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This is a perfect make ahead spaghetti and meatball marinara
We have been working on a Shabbos dinner friendly Spaghetti with Marinara for months. We have finally perfected it and hope that you enjoy our recipe. The issue was preventing the pasta from overcooking, and making certain that the meatballs were not too oily.
The solution: A little pasta water, baking the meatballs and combining it with a simple sauce we actually learned in Italy. (If you don’t want to make sauce from scratch, we recommend our favorite OU kosher certified Del Grosso Sunday Marinara.) Or of course, you can use your favorite.
Important: If you are preparing this dish for Shabbos dinner, use regular spaghetti, not angel hair, vermicelli or thin pastas.
Ingredients
Meatball Mixture
2 lbs. ground beef (We use ground chuck roast)
1 large egg
1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1/3 cup vegetarian chicken stock or rice milk
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
Marinara Sauce Mixture
2 medium onions, chopped
Three 28 ounce cans peeled whole tomatoes, drained but Reserve 1 cup liquid (we like San Marzano Italian style)
½ cup cleaned and dried fresh basil
1-2 cloves garlic minced
½ teaspoon salt
Directions
Marinara Sauce
Saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and basil and sauté about 2 more minutes. Add 3 cans of whole Italian tomatoes and 1 cup reserved tomato sauce and crush with potato masher or fork. Simmer gently uncovered about 20 minutes
Meatballs
Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper; Preheat oven to 350 Combine all ingredients (except nutritional yeast) in a large bowl Shape into 1-2” meatballs and place on parchment Bake about 30 minutes until cooked through, then place the meatballs into gently simmering pasta sauce
Spaghetti Boil a few quarts of water. Salt water well. Add 1 lb. spaghetti and cook al dente (firm to the bite) per package directions. Reserve about 1 cup pasta water. Drain the pasta. Mix spaghetti with about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.
Finish: In a casserole dish, layer spaghetti, ¼ cup pasta water and meatballs with sauce. Cover. Put in pre-heated warm oven or warming drawer until Shabbos.
Optional: Before serving, top with a shake of about ¼ cup parve nutritional yeast Notes: We use Parma parve nutritional yeast, which tastes like Parmesan cheese! We don’t like the name nutritional yeast, but we sure like the taste!
Notes
This dish can also be made with a short pasta, such as rigatoni or penne.