Fresh Pasta with Meatballs & Tomatoes
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb fresh pasta
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 cup torn up pieces of day-old bread, or breadcrumbs from a previous box
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and pounded to a paste with a pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- A pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup grated hard cheese
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To finish
- Olive oil
- One small yellow onion, peeled and chopped finely
- 2–3 tomatoes, cored and chopped into 1–1/2” pieces
- Fresh basil
- Grated hard cheese
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the bread and milk, and set aside to soften. As soon as the bread is soft, squeeze out most of the milk and put the bread in a large mixing bowl. Add the meat, salt and pepper, olive oil, garlic, chopped parsley, cayenne, egg, and 1/4 cup grated cheese. Mix well, but mix gently so as not to toughen the meatballs. Gently form the meatballs and bake them on a rimmed baking sheet at 450 degrees F until just cooked through, about 6 minutes depending on the size of the meatballs.
- Set a large pot of salted water on high heat for the pasta.
- Heat a large saute pan and add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. When the pan is heated, add the chopped onion and saute until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat as needed to keep the onion from browning. Turn the heat up when the onions are soft, and add the tomatoes to the pan. Saute untll tomatoes are soft. Remove from heat until the pasta is done cooking.
- Once the sauce is ready, cook and drain the pasta. Add drained pasta to the tomato pan and return to low heat, cooking and tossing until tomato liquid is absorbed by the pasta. Add the meatballs, and the basil and grated cheese to serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4