Everyday Dorie: Meatballs and Spaghetti

January 22, 2021 at 9:11 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, pasta, savory things, veggies | 7 Comments
Tags: everyday dorie, pasta, savory

Meatballs and Spaghetti. Yeah, that’s right. We all know who the star of the show is here. Meatballs, browned, then simmered in a long-cooked tomato sauce, served on a nest of spaghetti…this is classic comfort food, but it’s also a really special dinner. Cooking for just two, I’m usually scaling things way down, but for these, I made the full batch. We got two night’s worth of dinners and a day’s lunch, and I even had a few meatballs left to slice and top a pizza!

I don’t eat beef or pork, so I swapped a mix ground turkey and spicy turkey sausage meat here. I’m used to making meatballs with breadcrumbs or a panade, but instead these meatballs use two surprising “filler” ingredients– walnuts and oats. TBH, I couldn’t detect the oats at all in the finished meatballs, but the little walnut bits were quite nice (although my husband didn’t notice them at all until I pointed them out). The meatballs are first browned in a skillet and then simmered in an easy tomato sauce for up to an hour and a half. I only let mine bubble away for about an hour, since turkey is leaner than read meat, and the sauce was a nice consistency at that point anyway.

The meatballs and sauce were delicious, and it’s always fun to twirl a fork through long spaghetti noodles. I’ll make this again for sure!

For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.

7 Comments »

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Yours look SO good! I love the idea of swapping out different meats !

Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— January 23, 2021 #

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This dish is comfort food, but much elevated by the special fillers. The turkey alternative works for me. That’s something I’d try.

Comment by Shirley @ EverOpenSauce— January 23, 2021 #

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We had ours for two dinners as well! We loved it both nights. I don’t know why I was so surprised, but this was so tasty! Glad you two enjoyed it as well!

Comment by isthisakeeper— January 23, 2021 #

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Lots of good ideas in this post. And, just love your photo.

Comment by Mary Hirsch— January 23, 2021 #

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Now you have me craving meatballs and spaghetti – at 10am!

Comment by Cakelaw— February 2, 2021 #

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- great for brunch…haha!
  
  Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— February 3, 2021 #
  
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I am glad that this recipe worked out for many meals, always a plus to cook once and eat twice. Love the turkey substitute. I left out the walnuts for my nut allergy kid. We didn’t notice the oatmeal either but I don’t think we were supposed to. Definitely a make again recipe.

Comment by Diane Zwang— February 7, 2021 #

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