Spaghetti and Meatballs

Submitted by MamaMeg

"I found a similar recipe on allrecipes.com and it got awesome reviews over there. I added a few things and made some adaptations and this is what I came up with. This is the best I've ever had!"

 

• Ready In: 2hrs
• Ingredients: 21
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• Sauce

• 1⁄4 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 5 -6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (28 ounce) cans whole canned tomatoes
• 1⁄2 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon basil
• pepper

• Meatballs

• 1⁄2 lb ground beef
• 1⁄2 lb Italian sausage
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• salt
• pepper

directions

1. Brown onions and garlic in olive oil over medium high heat until the onions are translucent.
2. While that is cooking, cut the whole tomatoes in fairly large chunks, saving all liquid.
3. Add the next five ingredients.
4. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 90 minutes.
5. To make the meatballs:Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Mix with your hands, trying not to overly handle the meat. Shape mixture into balls. How many you get will depend on how big you make them. I generally get about 24-25 bouncy ball sized meatballs. Refrigerate.
6. After the sauce has simmered 90 minutes add the meatballs and simmer another 30 minutes.

Reviews

[Ann Rotatori]

I only made the sauce but it was a hit. The recipe seems to miss adding a few ingredients so when it was time to add ingredients to the onions I added all the way through the tomato paste. I don't like sweet tomato sauce so I only used 2 teaspoons of sugar rather than 2 tablespoons. Next time I will cut the red pepper in half to make it more kid friendly. I made the RAO Family Meatballs from recipe 41176 and they were a great pair.

 

[LonghornMama]

Delicious! Made this for DH's birthday along with recipe #175079. Made a couple of minor changes in the prep. Simmered the sauce covered for several hours on low as I like my tomatoes pretty broken down and prefer giving the flavors a chance to meld. Doubled the meatball recipe and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. Added half of those I made to the simmering sauce to warm through, and froze half for later. Meatballs were tender and flavorful and held together nicely. Used mild Italian sausage in the meatballs. The sauce was hearty and enjoyed by all. Has a slight spiciness from the crushed red pepper which was wonderful with the meatballs. A winner! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Made for PAC Fall 2007.