Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs

Who doesn't like spaghetti and meatballs? What can be a good dish is made great with homemade spaghetti, sauce, and meatballs.

This recipe was plenty of food for a delicious dinner for 4, plus at least 2 lunches.

For the sauce:

1/4 cup of olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

2 shallots

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 28 ounce cans of whole plum tomatos

2 cups of fresh chopped basil

For the pasta:

4 large eggs

1 tbs water

3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

For the meatballs:

3/4 cup day old country bread

1/3 cup of milk

3/4 lb ground turkey

1/4 lb chicken sausage

1 onion, chopped

3 tablespoons parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 egg

1 cup parmesan cheese

First things first, get working on the sauce. To start, just chop of up garlic, basil, and shallot.

Heat the olive oil in a stock pot and add the veggies. Cook for about 5 minutes until soft and fragrant.

Then add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook on low for at least 15 minutes.

Use the back of a wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes. You can also use an immersion blender or just toss the sauce into the food processor to get your desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then just cover the sauce and set it aside to have room to work on the meatballs.

For the meatballs, start by cutting the bread into cubes and soaking them in the milk for 5 minutes.

Squeeze out all of the milk and add it to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, and mix everything well. It's really easiest to just get in there with your hands. Then start rolling the meatballs into about golf ball shaped sizes.

If you are making homemade pasta dough this is the time to do it. Then your dough has a few minutes to rest while you brown the meatballs.

I cooked these meatballs in two parts. First, I browned them in a cast iron skillet, and then finished them off in the sauce. For the first step, heat some olive oil over high heat and brown the meatballs.

You don't have to cook them all the way through, just keep the pan on high heat and brown all sides. Then place on a paper towel and set aside.

Between step 1 and 2, I started rolling out my pasta. If you are using dried pasta then just move on to finishing the meatballs. Before that though, set a pot of water to boil for the pasta.