Meatballs and more recipes to make this week

By Emily Weinstein, The New York Times

Everyone has comfort food. Here’s mine: juicy meatballs done Italian American style, served with homemade tomato sauce or piled on top of a spaghetti heap.

I used to make a pot of meatballs when friends came over for dinner because it was cozy but not frumpy and everyone loved it. It was also very easy. I’d usually skip the pasta — one less thing to maneuver in my slight strip of a kitchen — and put out good bread instead to dunk in that tomato sauce pool. (It’s even better if it’s garlic bread.) That, plus a big salad: dinner!

Now I make meatballs and sauce just because, and in big batches, so I can put some away in the freezer for later. (Never, ever make a single batch of meatballs!) I’ve played the field with different recipes: versions that use only beef (as with Kay Chun’s recipe below), or pork and ricotta. I like great turkey meatballs, too, and I’ve dabbled in meatless meatballs as well.