Speghetti with Meatballs

This is the second night of eating out of the freezer. I found during my inventory ½# veal, ½# turkey, ½# chicken, all ground. I thought must be leftover from a meatloaf. There was a Spaghetti and meatball recipe from Viansa lying on the counter from a recent shipment. It wanted a pound of sweet Italian sausage. Also in the freezer were 3 partial packages of chunked prosciutto that added up to ½#.. So I had double the meat required. I figured that there are probably as many recipes for meatballs as there are Italian grandmothers, so I decided to improvise as meatballs and meatloaf are close. I doubled the recipe and then added half of them to the sauce. Unfortunately, I now have added meatballs to the freezers I am trying to empty. I was also able to use up a container and a half of the basil sauce that I made this past summer when I was overwhelmed with basil from the garden. Here is Viansa’s recipe. I will put in () how I changed it. If I had added some red pepper flakes and some Italian seasoning, I too could be an Italian Grandmother.
Ingredients:
2/3C fresh bread crumbs ( I used Panko bread crumbs)
3 T milk
1/3 C Parmesan cheese
¼ C finely chopped onion
3 T minced fresh basil (I used dried, use 1/3rd less.)
1 large egg
1 clove garlic minced
¼ t black pepper
1 # sweet Italian sausage, casing removed ( I used the meats described above.)
2 T pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (I did not chop them and felt the texture great in the meatball)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix bread crumbs and milk in a bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Mix in Parmesan cheese, onion, basil, egg, garlic and pepper. Add meat and pine nuts.
3. Blend well (using latex throw away gloves). (I used an ice cream scoop and made 24 meatballs. But because I was doubling the recipe, it was obvious that I had to bake them longer.) The single recipe say it will make 24 1 ¼ “meatballs. So half the size scoop I used.
4. Place on a rimmed baking sheet covered with non-stick aluminum foil.
5. Bake until the meatballs are light brown and cooked through, turning as needed about 30 minutes. (I baked for 45 minutes and did not turn. They were great looking.
6. Next I added them to the simmering sauce that I had defrosted and cooked the pasta.
I added the pasta to the sauce and served with more parmesan cheese. Jim really liked these meatballs. I could have used them a little spicier. I liked the idea that the meatballs were baked rather than fried. The sauce kind of overwhelmed the meatballs in my opinion. I have some Paul Newman vodka sauce in the pantry. I will try these meatballs with it. It could be that Italian grandmothers have multiple recipes to fit the sauce.