Meat Spaghetti With Fried Macaroni And Cheese Balls
This dish is about to turn the world topsy-turvy, inside out, and upside down! We've taken the classic spaghetti & meatballs combo and decided to invert it. In this inventive dish, the spaghetti is made out of meat and the balls are made out of pasta! This fun take on an old classic might seem a little bit crazy, but once you give it a try, both you and your taste buds will be impressed.
Equipment
- Food processor
- Potato Ricer
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey chilled
- 5 oz pork fatback chilled
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 egg white
- 1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
- 1 cup grated cheddar
- 0.25 cup heavy cream
- salt & pepper to taste
- flour for breading
- whisked eggs for breading
- bread crumbs for breading
- cooking oil for frying
- tomato sauce for topping
- shaved parmesan for topping
- fresh basil for topping
Instructions
- Freeze the ground turkey and pork fatback for 30 minutes. For the spaghetti to turn out correctly, everything needs to be as cold as possible, so for the best results, put the food processor in the freezer as well. Once everything has chilled, place ½ of the ground turkey and pork fatback, 2 tbsp of the heavy cream, the egg white, and ½ of the salt and white pepper in the food processor. Pulse everything for 1–2 minutes in the food processor until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy. Repeat this process with the remainder of the ingredients and stir the 2 meat spaghetti mixtures together. This is done in 2 steps to ensure that the ingredients stay as cold as possible.
- Boil 8½ cups of water combined with 3 tbsp salt in a large pot on the stove. Once the mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat and let the water cool down to about 175°F. Fill a potato ricer with the meat spaghetti mixture and hold it about 9 inches above the pot of warm water. Slowly squeeze the potato ricer and let the meat noodles drop into the water, then use scissors to cut them off of the potato ricer. Let the meat spaghetti sit in the warm water for about 5 minutes, then remove the noodles using a ladle.
- Cook the elbow macaroni according to instructions on the package, then stir in the grated cheddar cheese and heavy cream while the macaroni is still hot. Season the mac & cheese with salt & pepper and stir everything together until combined. Cover the pasta, transfer it to the refrigerator, and chill for 1 hour.
- Set up the breading station with separate bowls for the flour, whisked eggs for the egg wash, and bread crumbs, and heat a pot filled with cooking oil to 325°F. Once the macaroni & cheese has chilled, mold it into small balls and cover them in flour, dredge them in egg wash, and coat them with bread crumbs. Deep fry the mac & cheese balls in hot cooking oil until golden brown. Once the mac & cheese balls are fried, serve the meat spaghetti and mac & cheese balls with tomato sauce, shaved parmesan cheese, and fresh basil.
