If you’re like me (and also my husband!), there is no greater comfort food than spaghetti and meatballs. When you are cooking a Sunday Supper for the family, make some homemade pasta, meatballs, and sauce. Serve it up with a Caesar salad and fresh bread, and the perfect bottle of wine. Dinner. Yum.
The Menu!
Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my favorite Sunday Suppers. It allows me to do what I love: cook all day! Start early with the pasta dough and sauce, then you have most of the day to chill.
Making the Pasta
First up in making spaghetti and meatballs is the pasta. I just love making pasta from scratch! You can see a whole post on that process on my pasta page.
Make the pasta dough early in the day, and let it sit, wrapped in plastic wrap, until you are ready to roll the dough. I use a simple recipe of flour, salt, egg, and a little olive oil. I have a Marcato Altas with motor. It is amazing! Rolling your own pasta definitely takes time, but I think it’s worth it.
Once you are ready to roll, start with small amounts of dough. Form them into a rectangle, then start on the widest setting of your pasta maker. On my machine, that’s zero. I generally roll from zero to six.
Use a drying rack to hold your pasta sheets until you are ready to cut them. I have a collapsable rack, so I can store it easily on top of my pasta machine. I also bought a couple plastic bins to store the machine. At some point I’ll film a video of making pasta.
Keep some extra flour near you in case the dough is too tacky. Adding a bit of flour to each side usually fixes any sticking issues. I have gummed up my spaghetti cutter early in my pasta making days. Getting all the mess out is.. a lot. I ended up running folded sheets of waxed paper through the cutting blades, and using a toothbrush to get the rest out. An old toothbrush. Not my current toothbrush. It’s no fun if no one wants to eat your homemade spaghetti and meatballs!
Roll the pasta and hang on your drying rack until you are ready to cook. I usually start rolling pasta around 3:30 for a 5:00 dinner time. It does cook up VERY fast, much faster than store bought pasta. I have an induction cooktop, and the water boils in seconds, so my pasta cooking time, start to finish is minutes. Once the water is boiling, fresh pasta only takes a couple minutes to cook.
Making the Sauce
First, there is nothing wrong with doctoring up some store bought jars of spaghetti sauce. No judgements if that is what you do. It’s much faster, and I find that adding some fresh cut onions, garlic, and mushrooms makes store bought sauce quite delicious. If you have the time to make sauce from scratch, here’s my full recipe.
Making the Meatballs
Homemade meatballs make for the best spaghetti and meatballs! Yes, there are store bought meatballs. I have never tried them. Making them from scratch is so easy! Here’s my full meatballs recipe.
Start with putting your ground meat, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese in a big bowl. I use half and half: ground turkey (93% fat, NOT 99% — you need that fat to keep them moist) and Italian pork sausage. My little local grocery store has a delicious Italian sausage that I like to use.
Replace the ground turkey with ground beef if you like. We just like to eat lean, and we don’t eat a lot of red meat at our house. Mix up the meats, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese with your hands. Then, beat an egg and a little water in a small bowl, and add that, mixing well with your hands.
Roll the meatballs to your desired size. I like them about three inches wide for spaghetti and meatballs. You can make them smaller if you want to do a bite size appetizer version, or bigger if you want to make huge meatballs.
When I do that chili/grape jelly sauce, I roll them about an inch wide. The baking time will change based on your size.
Once the meatballs are rolled, place them on a cookie sheet. You can use parchment for easier clean up if you wish. Bake them in a 350° oven for about ten minutes, flip, ten more minutes for three inch meatballs. If you make huge meatballs, try baking for about 15 minutes, flip, 15 more. They will continue to cook in the sauce, but I like to get a nice brown on them in the oven.
Just pop them into your sauce once they come out of the oven, and keep it simmering on low, stirring occasionally, until it’s time to serve your spaghetti and meatballs!
Choosing the Sides
What kinds of sides do you want to serve with spaghetti and meatballs? My family loves a good Caesar salad and bread on the side.
For the Caesar salad, I make Caesar dressing from scratch, use Romaine lettuce, some homemade croutons, more anchovies, and fresh parmesan cheese.
I usually get a loaf of fresh bread, and either just cut it into slices, wrap it in foil, and heat it in the oven, or make a homemade garlic bread. It depends on what bread I buy and how much time I have. Here’s my very easy crouton recipe.
Pour the Wine!
After a quick trip down the street to Vaughn Duffy, and a quick tasting, obviously, we chose a red blend for this dinner. Now, Vaughn Duffy is a little boutique winery in Kenwood. Matt Duffy, the owner and winemaker, took the Best of Best category at the North Coast Wine Challenge for his 2021 Pinot Noir, Bacigalupi Vineyards, Russian River Valley. Nope, you can’t buy it. It’s gone. Boutique winery means they don’t make a lot, and you have to get it quickly. Sometimes the wines are only available to wine club members. (But the 2022 vintage is also delicious, and I’ll bet it wins some awards, too! It has been awarded 96 points from Wine Enthusiast.)
Side note: if you have never belonged to a wine club, here’s how it works:
- Go to the winery for a tasting.
- Fall in love with the wine.
- Get the wine club sign up form.
- Have your tasting fees waived because you are now a wine club member.
- Get bottles of wine at a discount anywhere from two to four times a year. Some wineries do a monthly club shipment, but most are quarterly or three times a year. Discounts vary — usually from 10% to 20%.
- Anytime you visit the winery, your tastings are free. Yes, you can bring your friends!
- Attend wine club pickup parties and other special events. Sometimes these are free, other times there will be a discounted wine club member fee. This varies greatly based on individual wineries.
There is no fee to join a wine club. You just have to get the standard wine club shipments. Most wineries want you to be a member for at least a year. I guess I could do a whole blog on wine clubs?
Anyway, we chose the Old River Red Cuvée III for this particular meal. It is not super expensive, and the two varietals (65% Zinfandel and 35% Petite Sirah) go nicely with a strong tomato sauce.
The Whole Meal Plan
Spaghetti & Meatballs for a Crowd
Equipment
- Kitchen Aid with dough hook
- Pasta maker or pasta attachment for Kitchen Aid
Materials
Produce
- 2 hearts romaine lettuce
- 16 oz. sliced mushrooms
- 1 large onion
- 20 cloves garlic divided
- 1 T. fresh oregano minced
- 2 T. fresh basil minced
- 4 T. fresh Italian parsley divided
- 1/2 lemon juiced
Meats
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
Dairy
- Romano cheese
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- fresh grated parmesan
- 1 cube butter
Spices/Seasonings
- 5 eggs divided
- 2 cans San Marzano tomatoes
- croutons
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- Sourdough bread
- 1 T. anchovy paste
- 1/4 cup dijon mustard
- 2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup olive oil divided
- salt
- pepper
- 2 t. red pepper flakes
- 2 t. sugar
- 1/2 t. nutmeg
Alcohol
- 1 cup red wine
Instructions
First, shop for all ingredients.
- I like to shop the day before the party.
In the morning, make the pasta dough.
- Measure 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt into mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add 3 eggs and 1 T. olive oil.
- Mix in Kitchen Aid with dough hook until dough starts to form. It will be a bit crumbly. Stop the mixer and push down the sides as needed.
- Once the dough starts to form, turn it out onto a countertop or board to knead it.
- Knead the dough for about six to eight minutes.
- Form the dough into an oval, about five inches wide, wrap in plastic wrap, and let it sit on the counter until ready to roll. I usually make my dough early in the morning and let it rest all day. For dinner at 5 or 5:30, I start rolling at 3:00. It takes me about half an hour to roll and cut one batch of pasta.
Make the sauce.
- Start by prepping all your ingredients.
- Chop the onion and mince the garlic.
- If you bought whole mushrooms, wash and slice them.
- Mince your herbs. You can mince all of them together, as they will go into the pot together. I like to use fresh oregano, basil, and Italian flat leaf parsley.
- Add a little olive oil to a big pot. I like to use my cast iron dutch oven. Sauté the onions until they start to turn transparent, about five minutes.
- Then, add the garlic and sauté for about 30 more seconds.
- Add the mushrooms, and sauté about five more minutes.
- Add salt and pepper.
- Deglaze the pot with about 1 cup red wine. I use whatever I have on hand, but you can also buy a cheap bottle to use. My favorite varietals for tomato based sauces are the heavy ones. Cabernet Sauvignon is my favorite to use, but a Cabernet Franc or other wine that is high in tannins will work, too.
- Add 2 cans San Marzano tomatoes. Open the cans, and add the tomatoes one at a time, crushing each one with your hands until they fall through your fingers.
- If you would like a touch of heat, add 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes.
- Throw your minced herbs into the pot.
- Add about 2 teaspoons sugar and a dash of nutmeg.
- Taste, and add salt as needed.
- Bring to a low boil, then turn down the heat, cover, and let the pot simmer for a couple hours, stirring occasionally.
- You can make the sauce as early as you wish. It can simmer all day, if you want.
Make the meatballs.
- Put 1 lb. ground turkey and 1 lb. Italian sausage into a big mixing bowl.
- Add 2 cups breadcrumbs (I like the garlic and herb ones from Progresso), and 2 cups fine grated parmesan cheese.
- Mix well with your hands.
- Beat one egg, adding about 1 Tablespoon water. Mix into your meat mixture.
- Roll the meatballs into desired size and bake at 350° for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Once baked, add them to your sauce.
- The meatballs can go into the sauce a couple hours in advance, if you wish. Just make sure you stir the sauce occasionally, so it doesn't stick.
Make the pasta.
- When you are ready to roll your pasta, set up your machine, get out some extra flour, and a knife or pizza cutter to cut the dough.
- Cut off a piece of dough about two inches thick. Form it into a rectangle.
- Roll the dough through the widest setting on your pasta maker. For the machine I use, that is zero. I believe the Kitchen Aid attachment is different, but I have not used it.
- Fold the ends over, making it more rectangular, then run it through the widest setting again.
- Continue running the pasta dough through the machine, changing the setting to a narrower width each time until you are happy with the thickness. I usually go from zero to six on my Marcato.
- As you finish a sheet, hang it on your drying rack. If you don't have a drying rack, lay it out on a sheet of waxed paper on your countertop.
- When you finish rolling all the pasta into sheets, start cutting them. Choose the attachment you want to use, and run one sheet at a time through the cutting blade. Hang each batch back on the drying rack or on the waxed paper.
Make the salad.
- Wash and cut the lettuce for salad.
- Make the salad dressing if you are doing one from scratch.
- Toss the salad just before serving dinner.
Make the bread.
- Preheat the oven to 325°.
- Slice the bread. I like thicker slices. Wrap it tightly in foil if you are just doing bread in butter.
- If you prefer garlic bread, peel some garlic cloves. I use a whole bulb (about 12-16 cloves). Mince or thinly slice the garlic.
- On the stovetop, in a small saucepan, melt a cube of butter. Add the garlic and sauté until garlic is cooked, about five minutes.
- Lay the sliced bread out on aluminum foil, and spoon the garlic butter over it. Wrap the bread up tightly in the foil, and bake a 325° for about 20 minutes.
Dinner Time!
- Pop the bread in the over about 20 minutes before you want to eat.
- Set the table.
- Toss the salad.
- When you are ready to cook the pasta, bring a pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta, and cook until done, just a few minutes.
- Drain, and serve!
- We always serve in the kitchen. Everyone grabs their own pasta, adds their meatballs and sauce, and takes their plate to the table. The bread and salad get passed at the table.
- Sunday Supper. Done. Delicious!
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