Spicy Meatballs and Rigatoni

Spicy browned meatballs simmered in a smooth white-wine tomato sauce, tossed with rigatoni.

Serves: 4–6 | Time: About 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef (80/20) and ½ lb ground pork
• ½ cup breadcrumbs soaked in ⅓ cup milk
• 1 egg
• ½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 tablespoon Calabrian chili paste
• Handful of parsley, chopped
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt and black pepper

Sauce and pasta

• Olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 (28 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1–2 teaspoons chili flakes or Calabrian chili, to taste
• 1 lb rigatoni
• Parmigiano-Reggiano and fresh basil to serve

Method

1. Start the sauce. Warm a good pour of olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes.
2. Toast the paste. Stir in the tomato paste and chili and cook 2–3 minutes, until it darkens to brick-red. Pour in the white wine and let it cook down by half, scraping the bottom.
3. Tomatoes, then blend. Add the tomatoes and their juice. Blend smooth with a stick blender right in the pot. Lid on and simmer low while you make the meatballs.
4. Make and brown the meatballs. Mix everything for the meatballs gently with your hands and roll into balls about the size of a golf ball. Heat olive oil in a wide pan and brown them on all sides, about 8 minutes. They don't need to cook through.
5. Into the sauce. Move the meatballs into the sauce, cover and simmer gently for 20–25 minutes, until cooked through.
6. Pasta. Cook the rigatoni in salted water until just short of al dente. Fold it into the sauce with a splash of pasta water and simmer 2 minutes so the sauce clings.
7. Serve. Plate with meatballs on top, plenty of Parmesan and a basil leaf.

Charlie's Notes

Cook the tomato paste until it changes color. That's what takes the sauce from flat to deep. The stick blender gives it a smooth, restaurant-style finish.

To Pour

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.