Sunday Dinner: Spaghetti and Meatballs Edition

We did a lot of eating out last week. We used a Groupon for Hook that was about to expire one night, met a friend for dinner another, and then celebrated NYE with a fancy dinner out. I tried to counterbalance all the expenditures by cooking a lot at home this weekend. Cinnamon rolls for breakfast, chili and cornbread for dinner last night, and spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight.

I don't know about you, but I did not grow up eating too many meatballs with my spaghetti. We tended to go with a meat sauce instead, but whenever I see someone make meatballs on TV I am intrigued. So when I saw that my BFF Ina had a recipe for spaghetti and turkey meatballs in her new cookbook How Easy Is That (a SIGNED copy of which I got for Christmas-- thanks Mom!), I decided to give it a try. Ina's recipe further sold me on the idea for a couple of reasons-- 1) the meat in the meatballs include not only turkey but sweet Italian sausage and proscuitto as well which sounded like a great combination and 2) you bake the meatballs instead of pan-frying them which seemed less time consuming and less messy. Done and done.

Overall we liked the recipe quite a bit. It was easy and really flavorful. My one gripe is that it makes A TON. Even with halving the recipe, we ended up with 18 good size meatballs! Fortunately Jason is already plotting how he can turn some of the leftovers into meatball subs later in the week.

Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs
Adapted slightly (primarily to halve the recipe) from Ina Garten

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups bread cubes (about 2 slices of bread, crusts removed)
1/3 cup milk
1 lb ground turkey (92% lean)
2 sweet Italian pork sausages, casings removed
2 thin slices of prosciutto, finely chopped
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
3 TBL olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1-2 large jars of your favorite marinara sauce (depending on how much sauce you like-- we used two and it was a lot)
1 1b spaghetti (I acutally only made half this amount but will need to make more for the leftover meatballs)

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper (do not skip this-- you'll thank me at clean up time!)
2. Place the bread in a food processor and pulse until you have medium crumbs. Transfer to a small bowl and add milk. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine turkey, sausage, proscuitto, bread mixture, Asiago, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, 1 TBL salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Combine with your hands. Mix 1 1/2 TBL olive oil and egg together and add to the mixture. Stir with a fork.
4. Use your hands to lightly roll mixture into 2inch (golf ball size) balls. Place onto sheet pan and brush the top of each with olive oil. Bake for 35-40 minutes until tops are browned and inside is cooked through.
5. Pour marinar into a large low pan. Add meatballs and bring to a simmer.
6. Meanwhile bring a pot of water to boil and cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and plate. Top each plate of spaghetti with 3 meatballs and as much or as little sauce as you like. Serve with grated cheese if desired.