Spaghetti Ball of Yarn 7.09 Knit, People, Knit!

“In the middle of the night last night, I woke up with an idea.” “Yeah?” For days, I've been trying to figure out what to serve at my Knit-a-thon booth, right? So, it's 2:00 A.M. Flash! I have a vision. Balls of yarn made out of spaghetti, with breadsticks stuck in the middle, like knitting needles. It's brilliant! Brilliant? Horrible!” “Not that appetizing. Why don't you just make regular spaghetti?” “Cause that's not theme-y.”

Ingredients:

For the giant meatball:

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 1 egg

• ¼ cup milk

• 1 cup breadcrumbs

• 2 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp pepper

• 1 tsp chili powder

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp cumin

• ½ tsp red pepper chili flakes

For assembly:

• 6 oz tomato paste

• ½ lb cooked spaghetti, leave in water to prevent sticking

• 2 breadsticks

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a mixing bowl. Use your hands to fully combine the mixture.

3. Transfer meatball mixture to a sheet of plastic wrap. Form a giant meatball by using the plastic wrap to help you shape the meatball.

4. Place the meatball in a 9 in x 9 in baking dish and bake at 375 F for 1 hour.

5. Remove from the oven and reduce heat to 350 F.

6. A lot of the meat juices will have collected in the baking dish. Place a metal cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet. Carefully transfer the meatball to the cooling rack to allow the remaining juices to drain for the remainder of cooking.

7. Bake at 350 F for 20-30 additional minutes or until the internal temperature of the meatball reaches 160 degrees F with a meat thermometer.

8. Allow the meatball to completely cool.

9. Once the meatball has cooled, transfer to a serving plate and use an offset spatula to frost the meatball with tomato paste.

10. Lay down spaghetti noodles across the frosted meatball, lining up the edges so there is no tomato paste exposed.

11. Insert the breadsticks into the top of the meatball to resemble knitting needles. You may have to use a paring knife to create small holes to insert the breadsticks.

12. Add some spaghetti to the plate to mimic loose yarn.

This was a fun one to figure out how to make! For the first time, I was able to accomplish something that Sookie was not! I really wish she was a real person, and I could show her how it’s done. Though, as the person who invented a picnic basket made entirely out of pretzel, I’m surprised she didn’t think of using a giant meatball as the base of this spaghetti yarn ball!

Happy cooking from the Hollow!

If you missed what I made last episode, catch up here!

Pretty proud of this one!