Chef notes

There's nothing like old-fashioned hearty spaghetti and meatballs, especially when the dish is so delicious that it beat star chef Bobby Flay's version in a cooking competition. Lucky for TODAY Food, Mike Maroni, owner and chef of Maroni Hot Pots in New York City and Long Island, NY, is a magnanimous winner and shares his family's amazing 100-year-old recipe.

Tip: Maroni's trick for making uniform meatballs is to scoop a golf ball-sized amount of the meat mixture using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop and then roll them with his hands.

Ingredients

Meatballs

1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
4 ounces dried bread crumbs
2 extra large eggs
2 ounces whole milk

6 ounces grated Romano
3 ounces grated Spanish onion
2 ounces finely diced fresh garlic
2 ounces finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 ounces finely chopped fresh basil leaves

Tomato Sauce

4 ounces olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 ounces onions, finely chopped
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

10 leaves basil, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
1 dash sugar (optional)

Spaghetti

1 pound spaghetti

Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preparation

Mike Maroni's recipe for classic spaghetti and meatballs — Samantha Okazaki / TODAY

For the Meatballs:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. If the mixture seems a little loose, add more bread crumbs.

Loosely roll each meatball into about the size of a golf ball and place on the baking sheet. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes.

For the Tomato Sauce:

In a large pot, add the olive oil and garlic and cooker over medium-high heat until the garlic lightly browns.

Add the onions and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. You can also add the optional sugar at this time if you like a sweeter sauce. Simmer for 15 to 25 minutes.

For the Spaghetti:

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti for 3 minutes less than what is directed on its package.

Once the spaghetti, tomato sauce and meatballs are plated, top each dish with the Parmesan cheese before serving.