"Spanish Style" Spaghetti and Meatballs

"Spanish Style" simply means I added some typical Spanish flavors to this variation of spaghetti and meatballs (chorizo sausage and roasted sweet red peppers).  For a standard Italian version, you can skip the roasted red peppers and substitute more italian sweet (or hot) sausage for the chorizo.

I may have said this before, but chorizo is my favorite sausage.  The meatballs were incredibly delicious. In fact you could turn this into a party or game watching dish by skipping the spaghetti and making the meatballs and sauce only ("gravy" for our Italian readers).

I generally avoid ground beef when making meatballs.  For me, ground pork (whether plain or with sweet Italian sausage seasoning) is much more flavorful and ground veal adds great flavor and a nice tenderness.  Ground pork (or Italian sausage) and ground veal are also my preferred meat combination when making regular meat sauce for pasta (i.e., non-meatballs).  If you are used to ground beef based meat sauces and meatballs, you will be amazed in the incredible flavor afforded by using pork and veal instead.

While it is more steps/complicated than simply adding store-bought breadcrumbs, roasting bread until brown and soaking in milk packs much more flavor and takes your meatballs to a higher level of pleasure with every bite.

Wine: A nice full-bodied red from Italy, Spain, Portugal or South America -- Antiyal from Chile is an excellent wine for this meal.  Antiyal is produced using biodynamic methods and has been rated 90+ for every vintage by Wine Spectator.  Let it breathe for 30 minutes before drinking for maximum experience.

"Spanish Style" Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ingredients

• 2 links of raw pork chorizo sausage (be sure to use the raw variation as some chorizo is available pre-cooked, which will not work in this recipe.  Remove and discard the casings)
• 1/2 lb of bulk sweet italian sausage
• 1/2 lb of ground veal
• 2 thick slices of Italian bread (Cubed. Roughly 2 unpacked cups worth when cubed)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk
• 7 cloves of garlic (peeled with top ends removed. Divide into 3 cloves for the meatballs, minced, and 4 cloves for the sauce, thinly sliced) 
• 1 egg (cracked into a small bowl and beaten to a smooth consistency)
• small handful of flat-leaf Italian parsley (rinse under cold water and shake dry. Pick leaves from stems, discarding stems. Finely chop.  Should produce about 1/2 cup of unpacked finely chopped parsley)
• 2 Ancient Sweets, or substitute 2 red marconi peppers, or substitute 2 red bell peppers (Ancient Sweets are increasingly available at the grocery store and offer a wonderful sweet flavor when roasted)
• 28oz can of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes (you can substitute regular crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce)
• 6oz can of tomato paste
• 1/2 cup worth of fresh basil (rinse under cold water and shake dry. Pick leaves from stems, discarding stems. Chop)
• Optional: 1/2 cup of the full-bodied red wine you are drinking
• Optional: 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes for spiciness 
• 1 box of your favorite spaghetti
• Grated Italian hard cheese for topping (Parmigiana Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, or similar)

Method
Prepare Meatballs:  Preheat oven to 365 degrees (F).  Place bread cubes on a dry pan and roast in the oven until hard and brown coloring is achieved (15 - 20 minutes typically).  This adds a depth of flavor to the bread, which will add depth to the meatballs.  Remove bread from oven and place in a medium sized bowl.  Crush or break down bread to smaller bits (to the point of removing gaps between previously larger pieces such that it packs smaller into the bottom of the bowl).  Pour milk over bread until just covered.  Let it soak for at least 5 minutes until bread is soft again and most of the milk has been absorbed.

Have a cookie sheet or other large flat surface covered with wax paper prepared to stage your meatballs before cooking.  In a large mixing bowl, combine chorizo, italian sausage, ground veal, minced garlic, egg, parsley, prepared bread mixture, a healthy pinch of gray sea salt, and some fresh cracked black pepper.  Use your clean hands to thoroughly mix the ingredients until the mixture in consistent throughout (the best tool for the job).  The meatball mixture may be a little wetter than you are used to -- this is a good thing as it will translate into super tender meatballs. Grab enough meatball mixture into your hands and roll between palms to form a ball slightly larger than a golf ball (again, it will be slightly wet and sticky), and place on your wax paper staging area.  Repeat forming meatballs until all of the meat mixture is used.

Roast Peppers: Wash peppers under cold water.  Place on an aluminum-foil lined baking pan that has edges so any juice produced does not run off. Place oven rack near top and turn oven onto broil.  Place peppers under broiler (a few inches of clearance) and broil, turning peppers when the side facing the broiler turns mostly black and blistered.  Continue until both peppers are blistered and black on all sides.  Removed peppers from oven.  Carefully lift the aluminum foil with peppers out of the baking pan and place in a freezer to cool down to be handled.  After 10 - 15 minutes, remove peppers from freezer.  The peppers should be shriveled at this point.  Using your hands, pull blistered skins off the peppers.  The flesh of the pepper should not be black, instead a nice roasted variation of the original pepper color.  Tear open (they typically fall apart some) and remove the top stem part and all seeds.  It takes patience, but it is better to hand remove all of the skin and seeds without rinsing under water (which washes away the great flavored natural oils).  Tear cleaned, roasted pepper flesh into bite size pieces.

Start Sauce:  Heat a large pot (large enough to fit meatballs and sauce) over medium heat.  Once warm, add some olive oil to prevent sticking.  Add sliced garlic and optionally add crushed red pepper flake and saute for 1 minute, stirring to prevent sticking.  Optionally add red wine to the pot and cook for 1 minute to get a head start on cooking out alcohol.  Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, roasted red peppers, basil and a pinch or gray sea salt.  Turn up heat to medium high a bring to a light boil before reducing heat to low.  Place a lid on the pot but leave slightly ajar so some steam can escape.  Continue to cook on low.

Cook Meatballs:  Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  Once warm, add some olive oil to the skillet.  Place as many meatballs in the skillet that will comfortably fit in a single layer with some room in between to allow you to turn meatballs.  Cook meatballs occasionally gently shaking skillet to prevent sticking.  If meatballs do not roll over via moving the skillet on their own, use a spoon to carefully roll over meatballs to cook each side until the entire outside is cooked.  Place completed meatballs into pot with tomato sauce and repeat cooking meatballs until all are cooked and in the sauce pot.  The meatballs should continue to cook in the tomato sauce over low for 20 minutes to ensure they are cooked throughout.

Cook Pasta:  Use the intro in the Linguine and Clams recipe to properly cook the pasta.

Assemble and Finish: Place the cooked and drained pasta back in the large pasta cooking pot.  Carefully pour the tomato sauce and meatballs over the pasta and carefully stir to combine (careful not to break up the meatballs).  Serve with grated cheese and enjoy!

NOTE: The photos below are from a doubling of the recipe as we had another family over as guests for the meal.