string' or 'twine'.

Why do Americans eat spaghetti with meatballs? ›

The dish evolved as Italian immigrants combined their culinary traditions with American ingredients. They began serving spaghetti with larger American-style meatballs and tomato sauce, creating a satisfying meal.

I prefer pappardelle here because it is a large, very broad and flat pasta noodles. And they are also similar to wide fettuccine. But you can also make it with egg noodles, fettuccine or spaghetti. I sauted onions before adding them to the meatballs and the sweetness of the caramelized onions was mouthwatering!

Spaghetti and Meatballs all made in ONE pan. The meatballs are juicy with a light crust, and the spaghetti absorbs so much flavour whilst it cooks in the tomato ragu. This is a winning dinner with minimal washing up!

Cook two pounds of spaghetti in a large pot, drain, and serve in a huge bowl with the meatballs and sauce poured on top. I like to place a chunk of Pecorino with a small handheld grater on the table, so everyone can help themselves to as much cheese as they please!

Tubular shapes like penne and ziti are perfect with hearty, thick sauces like ragu. Rigate, the ridged ones, capture even more sauce. Wide, flat pastas like pappardelle are ideal for sopping up creamy sauces. Generally, the wider the noodle, the heavier the sauce.