Spaghetti and Meatballs

1. Beat the egg in a large bowl, then blend in the milk. Add the bread cubes, stirring to coat them well. Let sit for 15 minutes.

2. Using a fork, mash the bread cubes until they’ve formed a rough paste. Add the ground beef to the bowl and, working with your hands, incorporate the rough paste into the beef. Add the cheese, garlic, and parsley and blend evenly with the meat mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste (you can also taste by frying a little bit of the meat mixture first).

3. Using wet hands, form the meat into balls the size of golf balls or a little smaller. Place the olive oil in a large, heavy saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs to the oil to brown on all sides. Don’t crowd the pan; you may have to brown them in batches. As they are finished browning, transfer them to the saucepan that holds the warmed tomato sauce. Bring sauce to gentle simmer and cook for 45 minutes.

4. When the meatballs are nearly done, drop the spaghetti into a large pot of boiling salted water. Cook until spaghetti is al dente (or to your liking), about 8 or 9 minutes. Drain spaghetti in a colander, then return it to the pasta cooking pot over medium heat. Ladle enough sauce from the saucepan to just coat the pasta; stir well. Add the butter and stir well. Keep the pasta in the pot for a total of about 1 minute. Then divide the pasta among six wide, shallow bowls. Top each mound of pasta with a few meatballs, then ladle some more sauce over all. Serve with grated pecorino Romano cheese.