Spaghetti and Meatballs

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This recipe was absolutely delicious! I am eating leftovers as I write this review, actually. I saw it on "Best Thing I Ever Made," and decided that I had to try it. It was a little time consuming. However, the flavors were amazing.

I do have to agree with the other comments about the thickness of the sauce. It was really watery. I don't recommend adding as much chicken stock as it calls for. I simmered (actually, boiled the sauce for a lot longer than an hour and it still wasn't quite as thick as I would have liked. Not sure what the solution is for that. I think this is a French style recipe? Maybe they eat their sauce less thick than we are accustomed to? I'm just speculating, really.

Definitely use all fresh ingredients. The freshly grated parmesan and freshly shopped basil on top are a must! San Marzano tomatoes give it just the right amount of acidity. Pure perfection....minus the undesirable thickness of the sauce. You should make this for dinner!

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This recipe was horrible. My son bought all the ingredients and cooked as directed. However, after 2 hours the sauce was still like water. I told him that 3 quarts of chicken stock was way to much. He assured me that is what the recipe called for. 1 T of tomato paste? what is suppose to thicken this sauce up? After 3 hours of cooking this sauce it was still not any thicker than when we started. I do not recommend this recipe at all! We are going to try to doctor it this evening so we don't have to throw away all the ingredients my son purchased on his part time salary!

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After watching Ted Allen makes this on TV, we were motivated to give it a try. It was quite good and the kids enjoyed it too. But I did make two modifications: 1. I used 2 quarts of stock in the gravy instead of 3. 3 would not have fit in my dutch oven, and after an hour of simmering, it was still quite thin, so I just left it at too. I reduced more as the meatballs cooked, and after almost 2 hours, I think it had reduced properly. 2. I used an immersion blender at the end to puree the sauce (removed the meatballs first. This made it more of a traditional sauce and more palatable to the kids. The whole thing took about 3 1/2 hours from start to finish, so it is really more of a weekend recipe.

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I cannot agree about the flavor of the "sauce". It was soupy and I tried adding tomato paste, oregano, Italian spice and red wine to no avail. Sorry, but this recipe needs a lot of work. The meatballs were fine.

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Growing up with an Italian Grandmother from Calabria, she made the Family Gravy every Sunday morning, Our Family Gravy was made with Meatballs, Pork Shoulder, Beef, and was rich, thick and deep-in tomato flavor, but it was super heavy.
Ted’s version simply felt lighter as I prepared the Meatballs and started cooked the mirepoix; I realized that except for the wine and the addition of ground lamb, this was a classic Italian meatball recipe, but the gravy was anything like our Family Gravy. I imagined my Grandmother and my Father looking down on me from heaven wondering what the hell I was doing!?
Ted’s gravy was delicate, but deep and rich in flavor. The recipe was perfect and easy to follow and the gravy and the meatballs where pure perfection. I slightly altered the recipe to include a ½ cup of wine and double the amount of tomato paste. Then I served the gravy and meatballs over ribbons of perfectly cooked Pappardelle. IT WAS SENSATIONAL!

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I've got to play around with the liquid proportions because it was more soupy than we like but the spaghetti soaked up the sauce and by the time I was finished eating it, there wasn't any. I think the issue is to allow more evaporation during the first hour of cooking. This is something that needs to be adjusted by sight. It should evaporate by half. Mine didn't because it was covered too much. Yes, I would most definitely make the meatballs and the sauce again. It's yummy!

I'd show you a picture but you aren't supporting links. So, you will have to go to my profile and look for the link to my fb page: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner - Our Way.

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I made this and the Caesar Salad from the same episode for dinner. The sauce took 1/2 a day to make and it had really great flavor. I also really loved the meatballs. My only issue is that I like a thick tomato sauce. This is very thin, even after hours of reduction, but it is supposed to be, I understand that. I will make the meatballs again for sure. Not so sure on the sauce, but maybe. Oh, and the only change I made was out of convenience. I had left over roasted garlic from the Caesar dressing (which I HIGHLY recommend so I used that instead of minced raw garlic in the meatballs.

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Amazing pure perfection!!!!!