Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pappardella with a Ragu of Tiny Meatballs

This was based on a recipe from the Jamie Oliver book, Cook With Jamie. I decided to use my own recipe for the meatballs and sauce. I do not have the measurements for the meatballs, I do it by eye and they always taste good. I used ground beef and pork and added an egg, some Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper... I think that's it. Usually I will broil or bake the meatballs but the recipe in the book said to fry them so I did!  Then I added them to my tomatoes, the tomatoes I canned with my Dad this summer, and let them simmer for about 20 minutes. I seasoned the sauce with basil, salt and pepper. I was going to make the Pappardella but I am not Super Person so store bought noodles worked out nicely.
To quote Chris, "This is a delicious sauce." And it really was. The flavor of the tomatoes was better than any canned tomato I have ever used. I hope my Dad will be ready to can twice as many tomatoes next year!
And as a bonus I found out the I Heart Cooking Clubs is now featuring Jamie Oliver! If I had know I would have waited to make the Roast Chicken Breast Wrapped in Pancetta with Leeks and Thyme!

8 comments:

Mr. Bill said...

Two thumbs....UP!!

Mélodie said...

Looks good! I made a recipe of Jamie that looks a bit like that (from Jamie at Home). It is mini sausage meatballs carbonara... Decadent.

Unknown said...

I completely agree about not using a set recipe for meatballs or tomato sauce- it's all about understanding what you want it to come out like, and what adjustments you have to make along the way to get there. There are too many variables (how sweet/ripe are the tomatos, how much fat is in the meat, etc) to be scientific about it. Cooking stuff like this is an art rather than a science- I'm reluctant to even try breaking this stuff down to a set recipe because that isn't how I learned to do it - taste as you go, add a little of this or that, bump and nudge and adjust until done.

NKP said...

Love those beautiful wide noodles and adorable meatballs!

Deb in Hawaii said...

Looks delicious--love the little meatballs.
;-)

Heather S-G said...

Looks so delicious...and I so love fat noodles...yum :D

Tammy Lou said...

Will have to try home canning, this looks great! Love pasta but have never actually made my own red sauce so I will have to attempt that too.

Kim said...

Pappardella are one of my very favorite pasta shapes and I am a fool over tiny-sized meatballs. Looks very delicious!