Mama Mia! That's Amore!
I come from a background of mixed nationalities: Italian, Cuban, Polish, and German. I love dishes from these cultures and from other cultures around the world. One of my favorite things to do is take family recipes and modify them to be paleo friendly! I noticed that most of the recipes from scratch were pretty paleo minus a couple of adjustments here and there. It made me realize that back then people did eat fairly real, whole food diets, and less processed foods. It's crazy to think how much our diets have changed overtime.
One of my first thoughts when deciding to switch to a paleo friendly lifestyle was “What about spaghetti and meatballs?” Luckily, this is definitely still an option- minus the spaghetti part. I used zucchini noodles, or zoodles, to replace the pasta and made a few changes to my grandma’s famous meatball and gravy (pasta sauce) recipe and voila…Paleo Spaghetti and Meatballs! I grew up in Italian family so homemade gravy, meatballs, pasta, lasagna, ravioli, you name it, were made from scratch. Christmas Eve was always my favorite meal because the food was out of this world! Another favorite of mine is lasagna, such a comfort food! Today I'm sharing with you some of my favorite Italian dishes: Zoodles and Meatballs with Gravy. I'll also be sharing a recipe for my Lasagna so look for that under the Recipes tab, Main Dishes! All paleo friendly, gluten free, dairy free, and free of any added sugars!
Gravy (Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
Olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a sauce pan)
2 28oz cans, organic whole plum tomatoes (San Marzano are the best, you can also use garden fresh tomatoes too!)
1 yellow onion, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3 8 oz cans, organic tomato sauce
1 7 oz can, organic tomato paste
1 tbs fresh basil, chopped
1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Use a blender to blend whole tomatoes into a sauce consistency (reserve on the side).
Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil on medium heat.
Pour blended tomatoes into the pot with garlic and onion.
Add tomato paste, sauce, basil, parsley, and salt/pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil.
Simmer on low for 1 and 1/2 hours.
I always make extra of the gravy because it's so simple and it freezes great so it's convenient to have on hand!
Meatballs (Makes about 24-30 meatballs)
Ingredients:
1 lb grass fed ground beef
1 lb all natural pork
1/2 cup, gravy (see above)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (if you can tolerate dairy add Romano cheese)
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 eggs
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs fresh basil, chopped
1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
salt/pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using your hands mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
3. Roll into golf-sized balls and place on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment (they can be close to touching).
4. Bake in the 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
(This is what the meatballs look like when they come out of the oven. Save the fat because you will add this with the meatballs to the gravy adding more delicious flavor!)
5. Put meatballs and fat into the gravy and let simmer covered for up to an hour (in my opinion this is what really gives the gravy its' flavor!).
Zoodles (2 zucchini serves 3 people)
Ingredients:
2 zucchinni
1-2 tbs olive oil, enough to coat the bottom of your pan
Salt and pepper to taste
Making zoodles is easy! All you need is a spiralizer, or a madolin. I love the spiralizer and I lucked out and got an attachment that hooks up to my Kitchen-aid so no work for me!
Directions:
Use either your mandolin or spiralizer, to make your zoodles.
Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium.
Add zoodles and salt and pepper.
Saute for 5-8 minutes for al dente.
Serve up with some gravy and meatballs!
