This sounds like a boring blog, but I have to declare that tonight I prepared the finest Spaghetti and Meatballs I have ever cooked, and I have prepared a lot of these over the years.

In the past this was an easy meal when you had kids that were hungry and you wanted to add more texture to the meal than a simple sauce.  A quick meal before everyone rushed off to the evening activities.  You could buy frozen meatballs and spice up the sauce and think you have stepped up the gourmet scale.

About 10 years ago when we were living in Oakville, Pat and I decided that we did not want to cook that evening so went off to our local Italian restaurant Ragazzi.  (a common occurrence at the time with both of us working and no kids)

Normally we would have a fancy Italian meal but this one night I ordered a simple Spaghetti and Meatballs.

At the time they were the best meatballs I had ever tasted.  Not just the sauce but the meat had flavor that connected with the tomatoes.  We knew the owner well enough to ask to see the chef and when I complimented him on the meatballs, he commented that if you are an Italian chef, you must be able to make good meatballs.

Not those little balls that you see in Swedish Meatball appetizers but larger than golf balls where you appreciate the flavor of the meat itself.

Over the years I have tried to replicate this recipe and, to be truthful, did a pretty good job.

This morning, Pat went off to one of her endless club executive meetings and challenged me to come up with an original meal for tonight.  Over the last few days we were re cooking the leftovers from the previous great meals and I wanted something new and exciting.

We subscribe to a couple of dining magazines.  I started to go through them looking for something interesting and came across a Spaghetti and Meatball recipe from a famous New York City restaurant.

For once I did not try to augment or alter the recipe, I followed it almost exactly.  This was not the kind of recipe I would have done when I came home from work with little kids clamoring for food.  Nor was it cheap.

The meat is a mixture of 1/3 ground beef 1/3 ground pork and 1/3 ground veal.   An experience in itself trying to find the ground veal at our local stores,   The tomato sauce is made from Pomadoro San Marzano diced tomatoes.  Fresh Oregano from our garden and local Ricotta cheese.

These meatballs were equal or better than those I had at Ragazzi.  Pat and I looked at each other when we first cut into the meat and were stunned     (OK I am selling this a bit but it was great)

It is not a cheap meal and not one that I would serve to kids heading off to soccer and it took a couple of hours, but what an experience.

The recipe come from the October issue of Fine Dining magazine (aside from the tomatoes which was our alteration)  Great part is that we have enough for 2 more meals (which takes me back to the leftover part of our lifestyle)