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BREAKING TRADITION TO SERVE FUSILLI WITH MEATBALLS!

Deeba @ PAB
“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.”
Fellini

Happy after the success of my precious jar of Sun-dried tomatoes, it was but natural progression that I began to explore recipes that these delcious morsels figured in. I was looking to make a pasta for Noob Cook who is hosting #101 edition of Presto Pasta Nights, a weekly food blog event focused on cooking with pasta and all types of noodles. Sadly, I missed the 100th edition last week.
Enter The Pasta Bible … a book my elder sis had gifted me eons ago. It was well thumbed pages & is an interesting resource which offers you something for every season, veg or non-veg, light or luxuriously indulgent, cream or tomato based sauces, & I love sitting & poring over it. Fusilli con salsa di Pomodori all’Aceto Balsamico… sounded exotic & delicious to me. Armed with my jar of sun dried tomatoes, I found this delicious recipe for fusilli which used tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes & also balsamic vinegar, another of my recent passions. That was the one I wanted to make. The original recipe is a vegetarian one, but to make it exciting for the kids, & a meal in a bowl, I added some chicken mince meatballs. So what if I was breaking away from trsitional spaghetti!I developed the recipe for the meatballs from an earlier Chicken Reshmi Kebabs recipe which I use often, tweaking the seasonings from Indian to Italian. Adding yogurt made the meatballs soft & juicy. Following Vals More Than Burnt Toast for ages, have figured that thyme & chicken compliment each other, so some fresh thyme went in too.
FUSILLI WITH TOMATO & BALSAMIC VINEGAR SAUCE …with meatballs
Fusilli con salda di Pomodori all’Aceto Balsamico…con Polpettine (?)
Adapted from The Pasta Bible, pg 92
This is a modern CAL-ITAL recipe (Californian/Italian). The intense, sweet-sour flavour of balsamic vinegar gives a pleasant kick to the sauce. Serve the pasta with a salad & shaved Pecorino handed separately. I added chicken meatballs for variety. For a vegetarian version, omit the meatballs.
TOMATO & BALSAMIC VINEGAR SAUCE
Ingredients:
800gms tomatoes; peeled & chopped (or 2 X 400g/4oz cans chopped Italian plum tomatoes)
5-6 halves of drained sun dried tomatoes; snipped (original recipe had 2 pieces)
6 cloves of garlic; minced (original recipe had 2 cloves)
3 tbsps olive oil
3 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tsp granulated sugar
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
350-400gms fusilli
Method:
  • Put the tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, garlic , olive oil & sugar in a pan. Add salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, & then simmer for about 30 minutes until reduced. (I ran an immersion blender lightly through it to get a smoother sauce because of the kids, but you can leave it as it is if you like)
  • Add the balsamic vinegar to the sauce & stir to mix evenly, cook for 1-2 minutes, adjust seasonings if required. Meanwhile cook the pasta.
  • While the fusilli is cooking, fry the meatballs.
CHICKEN MEATBALLS
Ingredients:
500gms chicken mince; from thigh tenders
1 small onion; quartered
4 cloves garlic
Handful of thyme & oregano leaves (I used fresh; dried herbs will do too)
1 tbsp of Italian seasoning
1 heaped tbsp of thick yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lime
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional) Method:
  • Put onion, garlic cloves, fresh herbs into processor & pulse for short intervals till chopped fine.
  • Add remaining ingredients, including mince & pulse till well mixed. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
  • Make tiny balls & shallow fry till golden brown all around.
  • When the last batch is done, turn the prepared sauce into the pan, add all the meatballs & simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Pour over the freshly cooked pasta & serve immediately.

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Posted by Deeba @ PAB
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