Is it really an insult to Italian cuisine? For years the famous (or infamous?) spaghetti and meatballs, ubiquitous in the United States, especially in Little Italy restaurants, have been one of the many false myths of tricolor gastronomy abroad.
For many Italians, in fact, spaghetti and meatballs are an unthinkable combination, acceptable they are in the animated film famous precisely for the romantic dinner scene between the two little dogs sharing a plate of pasta to the tune of "Bella Notte."
Yet, the recipe was known many decades earlier, in the early twentieth century, the years of Italian emigration to the United States. They were poor people, the Italians seeking their fortune in the Big Apple, who could afford very little and spent most of their savings precisely on food: spaghetti and canned tomatoes without a doubt, among the cheapest foods of the time.
Then work, a warm American welcome and some extra money allowed them to also begin to enjoy meat in America that was certainly more available than in Italy, starting with the less prized cuts: ground beef, for example, with its lower cost but tasty flavor, especially when mixed with other ingredients and made into tasty patties. Add it to that simple tomato sauce to enrich the dish and create a more substantial, if not opulent, cuisine.
The Parsonage brings you the Roman version not to be missed!