Moomy Celebrates Gli Azzurri's World Cup Opening Match!

It's been 5 days of World Cup craziness and this is only the Group Stage matches. So far, there has been a wicked fiesta of goals and unbelievable upsets (namely that of defending champion Spain). 

Its really nice that the match schedules work in my favor - the time difference between Brazil and Portland, OR is only 4 hours. I remember watching past World Cups in Singapore and those live matches in the European host countries were late at night and wayyyy past my bedtime. 

Of course it was a treat because we usually ordered McDonald's and they delivered! *grins*

Anyway, 2 of my fave teams are doing pretty well. England lost though to Italy. I think the English lads defo could do with another Beckham who could bend the ball when the team needed it the most.

But hey, the Azzurri men won and so, in honor of their 2-1 win over England, I whipped up a Spaghetti and Meatballs dinner last night :D

I know anyone can claim that their meatball recipe is the best - use a mixture of 2 different ground meat or soak your bread in some milk or fry the meatballs, yada yada yada - but the following was just something that I tried last night and it turned out pretty good. So even if you've got a recipe that tickles your fancy, sometimes trying something different might just be the breath of fresh air that you need *winks*

So here's what I did last night with my Meatballs:

I had about 4 slices of garlic bread from the previous night. Since my current rule in the kitchen is "Waste Not, Want Not", them slices of garlic bread went into the oven at 260degF, for about half an hour. I wanted them crispy before I blitz them in my Magic Bullet.

Once they're done, let them rest for a bit so they won't steam up the Bullet later. In the meantime, I stripped the leaves of 5 fresh rosemary stalks. Put these leaves and the bread into the Bullet and blitz them into fine breadcrumbs.

I forgot to take pictures, silly me. But boy, they smell so wicked! I used about 3/4 cups of these breadcrumbs - plonk them into a big bowl. 

To that, I added about 1.5 lbs of ground beef (beef was all I had), 2 heaped teaspoons of Dijon mustard, 1 heaped tablespoon of dried oregano, 1 tablespoon of Worchestershire sauce, 1 large beaten egg, salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Using my hands - I'm a wee bit squeamish so I don't usually do this part myself. But since my sous chef (more fondly known as my darling hubby LOL) is at work, I had no other choice! - I shaped them into golf balls onto a greased baking sheet. 

I've never fancied huge tennis-sized meatballs anyway. You run the risk of not cooking the meat completely in that short a time. Anyhoo, the meatballs then went into a pre-heated oven, 400degF, for about 15 minutes.

Them cute lil meatballs, minus one 

- you couldn't just not try and pop one into your mouth! 

It was very moist and as my darling hubby said, tasted like sausage!

And for my simple Tomato Sauce:

Into a pot went a generous glug of olive oil. Let that warm up for a bit and to that, I added a chopped medium onion, about 4 cloves garlic (finely minced) and half a cup of chopped green bell pepper. I stirred these mixture for a bit until they've softened and you can smell that nice fragrant coming out of your pot.

Then I added a teaspoon of of dried chilli flakes - you don't have to if you don't like the heat but I like a little zing in my sauce. I continued to stir the mixture and then added about 10 large fresh basil leaves. Stir it again.

The next item I added to my pot were 2 cans of diced tomatoes. Since I prefer my sauce non-chunky, I gave the tomatoes a quick blitz in the Bullet. So 2 whole cans of tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, a heaped tablespoon of tomato paste, half a teaspoon of fennel seeds, salt and black pepper went into the pot. Stir it again.

And then I added about half a cup of store-bought pasta sauce (I used a tomato, basil and garlic one) and a generous squirt of ketchup. 

Don't ask me why I did that because I used to think I was kinda cheating here. Then I read other cooks' blogs and they do it too. So I think it's fine! Muahahahaha :D

Either way, it completed the sauce. At least, that's the way I see it.

Now I had made the sauce first before starting on the meatballs so the sauce will have some time to simmer into a magical tomato-ey potion … yum yum!!

Of course, you prepped your pasta accordingly … and once the meatballs are ready, I plonked all of the round goodness into the sauce …

At this point, I just could not wait to dig in ...

Give it all a good stir and …

Ta daaaa!! 

Our dinner last night: Meatballs in Tomato Sauce :D

My darling hubby commented that the meatballs tasted like a good sausage - he was surprised I had used only ground beef. 

So it worked!! :D:D:D The thick tomato-ey sauce defo complimented the meaty balls. I enjoyed that the meatballs weren't too big too. This way, you can always have more meatballs on your pasta and not feel too guilty about it hehehe

Even lil darling enjoyed his dinner!

This dinner's for you, Gli Azzurri! All the best for the next match against Costa Rica! :D:D:D