Gluten-Free Monster Eyeball Meatballs with Spaghetti
Baked beef and pork meatballs made with gluten-free breadcrumbs, each topped with a mozzarella and olive eye and served on gluten-free spaghetti in tomato sauce.
Yield4 servings (24 meatballs)
Prep30 min
Cook20 min
Total50 min
Ingredients
- 227 g (1/2 lb) ground beef
- 227 g (1/2 lb) ground pork
- 50 g (1/2 cup) grated Parmesan cheese
- 54 g (1/2 cup) gluten-free breadcrumbs
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 5 ml (1 tsp) gluten-free dried Italian seasoning
- 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) red pepper flakes
- 1 small package mini mozzarella balls
- 1 small jar black olives
- 113 g (4 oz) gluten-free spaghetti
- 227 g (8 oz) tomato sauce
- Basil, oregano or parsley, to serve
Method
- Heat the oven to 200 C (400 F) and lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Combine the beef, pork, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, garlic, egg, Italian seasoning and pepper flakes with your hands, stopping as soon as it comes together; overworked meatballs turn rubbery.
- Roll 24 balls about 2.5 cm (1 inch) across and space them 2.5 cm (1 inch) apart on the sheet.
- Bake 14 to 17 min, until the center reaches 71 C (160 F).
- Meanwhile cook the spaghetti to the package directions and reserve 60 ml (1/4 cup) of the cooking water before draining.
- Halve the mozzarella balls lengthways and pat them dry. Trim the tops and bottoms off the olives to get flat discs and pat those dry too.
- Lay a mozzarella half on each meatball and return them to the oven 2 to 3 min, until the cheese just slumps.
- Press an olive disc into the center of each mozzarella eye.
- Warm the tomato sauce in the empty pasta pot with 30 ml (2 Tbsp) of the reserved water, adding the rest if it is tight. Toss the spaghetti through it.
- Serve the pasta with the eyeballs on top and herbs scattered over.
Notes
- Gluten-free pasta water is the one thing in this recipe you cannot borrow from someone else's pot. Measured samples of shared pasta water have run at 39 to 116 ppm gluten, well over the legal limit, so the pasta needs a clean pot and fresh water.
- Breadcrumbs are the other check. Gluten-free crumbs absorb more liquid than wheat ones, so if the mixture feels dry add 15 ml (1 Tbsp) milk.
Storage
- Refrigerate meatballs and sauce up to 3 days; they also freeze for 3 months. Assemble the eyes after reheating.
Check every label. Formulations change.
