[ my almost famous spaghetti and meatballs ]

HAPPY MONDAY everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! I ended up doing everything I had planned ~ I'm about 1/2 way through my book Girls in White Dresses and I'm loving it so far {she's got a great sense of humour}, we saw Avengers {which my guy wanted to see}, then we saw Five Year Engagement {which I wanted to see} and I whipped up a batch of my spaghetti & meatballs.

I realized that it's been a while since I shared a recipe so here's my delicious sauce and meatball recipe. You'll seriously never want to buy jar sauce again ~ this is so easy, makes a lot, and you can just freeze portions into ziploc bags for later. Why buy jars of sauce? It's delicious even without the meatballs!

lisa's almost famous spaghetti & meatballs

what you need for sauce:

3/4 cup finely chopped onion (or about 1/8 cup of dried minced onion)

3 cloves minced garlic (I use the kind in a jar)

1/4 cup olive oil

6 oz can tomato paste

2~ 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes (or 3~500g cartons of crushed tomatoes)

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp sugar

1 3/4 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup red wine (I buy the tiny bottles and freeze the half leftover for next time)

1/4 cup water

how to:

In a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent. Add in tomato paste and swirl it around a bit (this removes the uncooked taste of it). Stir in tomatoes and all the other ingredients. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. 

While the sauce is simmering, make the meatballs...

what you need for meatballs:

1 lb lean ground beef

1 cup fresh bread crumbs (I keep a bag in the freezer and take from there)

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp italian seasoning

1/4 tsp salt

sprinkle of dried minced onion or onion soup mix

1/4 cup milk

how to:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix together well with wooden spoon. Form into balls (I like mine about the size of large truffle chocolates and usually get 26-30 meatballs). Put bowl of balls into fridge while sauce is simmering.

Once the sauce has simmered for an hour, simply drop the meatballs into the sauce (I know! No pre-cooking the meatballs required! This gives them a nice, soft texture. If you prefer a chewier meatball, you can fry or bake them before adding to the sauce). Cover and continue simmering for about 50 min more and meatballs will be fully cooked. Serve over pasta. Yum!

I've received a ton of compliments on this simple recipe and I guarantee that it will become your new go-to spaghetti and meatballs recipe! Mangia!

lisa