Spicy Pork Meatballs and Fennel Tomato Sauce

These meatballs are great - the pickled peppers give them a unique spicy flavor - and the sauce goes really well with them. The fennel gives it a little sweetness and not too strong of an anise flavor. I have lots of leftover meatballs, so I plan to make a meatball sub for dinner tomorrow. You could also just serve them with toothpicks as an hors d'oeuvre.

Ingredients:

Meatballs

2 lb ground pork shoulder

2 cups bread, cut into 1/4" cubes

2 tbsp chopped fennel fronds

2 cloves of garlic, mashed into a paste

10 pickled pepper slices, minced

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

Sauce

10 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

olive oil

1/2 cup thinly sliced fennel

cayenne pepper, to taste

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp oregano

salt and pepper

Spaghetti

Directions:

Meatballs

Preheat the oven to 400. Mix all ingredients in a bowl with your hands.

 

Be sure it's all evenly distributed, but don't over mix it. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with non-stick spray. Space the meatballs out on the sheet so that they're not touching.

Bake about 17 minutes until cooked through.

Sauce

Heat a large saute pan. Add about 2 tbsp olive oil and the onions, garlic, and fennel

When the onions are very soft and starting to brown, add the tomatoes. You may need to add a few tbsp of water as well to get them going. Add the herbs and cayenne and some salt and pepper.

Cover the pot and let it simmer for about half an hour, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are completely cooked through, mashing the tomatoes a it with the back of the spoon. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Run the sauce through a food mill and discard all of the solids. Return the sauce to the pan and keep warm.

Pasta

Cook spaghetti according to directions, but take it out when it's still al dente and put it into the sauce, along with a few tbsp of pasta water. Let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce. Put the spaghetti into bowls, top with a few meatballs, drizzle with sauce, and top with some freshly grated Pecorino.