"Good luck making the meatballs. My sister and I had to watch her for years," DeEtte Montalbano tells Jan Risher.

Italian meatballs, known as polpette, have a storied history in Italian-American cuisine. While traditional Italian meatballs tend to be smaller and served as a side dish or appetizer, this recipe ...

to Emilia’s ‘guitar’ spaghetti with meatballs (all of which can be found in this exclusive extract), the nonnas’ know-how shows that truly authentic Italian cooking is entirely achievable.