comfort food?

I might be wrong, but I suspect that a lot of Americans (and perhaps Italians) consider spaghetti and meatballs to be one of the ultimate comfort foods. It was never on my list, though, and I can only assume that's because we didn't eat it when I was growing up.

We had plenty of lasagna and spaghetti with meat sauce, of course--the latter is, to this day, one of my brother's favorite foods in the world. We also had plain ol' meatballs quite often. We just never actually had balls of meat covered with tomato sauce served on top of pasta.

Because of my inexperience with spaghetti and meatballs, I had to do some serious research when my boyfriend requested that we have it for dinner one night. I found lots of good recipes and ultimately did some Dr Frankenstein work on them to create my own idea of the tastiest dish.

How'd I do? Well, the meatballs are moist but hold together well, and there's some zip from Worcestershire sauce shining through. The sauce is perfectly tomato-ed and sweet, though my one complaint about the entire creation was that it just wasn't saucy enough. It got rave reviews from the expert, though, and I was pretty pleased myself. I guess I might have to add spaghetti and meatballs to my list of comfort foods.

Squiggles and Meat Spheres
Ingredients:
Meatballs:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk or water
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Sprinkling of nutmeg

Sauce:

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 28 ounces crushes tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 cup water, plus more if necessary
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

Directions:
Combine the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and mix well, using your hands if necessary.
Form the mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball, placing them on a sheet pan as you go. You should get 20 or so.
Put the sheet pan full of meatballs into the freezer for 15-30 minutes, just to ensure that they stay together when you sear and cook them.
To brown the meatballs, heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy pot or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add meatballs 8 at a time, turning to brown. Remove and drain on a paper towel after each batch. Set meatballs aside.
In the same pot, add the chopped onions and red pepper flakes and cook for a few minutes, or until onions are translucent.
Pour in crushed tomatoes and water. Add salt, pepper, sugar, and garlic powder; stir to combine and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.
Add meatballs to pot and stir in gently. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring very gently a couple of times during the simmer. Add more water if you feel the sauce is too dry.
Just before serving, stir in basil if using.
Serve over cooked spaghetti and sprinkle with extra Parmesan.