In a large bowl, add in the blend of meats or if using just one, add just that. Crack an egg in it and mix it until the egg coats every grain of the meat. In a separate smaller bowl, add in the tomato passata, the breadcrumbs, the pecorino cheese, the grated garlic, salt and chopped parsley and mix it together with your hand, squeezing everything together until it becomes 1 homogenous flavor bomb. You can taste it, it should be overly salty and extremely flavorful, that salt will go towards seasoning the meat. Then take that and add it to the meat mixture and mix until the breadcrumb mixture is thoroughly incorporated throughout the meat. Store in the fridge overnight to marinate or begin balling immediately. For this recipe we want tiny balls, about the size of a piece of popcorn. To just pinch a small piece off and smooth it out with the tips of your finger and then place on a greased sheet tray until you’ve rolled out all the balls. They don’t have to be perfect.

Place a pan with high walls, like a frying pan or a saucier, over medium high heat and coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil once the pan is hot. In batches, sear the meatballs in the olive oil on both sides, about 1-2 minutes per side then transfer to a bowl and sear the rest of the meatballs.

Once all the meatballs are seared, add the sliced garlic to the olive and cook until softened, fragrant and slightly browned, then add in the Calabrian chili paste and the tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes to cook out the rawness in the tomato paste. Season with salt, then add in the tomato puree. Season again with salt and then add in the broth. Again season with salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add in the pasta and since we’re going to cook the pasta directly in the sauce, you need to stir it every minute or so, at least in the beginning to make sure none of the pasta sticks to the bottom. We added enough broth to thin the tomato sauce out so that by the time the pasta cooks, the sauce should be reduced and thickened to the proper consistency. This pasta takes about 12 minutes to cook but cooking it in the one pot method usually doubles the cooking time so cook, stirring often for 20 minutes. If the sauce gets too thick too fast, thin it back out with a little water. And once there’s about 4 minutes of cooking left before al dente, add the meatballs back in and let them heat up while the pasta finishes cooking. Once the pasta is cooked, turn the heat off and cover it and let it rest for about 1-2 minutes. Then remove the cover, work in some grated parm and it’s ready to serve.

In a bowl, spoon a mound of the spaghettio’s and then finish with some olive oil, some more cheese and some fresh basil. If you want to be cute, empty and clean out a can of spaghettio’s and serve it in that.