The Best Meatballs Ever

Last week was the last "Cooking With Dexter" column in the NY Times.  The recipe was for Spaghetti and Meatballs.  I decided to see if  I could take the challenge to make a lower calorie/lower fat version that still tasted good.  Well, not only did I succeed, but these were the best tasting meatballs I have ever made!  And better yet, the lower fat version cuts about 200 calories per serving. 

Here is what I did to make the meatballs.  In a bowl, I combined the fat free half and half, bread crumbs and egg white.  I added about a TB of dried onion flakes, a TB of dried parsley and a TB of dried basil and 1TB of Parmesan cheese.  I added the dried spices because the mixture of bread crumbs, egg white and fat free half and half looked watery, so I wanted to thicken it up before I worked in the ground beef.  I also added the same spices as the original recipe as follows - 1 tsp dried oregano, dash crushed red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp black pepper and 1/2 tsp lite salt.  After I kneaded in the beef, I sprayed my skillet with Pam and added in the small meatballs and started to fry them.  I added 1 TB of oil as needed.  After the meatballs were browned, I put them on an aluminum foil lined roasting pan that I also sprayed with Pam and put them into a 350 degree oven to bake while I cooked two ounces of whole wheat spaghetti per person.  I put about 1/2 jar of my favorite Mariana sauce in a small pot to heat.  I had about 1/4 cup of left over wine in the frig so I added that to the sauce. When I added my pasta to the boiling water, I transferred the meatballs to the hot Marinara sauce.  After the spaghetti was drained, I topped it with the meatball Mariana sauce. 

Mangi! Enjoy the great taste without the additional calories or fat!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/magazine/20Food-t-000.html?_r=1

Serves 6                                      Serves 2

Original Recipe Lower Fat Recipe 2 cups bread crumbs 800 1/3 cup unsalted seasoned bread crumbs 110 3 oz heavy cream 293 3 oz fat free half and half  50 3 slices bacon 138 no bacon 8 oz ground chuck 568 10 oz lean ground beef 380 8 oz ground veal 328 egg white 0 8 oz ground pork 600 1TB Parmesan cheese 20 4 tb oils  400 1 tb oil 100 calories per serving  521 330