A note about this recipe
This recipe from Cafe di Napoli first appeared in the 1953 edition of Recipes of the Month: Famous Foods from Famous Places. The same recipe was sent to the Star Tribune by Joe Piazza in the 1970s. However, people who have made the recipe have said it tastes nothing like Cafe di Napoli sauce. It’s hard to say why the Piazza family would share this recipe as their own, but I wanted to be clear that the recipe may not be as authentic as we’d all like it to be. In any case, I still wanted to share the recipe and history of Cafe di Napoli to spark memories of all the good meals people enjoyed there.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
This dish was served at Cafe di Napoli in Minneapolis, Minnesota for nearly seven decades.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- ¼ cup salad oil
- ½ pound coarsely ground beef
- ½ cup onions, chopped
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 4 (6 ounce) cans of water
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 pinches of black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup very dry diced white bread, soaked in milk
- ¼ cup onions, diced
- 4 cups bread or cracker crumbs
- 3 tablespoons Italian cheese, grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch of black pepper
Other
- 1 pound thin spaghetti, cooked
- Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Sauce
- Sauté garlic in oil for 15 seconds. Add ground beef and brown. Add onions.
- When onions have cooked, add tomato paste, water, salt, sugar, black pepper and bay leaf.
- Simmer for 1 hour, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
Meatballs
- Soak diced bread in milk for around 5 minutes. Lightly squeeze off excess milk.
- Combine all ingredients and roll into 10-12 balls the size of golf balls. Brown in a frying pan or oven.
- Add meatballs to the sauce in the last 20 minutes of cooking time.
- Serve sauce and meatballs over cooked spaghetti noodles. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.
