Pasta With Meatballs

Like many of you I found this recipe bland. I didn't quibble about the oregano. I actually like oregano in spaghetti and meatballs but it just lacked character and texture. The meatballs were just ok, not great. Perhaps for kids it may be just right. For me I will stick to San Marzano tomatoes for texture and maybe some red chili flakes for extra oomph. I have some sauce left and will doctor it. I wouldn't make this again. There are so many better options.

Made meatballs,according to recipe. Made my own sauce,

I didn't puree the onion, garlic mixture. Instead I finely chopped and sautéed a bit longer in the pan. I also browned the meatballs before hand, and used the fat to cook the onions and garlic. I had a bit more than two cups of passata so I used it all and added way less water than the recipe suggested. The sauce and the meatballs were delicious.

Sometimes tradition is fine and other times it just comes in the way of something a little bit more sophisticated on the palate. I personally find appalling the granma's remedy against tomato acidity by adding sugar; the oregano is overpowering and best replaced with tarragon or mint or thyme; and forget the milk or it will taste very bland.

Made this again tonight. Meatball notes: The fridge step is unnecessary. Slightly more efficient is make sauce first, mix meatball ingredients while sauce is simmering, then after adding milk and returning to simmer use small cookie scoop plus hands to form meatballs and place directly into sauce without overlap. Also, used all beef both times, this time added marjoram and parsley to balls as well as sauce.

This has to be one of my favorite spag and meatballs variants. My kid inhaled it too. Notes: 1) Pureed a 28oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes with 1/4 cup of water (used to rinse the can). Total liquid was still 4c, texture was perfect. 2) Following a note here, I tossed in a little marjoram and parsley into the sauce spices, nice floral note. 3) Doubled the garlic and it was super strong at first but totally mellowed out at the end. Probably added too much sugar to compensate, still yum.

Made the recipe as written and my experience was similar to comments about the sauce being a let down, too onion-y. I much prefer Marcella Hazan's basic tomato sauce and would not make this sauce again. The meatballs cooked in the sauce technique was new to me, appreciate the lack of browning mess and cleanup. As for taste: I'd need to do a side-by-side for realistic assessment, but I lean toward thinking the meatballs would be fine unbrowned, for a simple meal, if the sauce were better.

Never thought I'd use a recipe for a dish like this, but it was very good. My girlfriend and I both thought it was pretty dope. As for cooking the meat balls in the sauce, I think if you're using quality meat that has good flavor inherently, you're good to go....I found the meatballs to be delicious and in fact, imagining having them browned first almost seems like it would take away from the overall profile. Goes to show, there's always something to learn about the standards

My go to recipe. Follow it exactly and cook the meatballs as instructed. They are soft and fluffy. Everyone loves this.

These meatballs I like to make for picky family members. I’ve made the gravy before, but now just make my usual marinara with whole san marzano tomatoes and loads of garlic and maybe add milk before immersion blending for badly raised children. Rachel Cusk has a brilliant chapter on the comforts of Italian food for picky eaters in her unfairly maligned memoir of a summer spent in Italy.

I just made this, sort of, for the first time tonight. Even with my alterations (ground turkey instead of the beef and much more garlic in the meatballs, higher-end pre-grated parmesan instead of freshly grated, good-quality low-salt jarred spaghetti sauce instead of Nigella's gourmet artisanal sauce) it was still wonderful. My husband, who patiently waited until 8 pm for dinner, ate two huge servings. I agree with the commenter who said they would make this for a dinner party.

Many commenters just can’t shut up about their fixation on browning meatballs. The whole point of this recipe is that cooking the meatballs in the sauce produces a different style: soft fluffy texture which almost reminds me of a soup dumpling. I did love the finished result, it tasted like a mature update on a child’s ideal of spaghetti and meatballs. It’s comfort food, a smooth, mild sauce and fluffy, soft meatballs that melt in your mouth.

Delicious! The milk cuts down the acidity. I will use less water next time.

At first I thought the sauce would come out too thin, but it cooked down a bit and with the onion mixture scooped up from the bottom, it was thick enough. The entire dish was very tasty and delicious.

My mother's family was from Calabria and they NEVER BROWNED their meatballs - they poached them in the sauce and they were tender as can be. To those who say that if you do not sauté they have no flavor, I humbly disagree. My family's trick to add flavor is to spoon a few tablespoons of sauce into a custard cup or a mug, let it chill in the fridge for a few minutes, then add it to the meatball mixture. This way the sauce permeates the meat and your meatball is as flavorful as can be!