This is a guest recipe from my friend David, the genius behind the Penny App, a tool for leaders in direct sales. Go check it out! But first: FOOD!
This white truffle spaghetti with kobe beef meatballs is unreal!
What you need:
Noodles: I prefer penne over spaghetti; it’s just a preference. Three cups of dry penne will make four normal portions; increase to four cups if everyone loves seconds.
Sauce: 500 ml heavy cream, ½ cup freshly grated parmesan (¾ cup if it’s pre-grated), salt, one to four teaspoons of truffle oil (amount depends on potency/strength of the oil).
Meatballs: Usually, I make my own, but for a quick substitute, I buy pre-made fresh lamb burgers. Toss them in a mixing bowl and add parmesan, parsley, garlic, and onion powder. I really like the lamb meatballs over regular beef. I find them more flavorful and tender. That said, if you have ground Kobe on hand, use that.
Ricotta garnish: ricotta cheese, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.
What to do:
Pan sear the meatballs, then bake for 10 minutes or so at 375 F. When done, put into a pan with warm marinara and simmer until serving time.
Noodles: cook them!
Sauce: add the cream to a pot, heat until the point it’s about to boil, then remove from heat. Whisk in the parmesan. When melted, add salt, then truffle oil. You want the truffle flavor to be forward; it should have a medium to strong truffle smell. The oil should overpower the parmesan. Depending on what brand of oil you have, it could be one teaspoon, maybe three or four. I recently ran out of truffle oil; the new brand took four teaspoons.
When the noodles are done, strain them, reserving ⅓ to ½ cup of the warm starch water. Before you add the sauce to the noodles, add the starch water back to the noodles and stir it up. The noodles will actually absorb a lot of the water. Add a healthy amount of sauce to the noodles; the sauce will coat the noodles really nicely. If you add the sauce first, the noodles will absorb the sauce and the noodles can become dry and sticky.
You can easily dress up the presentation, especially if you have pasta dishes. Center the noodles on a dish, add lots of sauce, and add three or four meatballs to the dish in a crescent moon shape in one quarter of the bowl. If plating and serving at a dinner party, I'd put the meatballs in the top left corner (at 9-12 o'clock). Top the meatballs with extra marinara.
For serving, add a generous tablespoon of ricotta to the top.
Fresh parmesan, a dash of parsley, and red chili flakes are a nice touch as well.
A great wine pairing is a Pinot Noir (to keep it light). But if you add chili flakes, consider a sangiovese or super Tuscan.
