Spaghetti with Meatballs

After watching Hancock the Movie, my cravings for a good Spaghetti with Meatballs started to build up until I just simply have to have some. I have not really had them for the longest time as a result of consuming many a yucky tin of these in my Uni days. They were soft and yucky. But I don't think you are able to find these sort of canned food in the supermarkets in Kuala Lumpur. Not too sure about Cold Storage but I doubt it.

Anyway, after watching Hancock gobbling down those giant meatballs, I wanted to try to do some homecooked ones. Naturally I was not going to make them hand grenade sized... haha.. the prize of mince beef is not exactly cheap . Got about close to 300gm for RM12 over at Cold Storage... prime Australian beef... haha.. I am still very partial to all things Australian.. it is the country where I grew up in... virtually... coz before my 3 over years in Australia, I used to be a God useless coward.. who would set my dad's blood to boil each time he watches me whimper my order to the wantan mee seller hahaha.

Well, I must say that the meatballs that I made definitely had the asian taste to it and a whole lot tougher than those from the can.... mmmm...just the way I like them. Ray calls it their Spaghetti Madness on a Thursday... maybe I will call mine Spaghetti Monday Madness.... :D

Ingredients

Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lg onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped ( 1 made do with the dried ones from a bottle)
1/2 cup red wine (optional)
1 lg can (800g) tomato puree
salt and pepper to taste

Meatballs
300gm mince beef
1 tsp of sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp of cornflour
1 egg

Others
1 punnet of fresh button mushrooms
a few sprigs of coriander for garnishing
Parmesan cheese (optional)


Method

1. Put in all the ingredients for the meatballs into a bowl and mix well. Set aside to marinade for about 10 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes, make little balls out of the marinaded mince meat. The size of the balls depends very much on personal preference. You can make them nice and dainty or giant hand grenade sized ones :)
3. Heat up some oil in a pan and when the oil is hot, fry these meatballs. This is so that the meatballs will be able to retain their shape later whilst being cooked in the pasta sauce.
4. Once the outside looks cooked, dish them up and set aside. Don't worry about the meat balls not being cooked as they are going into the sauce again later. Plus, beef can be eaten raw :)
5. Put the olive oil into a pan and when hot, put in the onions, garlic and basil. Saute until fragrant. If wine is used, then this is the time to add in the wine.
6. Add the tomato puree.
7. Add in the button mushrooms.
8. Finally add in the meatballs.
9. Simmer for about 10 mins or until you hit the thickness consistency that you want.
10. Add in salt and pepper for taste.
11. Dish up onto some cooked spaghetti and garnish with some coriander and Parmesan cheese.

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