My Delicious Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Pasta ( Pasta alla Salsa di Pomodoro con Deliziose polpette)

 

She had a beautiful Christmas tree, red and white, with millions of fairy lights, which flickered happily in the dark evenings. In the morning, throughout the holidays, she would wake up early, and play beautiful Christmas songs, all the way from America, and Carols, from England, of course. The Viennese Waltz made her dream of dancing in a beautiful palace wearing the pink dress she dreamt of, as a child.

 

Every time, her mind would go back to her childhood years, in Italy. Being the youngest in the family, on Christmas Eve, she had to walk round the house, holding a statuette of Baby Jesus, for everyone to kiss, before she carefully placed it in the crib, between his Mum and Dad, Maria e Giuseppe, and in front of an ox and a donkey.

 

The sounds of Christmas were different, then. Everybody sang "Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle" and she felt so important, carrying the Holy Baby in her little hands, carefully cupped, to make sure " HE" didn't get dropped.

 

When you were born in the Country where every day, though you live in a city, you can smell oranges, resin and seaweed, there is no Bing Crosby or Holly or Ivy, that can take away those scents. It's a kind of addiction and it's what my mind and my heart miss so much: the scent of a happy past!

 

How I wish, every Christmas, that I could go back in time and help my Babbo make a little duck pond for our Nativity. How I wish I could peel those pungent mandarin oranges, and pick resin off the trunk of one of those Mediterranean pines I loved so much.

 

 I believe our mind is like a computer: you push a button and millions of windows open up and carry you back to the past, just when you are happily making mince pies and listening to "White Christmas!"

 

I never had a white Christmas, as a child, but, what I do remember are the smiles, the scents, shopping with my dad, music and laughter.

 

"Smells like Italy, Mummy!" My daughter Gabriella said to me one day, in the holidays! Just like Mamma's house!" (Mamma is my mother, her grandmother.)

 

As much as I try to cook Italian food with a contemporary twist, the kind of food my mamma used to cook, did smell "Like Italy!"

 

It's the kind of food which makes you homesick for the past... that special kind of eternal, universal past, which is hidden right there, inside you. I think you could call it love and, if I have not managed to do really special things in life, I know that I have succeeded in one thing: bringing  my children up to be bilingual, proud of their Italian heritage and... very good cooks!

 

So, here is a recipe from Mamma Rosa's kitchen. It was her birthday on the 17th of last month. I feel joyful when I remember her.

 

My Mum's recipe for Pasta alla  Salsa al Pomodoro con Deliziose Polpette ( Delicious Meatballs in Tomato Sauce With Pasta) is here, ready to be shared with you.

 

 

 

Pasta alla Salsa al Pomodoro con Deliziose  Polpette

 

Ingredients

 

Serves 4

 

For the sauce:

 

5-6 tbs olive oil

1 onion

1 carton passata

salt

black pepper

a handful grated Parmesan

a sprig of fresh basil

 

For the meatballs:

 

 

6tbs olive oil

(if you are frying, rather than baking)

400g minced beef

1 egg

2-3 slices white bread

some fresh parsley

some grated Parmesan cheese

salt

black pepper

 

 

 

Before you start, chop the onion quite finely. Next, heat some olive oil in a medium size saucepan. When the oil is piping hot, add the onion, stir and fry until golden.

 

Carefully add your passata and stir. If you wish your sauce to have more flavour, you can add some cheese and black pepper to it, and some fresh basil.

 

This sauce needs to cook for at least twenty minutes.

 

While your sauce is cooking, make your meatballs. Place your beef in a bowl, make a well in the centre, then add, in the middle, two slices of bread (no crust) broken into small pieces, one egg, some fresh parsley, a generous grating of Parmesan cheese, salt pepper and even a tiny bit of very finely chopped garlic (optional.) Using your hands to mix and combine the ingredients.

 

Using your hands, again, take small pieces of the mixture, to make balls the size of a golf ball, or bigger, if you prefer. This amount should make about 12 medium size meatballs.

 

Your meatballs now need to be fried, or baked, in a fairly hot oven, until golden. When you have done this, you are ready to add them to the tomato sauce and cook for a further 10 minutes.

 

This sauce is delicious with spaghetti or any pasta shape. As you can see from the photos below, I cooked my pasta with some broccoli and cauliflower, as I love vegetables with everything!

In Italy, we would serve pasta with sauce and a generous sprinkling of cheese, first, followed by a "secondo": meatballs with a side dish... I had mine with salad... very nice!

I love the smell of this dish: so Italian, warm, wintery and homely! Very true, it really smells "Like Italy!"

FELICE ANNO NUOVO!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!