Still steaming from their one hour marinara bath!
Last Sunday we had a group of friends over for a big Italian dinner. This was my first ever attempt at making homemade meatballs and sauce and man were they good!
I am lucky enough to have married into an Italian family so I combined the family recipe with a few added twists. While it was labor intensive (frying 4 lbs of meatballs takes longer than you think) it was totally worth it to make everything from scratch. Our friends also brought lots of delicious sides on the menu below. I’ve included the marinara and meatball recipes below.
On the menu…
Tuscan white bean dip with rosemary, roasted garlic and lemon
Toasted bruschetta
Caesar salad with homemade dressing
Garlic bread
Spaghetti with homemade marinara, beef and pork fried meatballs
Approximately 12 bottles of wine!
Oversized cupcakes for dessert… not exactly Italian but still delicious
My handy assistant chef
Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 cups stale Italian bread, crumbled
1 cup of warm water
1 cup olive oil for frying
Step one
Combine beef and pork in a large bowl with the garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.
Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture. Slowly add about 3/4 to 1 cup of water to the mixture. The mixture should be moist but still hold its shape when rolled into meatballs. Shape into meatballs.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Fry meatballs in batches until brown and crispy. (If your mixture is too wet, cover the meatballs while they are cooking so that they hold their shape better.)
Place cooked meatballs into Marinara Sauce and cook for 15 more minutes.
Marinara Sauce (Modified from my brother-in-law’s recipe)
1 (28 ounce) can of whole tomatoes chopped and drained
2 (15 ounce) cans of pureed tomatoes.
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 onion chopped and sauté them in the olive oil also (until translucent)
3 tablespoons of freshly chopped basil
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped thyme
Saute garlic and onions with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, basil, and thyme
Let the sauce simmer on a medium to low heat (there should be a little bubbling going on- keep eyeing it!) Keep tasting the sauce to see if you need to add more salt and pepper throughout the time the sauce is cooking. The flavor and thickness will develop overtime. Don’t forget to stir it periodically.
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