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Tomato Sauce with Meatballs
About this recipe
Meat cooked in sauce tastes great and makes spaghetti more of a full meal. First make your meatballs, and keep a handful of meatball mixture off to the side. Get yourself a nice bottle of red wine and you’ll soon be enjoying this Italian classic.
Instructions
Place a large saucepot on the stove; turn heat to just under medium and fry:
- 2 tbsp. olive oil,
- ½ cooking onion (diced),
- 3-4 cloves garlic (minced, or added whole and removed before browning).
When the onion looks good, add:
- a handful of ground beef (use meatball mixture),
- 1½ tbsp. basil, 1½ tsp. salt, 1½ tsp. chili pepper, and ½ tsp. marjoram (optional).
Brown the ground beef for a few minutes, and then add:
Reduce heat, cover, and let wine absorb into meat for 10 minutes. Remove lid, turn heat back up, and cook another few minutes until the wine has almost evaporated. Then add:
- 3 (28 oz.) cans plum tomatoes (either hand-squashed or blended) and ½ can water,
- 1 stalk celery,
- 1 peeled carrot.
Bring to a boil. When boiling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 hours with a wooden spoon inserted between the pot and lid. After 30 minutes, taste for seasoning.
After simmering, uncover and turn heat back up to medium. Cook with the lid off until the sauce is ready (approx. 20 minutes). Discard the celery and carrot.
Notes
- You can add mushrooms or peas to simmer for the last 20 minutes.
- If for some reason your meatballs don’t turn out, toss them onto your roof and see if they’ll roll down the eavestrough.
- Reheat leftovers in a large frying pan with a little water. Cut up the meatballs and add your Parmesan while they’re warming. Then eat right out of the pot.
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For another style of baked pasta, make sauce as above. When cool, mash meatballs with a fork to make kind of a ragù. Then slightly undercook your pasta and mix with lots of sauce. Place into a baking dish and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes covered and then 20 minutes uncovered. It’s awesome!