Sweet & Savory gets a Mediterranean twist with these baked meatballs served alongside spaghetti and a Greek-style sauce!
Sentimentality is sometimes described as the “attaching of immaterial value to a thing or place for the purpose of the memories attached to it.”
I’ve referred to myself as a classicalist here more than a few times, and often in the context of food that is reliably beloved, and that not only provides a feast for the palate but that conjures up images that help frame the meal either as part of the presentation or to create a specific set of expectations. A form of sentimentality, naturally, plays a part in this.
Take for example the ‘classic’ spaghetti and meatballs. The common image of mountainous pasta topped by thick red sauce peppered by rotund spheres of meat likely has a place in the memory of everyone reading this such that we all approach the meal with our own ideas. For some, this was a family favorite growing up, for others, it might be your favorite takeaway from your local pizza place, while for others, like myself, they might remember this as one of the first ‘big’ meals they learned to prepare on their own.
This was part of the idea behind today’s recipe. I purposefully wanted to take something blissfully familiar and make some rather subtle, but significant, changes into it, which, of course, brings us to today’s recipe – Greek Style Spaghetti and Meatballs.
First, we begin with the meatballs. Starting off with a large bowl, mix together an eggs, milk, crumbled bread, chopped parsley, parmesan cheese, the seasonings listed below, bread crumbs, chopped raisins, grated garlic, tomato sauce, and canola oil, and mix until they are thoroughly combined.
Now comes the fun part…and by that, I mean the messiest part of this entire equation – the incorporating of one’s hands into raw seasoned meat in order to form the mixture into balls of the desired size.
Bake the meatballs for about twenty minutes, and then set them aside, and it’s time to prepare the sauce. Note that you will have to adjust the baking time upward for larger sized meatballs.
Now, a little context, when I asked my son to try the sauce, I prefaced it with, “I’m telling you now before you taste it, my mother would have told me ‘Doll, what are you doing, this isn’t how you make a sauce,’” because honestly, I wasn’t sure what he would think.
Next up, while the meatballs are resting (yes, resting, being cooked is a strenuous process) we heat a large sauce pot with olive oil, sliced sweet onion, chopped Italian parsley, and garlic. To this, we add in the seasonings, and this is where we make our second ‘invisible alteration’ with addition of cinnamon and golden raisins, along with the rest of the seasonings. Once the onions become slightly golden and the garlic fragrant, we add in fifty-six ounces of canned crushed tomatoes, and add in about two tablespoons of honey, along with sugar and wine – yes, both sugar and honey, not either or.
The end result is a sweeter, slightly ‘fruitier’ sauce than I typically prepare.
Now, carefully add the meatballs into the sauce, and allow them to simmer for at least forty to fifty minutes or even longer.
While they’re simmering, prepare the pasta, and you’re done.
Sweet Greek Meatballs
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 3 lbs. of ground beef
- 4 cloves of garlic – grated
- ½ cup of Parmesan cheese – grated
- Healthy handful of Italian parsley – stems removed and chopped
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 ½ tsp. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- ½ cup golden raisins – chopped
- 4 slices white bread – crumbled
- ½ cup milk
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- ¼ cup canola oil
For the Greek Inspired Sauce:
- 2 – 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
- 1 large sweet onion – sliced thin
- 4 – 5 cloves of garlic – crushed and chopped
- Healthy handful of Italian parsley – stems removed and chopped
- ½ cup golden raisins – chopped
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp. dried oregano
- 2 tbs. honey
- ½ tsp. sugar
- 2 tbs. wine – any color
- 3 tbs. olive oil
- Your favorite pasta
Instructions
For the Meatballs:
- Preheat Oven 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl place, the egg, milk, crumbled bread, chopped parsley, Parmesan cheese, seasonings, bread crumbs, chopped raisins, grated garlic, tomato sauce and canola oil. Mix these ingredients together.
- Add the ground beef and incorporated into the wet ingredients.
- Form the meat mixture into desired sized meatballs and place in a baking dish.
- Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Take the meatballs out of the oven and set aside while preparing the sauce.
For the Greek Inspired Sauce:
- Heat a sauce pot with the olive oil and add the sliced onion, chopped garlic, chopped parsley, chopped raisins and seasonings.
- Let the onions become slightly golden and the garlic become fragrant.
- Add the crushed tomatoes and stir. Add the wine, sugar and honey and continue to simmer on a gentle heat.
- Carefully add the meatballs and simmer on a gentle heat for at least 40 – 50 minutes or longer.
- Prepare the pasta as directed.
- Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, ground black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes and grated Parmesan cheese.
Enjoy with Love!
[email protected]'s Recipes says
Meatballs and pasta…what a wonderful meal!
Pam says
Oh, la la, Catherine! I bet that sauce is hearty delicious and the meatballs are perfect! Wish I had brought a fork along to dig into that mountain of pasta and those sweet meatballs. A perfect dinner for sure! Thanks for sharing and making me drool! 🙂 xoxo
Paula Chapin says
Looks amazing! Tired of the same Italian spaghetti & meatballs; will definitely give this a try.
Claudia Lamascolo says
The photos are so mouth watering, not a good thing to be wishing for at 6 am in the morning but I could certainly eat this right now!
Liz says
I love, love meatballs and this is a great excuse to whip up a batch! An excellent change from my typical spaghetti and meatballs!
manu says
I guess they’re delicious!
Thanks for sharing.
Love
Lauren says
These look delicious, The pictures made me immediately hungry. Cannot wait to try!
Big Daddy Dave says
Catherine, It is a lovely looking entree…but variety is the spice of life, I just don’t care for sweet meatballs. While I like savory Greek food, many of the pasta dishes are just too sweet for my taste. I do have a Greek friend who I’m sure loves this dish. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
Rae says
I’ve never even heard of adding raisins to meatballs before, I am intrigued!
Joyce says
Wow! These meatballs look phenomenal! They are so juicy looking and meaty! I can’t get over this! I have been trying to find a really good meatball recipe for the longest time, I think I can end my search now! 🙂
Karen @ Seasonal Cravings says
Thanks for reminding me that I don’t make meatballs enough! I always think it will take too long but these look like they are totally worth the trouble. I’m in!
Monica | Nourish & Fete says
This sounds amazing, I love the honey and sugar in the sauce, and can imagine how amazing this must smell simmering away on the stove! Perfect to make on a weekend and enjoy that amazing scent all afternoon long!
Katie | Healthy Seasonal Recipes says
Ha ha about them needing to rest from the strenuous process of cooking. And love love love the use of raisins in a savory dish! Sounds incredible!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
The meatball sounds delicious and the sauce is marvelous! I am already thinking of all the different recipes I could use the sauce in. My kids would love the raisins in the recipe.
Adriana Lopez Martin says
This is our family favorite meal, meatballs are such a calssic and never fail to satisfy everyone. Your photography is amazing. Really mouthwatering,
Jessica @ Desserts With Benefits says
I am drooling so hard right now. These meatballs look TO DIE FOR. I can see how rich and moist and flavorful they are! Never would’ve thought to put raisins in meatballs, how unique!
Gloria @ Homemade & Yummy says
Love the Italian/Greek fusion happening here. Sounds like the perfect spaghetti and meatball dinner to me. I might even sneak in some ground lamb here. YUM!!!!!
Veena Azmanov says
The images of these meatballs make me wanna grab it out of the screen. Looks so delish!! Love how simple and easy this is to make. Can’t wait to try this.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
Polpette and pasta is always at the top of my list. I can see that your meatballs are nice and light and full of flavor. I really like the way you switched the taste from Italian based to more Greek. Hubby and I will have to try it out.
Pavani says
Wow, those meatballs look so juicy and delicious. Love your Greek twist to the traditional recipe, the whole dish must have tasted amazing.
April says
I am drooooooooling over here! These meatballs look to die for! Making me hungry too! I’m going to save this recipe. I can’t wait to try it!
swathi says
Catherine you made perfect comfort food, flavorful juicy meat balls with pasta. I need to make it for our week day dinner. After spaghetti and meatballs marriage is unbeatable.
Sarah says
These meatballs sound so unique and your photos are mouthwatering! Makes me want to try these ASAP!
allie @ Through Her Looking Glass says
Oh I need some of these meatballs on my dinner plate tonight!!!! Or maybe during the snowstorm tomorrow. Love this twist, Catherine. And that it makes a big recipe – this will feed all my boys and leftovers for hoagies too. I hope you are all well and avoiding the flu there. It’s been a tough winter sickness-wise all over the country. The flu did visit here, but we are all well now and so thankful for that. XOXO
Samantha Paul says
Hey Gathrine…..! Amazing this looks and sounds soooo yummy, this is perfect dish and I like your photography as well, I will try to making this meataballs in my tonight dinner. Thanks for sharing & keep shard your new ideas with delicious recipes………!