Homemade Maranara With Italian Sausage & Meatballs
- Ready In:
- 2hrs 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 21
- Yields:
-
1 stock pot
- Serves:
- 6-8
ingredients
- 2 (32 ounce) cans whole tomatoes
- 1⁄4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 small-medium onion, diced
- 4 links sweet Italian sausage, halved
- olive oil (for browning sausage)
- 1⁄8 teaspoon oregano
- 1⁄8 teaspoon basil
- 1⁄8 teaspoon bay leaf
- 1⁄2 teaspoon minced garlic or 1/2 teaspoon one clove, minced
- salt & pepper (to taste)
-
Meat Balls
- 1 lb ground beef (can also use pork, turkey or chicken or a combination)
- 1 egg, beaten lightly
- 1⁄3 cup breadcrumbs or 1/3 cup cracker crumb
- 1⁄4 cup parmesan cheese (grated or shreaded)
- 1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1⁄4 teaspoon oregano
- 1⁄8 teaspoon basil
- 1⁄8 cup parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
directions
-
Prepare Sauce:
- empty 2 cans of whole tomatoes into a food processor and puree.
- add in dried herbs and spices (oregeno, basil, bay leaves, garlic).
- Place contents from food processor into large stock pot.
- Place on medium low heat and simmer.
- add sugar to sauce mixture.
- Cut sausage into halves and brown (do NOT cook throughly) over medium heat in olive oil.
- Add diced onion into stock pot.
- Remove browned sausages from skillet (discard oil) and add into sauce mixture in stock pot.
-
Prepare meat balls:
- in large bowl combine meat, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Hand mix until combined well.
- Add in egg and cracker crumbs or bread crumbs. Combine well.
- Add in parsley, combine well.
- Roll into meatballs.
- Drop RAW meatballs into sauce. In order for meat to cook through throughly they must remain in simmering sauce for a minimum of 40 minutes. Be careful not to stir sauce to vigorously during first 20-30 minutes as that may break up your meatballs, just stir enough to make sure meatballs are completely submerged in sauce. Once 40-50 minutes has elapsed sauce should be ready to eat, as the meat should be cooked. I prefer allowing sauce to simmer on low heat for a 2-4 hours, as the longer this sauce cooks the better it tastes. The meat also absorbs more flavor from the sauce itself. As long as you cook meats at least 40-50 minutes in sauce mixture you should be fine. This does however change based on the size of the meatballs you make. I make ones around the size of a golf ball. Larger meatballs take longer to cook. You can always take one out and cut it in half to see if they are cooked through throiughly.
- Enjoy!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Heather N.
Frederick, Maryland
Don't forget to KISS the cook!! :D I love to experiment with food. I love bold flavors. I love to cook and find it especially pleasing when I have someone special to cook for. ?
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