What is the ultimate pork meatball for spaghetti?

papariccardo, Mar 31, 9:03am
I want to involve my son in making dinner more often, and thought we could do this over the weekend. He enjoys spicy & hot flavours, so feel free to zhuzh it up! Any ideas? I'm pretty good with the tomato base, it's just the balls that I'm wanting extra advice on.

ant_sonja, Mar 31, 9:34am
I use a mix of pork & beef mince usually - season well with salt/pepper/paprika/oregano/th-
yme/basil/finely chopped onion & some ground chili flakes if you like. I mix in 2 eggs to approx 500gr of mince as well. Leave to chill in fridge for a couple of hours and then form meat balls. If you want you can simply fry them in plenty of oil or butter or poach them first in gently simmering water, then add to your pasta sauce to finish cooking.

bookshelves, Mar 31, 9:43am
I use pork mince, handfulof herbs- thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, breadcrumbs, egg (if it needs it to bind), garlic, mustard (wholegrain is good), salt and pepper ..... fry the balls until brown and then top with the pasta sauce.mmmmmmmmm

papariccardo, Mar 31, 9:44am
That's great, thanks Sonja. I'll report back after it's devoured!

ant_sonja, Mar 31, 9:59am
have fun papariccardo - kids tend to enjoy getting their hands messy in the kitchen so meat balls are fab for starters :-) Was going to say that I sometimes fry up a little of the mix beforehand to see if the seasoning needs adjusting, especially if I make a large amount to freeze for example.

ant_sonja, Apr 1, 9:34am
I use a mix of pork & beef mince usually - season well with salt/pepper/paprika/oregano/th-
yme/basil/finely chopped onion & some ground chili flakes if you like. I mix in 2 eggs to approx 500gr of mince as well. Leave to chill in fridge for a couple of hours and then form meat balls. If you want you can simply fry them in oil or butter or poach them first in gently simmering water, then add to your pasta sauce to finish cooking.

bookshelves, Apr 1, 9:43am
I use pork mince, handfulof herbs- thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, breadcrumbs, egg (if it needs it to bind), garlic, mustard (wholegrain is good), salt and pepper . fry the balls until brown and then top with the pasta sauce.mmmmmmmmm

papariccardo, Apr 2, 5:12pm
He loved the meatballs, but not the spaghetti! Too much EVOO I suspect, maybe I need to get a cheaper, non-virgin light OO next time.

ant_sonja, Apr 2, 5:59pm
Ah glad the meatball were yum :-) What kind of a sauce did you make - EVOO can be quite strong on its own (depending on the olive variety too) or if you use it to make a pesto type sauce for the spaghetti but in a tomato based sauce its usually not so strong/noticeable once everything has cooked down for a bit.

ant_sonja, Jul 19, 4:18am
Ah glad the meatballs were yum :-) What kind of a sauce did you make - EVOO can be quite strong on its own (depending on the olive variety too) or if you use it to make a pesto type sauce for the spaghetti but in a tomato based sauce its usually not so strong/noticeable once everything has cooked down for a bit.