Spaghetti and Meatballs

Yes, a spaghetti pron post.

Above is the setup shot of some tomatoes, onions and garlic on the kettle, on their way for almost an hour, joined by some meatballs.

Meatballs all smoked up and ready for a trip to the saucepan, along with the already simmered, blended and sieved tomato/onion/garlic sauce and some added tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

The payoff, a nice spaghetti and meatball plate with some iced tea. The sauce and meatballs had a nice smoky background flavor with the strength and sweetness of the melted tomatoes and onions and a little bite from the pepper sauce shining through.

Thanks for all the kudos. I really should start putting recipes onto my blog.

Meatballs:
1lb 85% ground beef
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs (or fresh, even better)
1 xl egg
1/8 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley (and I think it matters)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese (not shredded)
1T BBQ rub (or an herbal blend like Todd's Dirt would be great too I bet)
salt and pepper to taste (this is a useless direction as we are dealing with raw meat here and you are likely not tasting it, I assume you know what you feel like using)

Blend it all together lightly, I use a rice paddle, although a cake spatula would work as well, I do not like dense meatballs. If I am using cubes of chuck or brisket that I am going to grind at home, I make the mix with the cubed up meat then feed it all through the grinder, makes it sort of a sausage mix and then just form them up into balls.