Spaghetti and Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

Spaghetti and Meatballs makes it on to our weekly menu fairly often. Who knew the addition of a little string cheese would make such a tasty difference. Gorgonzola also makes for a delicious stuffing for meatballs, but here I figured Mozzarella was in order!

Spaghetti and Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs (from foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients
Meatballs:
1/4 cup milk
2 slice white bread, cut into cubes
1 pound 80 percent lean ground beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 sticks mozzarella string cheese, cut into small cubes or 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
Nonstick cooking spray

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion diced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used San Marzano Tomatoes)
2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) box spaghetti

Directions
For Meatballs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine the milk and bread. Let the bread absorb the milk. Add remaining meatball ingredients except the cheese. Using your hands, gently combine all the ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed. Take about 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture and roll into a ball and press into a patty. Place a mozzarella cube or 1 tablespoon shredded cheese onto the patty and bring up the sides around the cheese and roll between hands to form a ball. Place onto a nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Repeat process with remaining meat and cheese. Place the meatballs into the oven and cook for 12 minutes. Remove baking sheet from the oven and set aside.

For Sauce:

In a medium pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and saute for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Gently stir in the meatballs and any pan drippings from baking sheet and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Spaghetti:

Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and place the pasta on a large serving platter. Place the meatballs over the spaghetti, pour the sauce on top and serve immediately.


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Comfort Food: Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes

Sometimes a really tough week just screams for comfort food to really make everything alright, it kinds of smoothes out the bumps and corners to make things easier to deal with. What are your comfort food that you head to when times get a bit stressful? Oh well, these little meatballs are far from gourmet, but they are tasty little bites from some church basement lady cookbook I picked up a while back-they always have the best recipes don't they? I served these with a nice mashed potato and gravy, but you serve them with what you wish.

Traditional Meatballs

2lbs ground beef-I used 1 lb pork and 1lb ground beef
1 cup finely ground saltine crumbs
½ cup finely (minced or grated) onion
2 eggs
1.5 tsp. Salt
1/3 aprox. cup of milk

Mix thoroughly beef, crumbs, onion, eggs, salt, seasonings and milk in a large bowl by hand.

Shape into balls (about 25 depending on size)
Do not shape too tightly-will toughen up

Bake on foil lined baking sheet at 350° for 30-35 minutes, depending on size