Better than Pastamania Spaghetti Bolognese with Meatballs

 

This Is So Good I think I have nailed it this time. I know that some of you might be having those roll eye moments at the title of this post. For those of you who are not familiar with Pastamania, It a restaurant chain in Singapore, Malaysia, India and the Middle East. It offers Italian cuisines, mainly pasta and pizza. This place is crazily popular despite the fact that the food is pretty much average. The appetizers are quite decent but the pastas have never wow’ed me. Like NEVER.  This pasta on the other hand (yes the one I made) were so gorgeous (ahem2). Imagine lean beef meatballs, season lightly with salt, freshly cracked black pepper and grated Parmigiano Reggiano aka the boring name Parmesan. Then you have this chunky and yummy tomato sauce and you top with more Parmie. Uh…an explosion of flavors and colors. Love love love!  

Yes, this is Better than Pastamania Spaghetti Bolognese with Meatballs! The meatballs were so good. I wanted to cry. You know that kinda cry when you are so happy? I have tried all kinda recipes for meatballs. Today I was lazy + not motivated + grumpy, not a good combination most of the time, but it worked today. Usually, I would either use an egg, or bread soaked in milk or even breadcrumbs to bring the meatballs together. Today, the lazy me decided to keep it as simple and as fast as possible. I actually used my food processor to to further grind my ground beef. (sounds weird?) So the texture was really smooth, like Ikea meatballs. The seasonings were kept minimal and it really brought out of the flavors of the meatballs. At times, less is more and this was definitely the case. The meatballs tasted really different from the ones I usually make and I seriously love it guys. Like I really really love it. The kinda love that makes you wanna eat this forever! Sorry If I was overusing the “LOVE” word. I have a tendency to be over-dramatic and writing only exaggerates it. Cooking delicious food makes me happy. I truly wanna learn to cook all kinda cuisines. There is no bigger satisfaction I get from seeing people eating and enjoying the food cooked by me. I wanna learn to cook ALL the delicious food across the whole wide world. I didn’t lie when I said that I do exaggerate. [hashtag exaggerate]  

You can also use a good quality bottled pasta sauce for convenience. Do make the meatballs though! The meatballs can be made in advance, so it is a time saver. I know my meatballer cousin would be stalking this post and most probably half of the traffic for this post gonna be just from her, just like how she did for Meatballs and Gravy. I want a cute white sheep from Nz Riya. Xoxo.   

Oh by the way, I am so excited for Skinny Mondays! Beginning from next Monday, I would be sharing a skinny recipe or a healthier version of a particular dish. My mantra for Skinny Mondays would be making healthy food taste great! Stay tune people! 🙂

For now, I am still imagining a fork winding its way through a pile of spaghetti and meatballs. Ah, life can be so good at times!  

Spaghetti Bolognese with Meatballs

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

Author: Maya Kitchenette

Ingredients

For the meatballs

• 400 g lean ground beef
• 50 grams parmesan
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive olive
• ¼ tsp dried mixed italian herbs
• Salt and black pepper

Ingredients for red pasta sauce

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic - minced
• 2 onion - chopped
• 1 green pepper - cubed
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• A small bunch of fresh basil
• 50 g Parmesan
• Some parsley - chopped
• 400-500g spaghetti
• More parmesan for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Place the ground beef in a food processor and grind till smooth.
3. Transfer the ground beef to a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Once done, roll into balls.
5. Place on a greased baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.

For the red pasta sauce

1. Add olive oil to a pot and saute onions and garlic until softened and lightly colored.
2. Mix in tomato paste and saute for another minute or two.
3. Stir in the canned tomatoes, celery and add a cup of water.
4. Season with salt and black pepper.
5. Turn the heat down and simmer with a lid on for 30 minutes. Keep stirring every now and then.
6. Keep an eye on the sauce as it cooks, and if it is starting to dry out, add water.
7. Add more salt and black pepper if required.
8. Drop in meatballs and simmer for another minute.
9. Turn off the heat and add 50 grams of grated Parmesan.

For the pasta

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil
2. Add your pasta and stir, following the packet cooking instructions.
3. Do not overcook the pasta as it would be nicer that your pasta has a bite to it.
4. Once the pasta is al-dente, drain the pasta in a colander.

To serve

1. Place some spaghetti on a plate and pour some sauce over spaghetti.
2. Scatter with more Parmesan and parsley.

Notes

You can also pan fry the meatballs instead of baking it in the oven.
Instead of making the sauce from scratch, you can also use good quality bottled sauce.
Do make the meatballs though!!

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 6 Calories: 479 Fat: 29g Saturated fat: 13g Unsaturated fat: 14g Trans fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 19g Sugar: 6g Sodium: 963mg Fiber: 3g Protein: 34g Cholesterol: 78mg

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