Pasta and meatballs is an Italian American classic. You won’t find it in Italy. Italian immigrants added meat to their sauce to enhance the tomatoes they found in America, which had less flavor than those grown under the Vesuvius volcano. In Italy, meatballs are eaten separately from pasta. Pasta with meatballs was on the menus of my early restaurants, and I really grew to love it. When my kids were in school, for Family Food Day, you brought in an ethnic dish. I initially sent in something traditional, like a pasticciata, but what the kids really all wanted was meatballs.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 small onion, cut into chunks
- 1 small carrot, cut into chunks
- 1 stalk celery, cut into chunks
- ½ cup fresh Italian parsley leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
- 1 pound ground turkey (93%)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 3/4 cup freshly grated Grana Padano
- ½ cup fine dried bread crumbs
- Kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- One 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Sicilian oregano on the branch
- Peperoncino flakes
- 1 pound rigatoni
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, shredded
TO PREPARE
STEP ONE. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment.
STEP TWO. Combine the onion, carrot, celery, parsley, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse to make a smooth paste or pestata. Scrape half of the pestata into a large bowl, and reserve the rest.
STEP THREE. To the bowl, add the turkey, egg, ½ cup of the grated cheese, the bread crumbs, and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well with your hands, form it into eighteen meatballs, and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the meatballs are firm (they don’t have to be totally cooked through at this point), about 10 minutes.
STEP FOUR. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the reserved pestata and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to dry out, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and 3 cups water. Add the oregano, and season with 1 teaspoon salt and a big pinch of peperoncino. Simmer while the meatballs bake, about 10 minutes.
STEP FIVE. Add the baked meatballs to the sauce, and cook until the sauce is thick and flavorful, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook until it’s al dente.
STEP SIX. While the pasta cooks, remove the meatballs to a shallow serving bowl and top them with a cup or two of the sauce. When the pasta is al dente, remove it with a spider strainer to the Dutch oven with the simmering sauce. Add the basil, and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce, adding a little of the pasta water if it seems dry. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with the remaining grated Grana Padano, and serve with the meatballs on top.
