Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients

• 400 g beef mince
• 200 g pork mince
• 60 g breadcrumbs
• 80 ml milk
• 1 egg
• 60 g parmesan, grated, plus more to serve
• 5 garlic cloves
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tins of plum tomatoes
• a handful of basil
• 400 g spaghetti

Method

1. Make a panade

   Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for five minutes until they turn to paste. This is the single thing that separates tender meatballs from dense ones — the starch and liquid hold moisture that would otherwise squeeze out as the protein tightens.

   5 min

2. Mix gently

   Combine both minces with the soaked crumbs, egg, parmesan, most of the garlic, the parsley and plenty of salt, using your fingertips only until it just comes together. Compacted hard, they cook up rubbery.

3. Brown, do not cook through

   Roll into balls a little smaller than a golf ball and brown them all over in the oil, in batches, then set aside. They finish in the sauce, where they stay far juicier than they would in a dry pan.

   10 min

4. Build the sauce

   In the same pan, soften the onion, add the rest of the garlic, then crush in the tomatoes by hand and season. Scrape up everything stuck to the base as it comes to a simmer.

   10 min

5. Simmer together

   Return the meatballs, cover partly, and simmer very gently for 40 minutes. Do not stir much — nudge the pan instead, or they break up.

   40 min

6. Serve

   Cook the spaghetti, toss it with a few ladles of the sauce rather than leaving it naked under a pile, and serve the meatballs on top with the basil and more parmesan.