On Top Of Spaghetti

The freezer and closet clean out continues. It is a perpetual failure of mine that I seem compelled to buy entirely random items at the grocery store and pop them in the freezer. Why do I do this? Why? Can't I just make a plan and stick to it? Apparently not. The latest discovery, way at the back and buried under a pound cake loaf and that damn shrimp etoufee that keeps mocking me, was a package of mild chicken sausage (1 pound). So tonight I made meatballs out of them, and served them up with homemade marina sauce and pasta. Yum, yum.

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Meatballs, like meatloaf, are one of those things you don't really need a recipe for, but tonight I actually took notes while I was making them so I could blog about them if they turned out good. As luck would have it, these were actually really, really good. Here's what to do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove casings from sausage, put in large mixing bowl. Add a generous pinch of kosher salt, several strong turns on the pepper mill, 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (grind up 3 pieces of white bread, crusts removed), 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (if I had sage I would have added it since it goes so beautifully with chicken), 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, and 1 beaten egg. Mix well, shape into balls. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 40 minutes. Here's what they'll look like - good luck not eating one right away.

While the meatballs are baking, saute 1 onion in 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium heat. Add 2 minced garlic cloves, cook an additional minute or so. Add 28 ounce can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes, 3 tablespoons tomato paste, a good pinch of kosher salt, a little fresh ground pepper, and a couple strong shakes of Italien seasoning. Stir well and simmer while the meatballs finish cooking. When the meatballs come out of the oven add them to the sauce, and cook an additional 5 minutes. Serve over pasta and dive in. So delicious and easy...perhaps chicken sausage isn't such a bad buy after all.