I love spaghetti and meatballs, and I am always in search of a great recipe. This one was created by my friend Dewey and posted through Facebook. It is a fantastic recipe! I asked him if I could share it here, and he said yes. So here you go...Daniel Dewey Schott's My Meatballs and Sauce. Enjoy!
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Ingredients (this makes a pretty big pot- you can half it)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground veal
1/2 lb. ground pork
(my mom always used 100% beef, which I may go back to. not so sure that the pork and veal are necessary)
1 med yellow onion
2 eggs
2 slices of bread, crusts removed, soaked in milk or cream
1/2 c. Romano cheese (or Parm but my mom always used romano- just make sure it's super tasty either way- there are some bland "parmeseans" out there)
1/3 bunch of flat-leaf parsely
7 cloves of garlic
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper (if you want to be more Italian, add red pepper flakes but I don't know how much)
2- 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes (I like to use Muir Glen Fire Roasted. Some people swear by San Marzano but I think they are too sweet)
1- 28oz. can tomato puree
(you can really experiment with your own combinations of three cans of either crushed, pureed, or diced tomatoes)
1-2 Tbs tomato paste
Directions
Empty the crushed and pureed tomatoes into a pot and add one can of water. bring to a boil. When it boils put it on low.
Soak the bread with some milk or cream until very soft. Put meats into a medium mixing bowl. Mince onion. Put half in the sauce and half in the mixing bowl with the meat. Mince garlic and put half in the sauce and half in the bowl. Chop the parsley until very, very fine and add to the bowl. Add cheese, salt, pepper to bowl. Whisk eggs lightly and add to bowl. Squeeze the liquid out of the bread and add to the bowl.
Heat a black cast iron skillet on HIGH and add olive oil until there's about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch in pan.
Mix the meat mixture with your hands until incorporated. Form into balls a little bit bigger than golf balls (about 2 inches) and line up on a baking sheet. When oil is smoking, add as many meatballs as you can without crowding- for me that is about 7. I always swirl the meataball around in the oil and little before I leave it in one spot. Brown deeply on each side, I'm never sure how long it takes to develop the crust but you want to err on the side too much but not burnt. When all sides are brown, add to sauce and add more meatballs to the oil and repeat until they are all in the sauce.
Cook the meatballs and sauce until the sauce reaches a consistency that is right for you. It probaby should be at least an hour. Add the tomato paste toward the end of cooking, after tasting. Some people also put sugar in their sauce if it tastes too acidic, but if you use Muir Glen or San Marzano that probably isn't needed.
Serve with pasta!
