Baked pasta & porchetta meatballs

Pasta and macaroni Italian cuisine

Baking

Meet porchetta meatballs. They’re seasoned with fennel seed, orange zest, garlic, rosemary, and parmesan, then broiled on a sheet pan until golden and crispy—so basically all of the flavors of porchetta in a fraction of the time. They are delicious served any which way, but here I nestle them up with pasta, <a href="https://food52.com/recipes/13722-marcella-hazan-s-tomato-sauce-with-onion-and-butter">Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce</a>, and lots of cheese and bake them until the cheese is melty and the pasta is a little browned. Marcella sauce is absolutely perfect as is, but for this dish, I like to swap the onion with fennel to reinforce the fennel flavor in the meatballs. The whole dish can be assembled in advance, popped in the oven when you’re ready, and brought straight to the table for an unforgettable meal.