Mini-Meatballs Spaghetti

Instead of the usual ground meat, browned, oil drained and simmered with spaghetti sauce, I thought I’d impress my son who loves Nanny’s (Mother-in-Law) meatballs. Except I didn’t want to make big ones. I wanted mini-meatballs. Coz with big meatballs you’d still have to cut the meat in half and will eventually end up as cooked ground meat with sauce. So what’s the point right?

With minis, you can pop one in your mouth with pasta and sauce. Sounds delish, no?

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 pack of ground beef, about 2 pounds
• salt and pepper
• dried basil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• 1 can of spaghetti sauce
• cooked angel hair pasta

I’m guessing you know how to boil water and cook your pasta, right? Hehe.

Preheat the oven to 355°.

In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, salt, pepper, dried basil, and bread crumbs.

Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. They’re actually the best kitchen gadget you’ll ever have . Use  your hands to mix everything. You can either use a spoon or  just calculate a mini-meatball size mentally when rolling the meat in between your hands to form a small ball.

Lay the balls on the pan, making sure there’s a space in between each balls. 

Bake in the oven until brown. Probably for about 15 minutes. I really didn’t time it. I go by sight and gut feeling that things are cooked. Except for big pieces of meat of course . My family and I are still alive so I’m guessing I’m doing excellent in the guessing part, hehe.

While the meatballs are cooking in the oven, your sauce should be simmering in a pot as well.

Once the meatballs are done, Throw ‘em with the sauce, stir and let it simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Voila!

Pour the sauce with mini-meatballs over the cooked pasta. We prefer our sauce already poured and mixed with the spaghetti. I just gently stir the pasta in with the sauce and mini-meatballs.

Don’t forget grated parmesan cheese.

BTW, mini-meatballs are great as appetizers/hors d’oeuvres. Instead of pouring the sauce and meatballs into the pasta, stick toothpick on each mini-meatball and serve in a platter.