Meatballs and Sausage with Chianti Sauce

Submitted by Boca Pat

"This is my recipe that I've been making all my cooking life years!!!! I'm pretty proud of it too. Give it a try, you'll love it."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 27
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• For the Sauce

• 2 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1⁄2 medium onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bay leaf
• pepper
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1⁄2 - 3⁄4 cup chianti wine

• For the Meatballs

• 1 1⁄2 lbs ground chuck
• 1⁄2 lb ground pork
• 2 eggs
• 3⁄4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
• 1⁄2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1⁄4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• 1⁄4 cup chianti wine
• 2 lbs hot sausage links or 2 lbs mild sausage links
• olive oil (for frying)
• pasta, of your choice

directions

1. Sauce: Heat olive oil in dutch oven or lge fry pan with lid; add garlic& onion and saute until transparent; add tomato paste and smoosh it around until it's blended; add tomato sauce.
2. Before I add the whole tomatoes, I take the hard stem off.
3. Just grab it and rip it off each tomato, then hand crush each tomato before adding to the sauce mixture.
4. Add all your spices, bouillon cubes and wine.
5. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs.
6. Mama Mia!
7. Now that's my Irish way!
8. Meatballs: In lge bowl mix beef& pork with all the ingredients.
9. It'll be a bit mushy, but keep mixing, if it's still mushy add alittle more breadcrumbs.
10. Shape into meatballs.
11. In lge fry pan, add your sausage links, then to same pan add meatballs.
12. Flip sausage& meatballs as they brown, don't burn them.
13. When they look cooked, drain on paper towel.
14. Then add to your pot of sauce.
15. I hope I covered everything!
16. Good Luck I hope you enjoy.

Reviews

[971256]

TRULY THE BEST PASTA SAUCE I HAVE EVER TASTED!!! After trying Olive Garden's latest Chianti Meat Sauce, I was bound and determined to make something similar, but a little less greasy. I needed a base recipe to try and this one was FAR better than Olive Garden's. <br/><br/>I have since made a few changes to suit my family's needs, making it slightly easier and tastier (my opinion at least). I am a super busy mom who doesn't have a lot of time, so I eliminated the meatballs after the first try at the recipe. I now saute up the onions and garlic with 1lb cased, chopped Italian sausage and 2 lbs ground sausage. I deglaze the pan with a little chianti, and then add that and the rest of the sauce ingredients to a crockpot. I stick it in the fridge and turn it on low the next morning. By the time I get home, the house smells amazing and the flavors have really incorporated. <br/><br/>I add more chianti and let it cook off a bit while I prepare pasta and a salad. The flavors after simmering for about 10 hours in a crock pot are absolutely to die for!!! I serve it for company now and they ask for the recipe every time and despite the large amount of sauce this makes, there are rarely leftovers. OMG, SO AMAZING!!!!

 

[quikgourmet]

WOW -- just fabulous!! I'm Italian and on the eternal quest for the perfect sauce. This just might be it -- loved it! The recipe made more meatballs/ sausage than we could eat (have one vegetarian in the family) so I packed up half for the next time I make the sauce -- love having THAT in the freezer!! Took the easy way out on the meatballs and may try it next time on the sausage as well: coated a shallow roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray, placed the meatballs so not touching, covered the bottom of the pan with beef broth, and baked 25 minutes. No turning or frying and came out great! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe, Boca Pat!

 

[Merlot]

I am so glad you decided to post this, Boca Pat. I served it over rigatoni and it is absolutuely fabulous! We have a wonderful little Italian Grocery store where I bought the sausage (I mixed with both hot and mild). The Chianti in the sauce makes all the difference in the world and it goes beautifully with the meatballs and sausage. A great full bodied sauce. My husband commanded that I only make this sauce from now on. This certainly is a winner.