Friday, February 25, 2011

Homemade Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs!

Here we are; another cold day. (I am soo ready for Spring!)  Cold days = hot meals.  I had some ground beef  I wanted to use, so thought I would make spaghetti and meatballs for supper.  I do make quite a bit of spaghetti (in a multitude of variations).  It's a great, hearty meal and it's pretty quick.  As we know, there are only about a bazillion ways to make spaghetti, but I reserve spaghetti and meatballs for when I want to make the meal just a little more special.  Now, I also know that there are as many ways to make meatballs are there are to make spaghetti sauce, but I really like this recipe which comes from my grandmother.

Spaghetti and Meatballs 

 Sauce

3/4 c. diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T. oil
2 (1 lb/16 oz.) cans of crushed tomatoes
2 (6 oz.) can of tomato paste
1 c. water
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 T. oregano

Meatballs

4 slices dry bread
1 lb. ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 c. grated Romano cheese
2 T. chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 T. oregano
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
2 T. oil

For Sauce:  Cook onion and garlic in hot oil until tender, but not brown.  Add next 8 ingredients.  Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.  Remove bay leaf.  Add meat balls and continue cooking for about 30 minutes.

For Meatballs: Soak bread in water until wet, then squeeze out moisture.  Combine with remaining ingredients (except oil) in large bowl and mix well. (It is easiest and most efficient to do this with your hand.) Form into balls of desirable size.  Brown in hot oil; drain on a paper towel, then place into sauce.  Cook in sauce for the final 30 minutes of cooking time.

Serve over hot spaghetti and top with Parmesan cheese if desired.

As it is just two of us, I made 1/2 this recipe and there was still some left over! Also, if you don't want to take the time to make your own sauce,  you could always substitute with a good, store-bought one.


6 comments:

  1. We had spaghetti last night... Bertolli sauce though. I was telling Bob that one day I was going to make my own sauce. Now I have a good recipe!

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  2. Bertolli is my favorite store-bought (and I don't usually make my own sauce...) but I picked up a jar of Ragu sometime back and actually like it also. This is a good recipe, and as always, you can add to it if you want. (I hardly EVER strictly follow a recipe; it's just not in me... haha!)

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  3. I am going to make this on Monday for pasta night I love spaghetti and meatballs but have not found a recipe that my family like and yours looks good. thanks for the recipe.

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  4. just made your Spaghetti and meatballs, and they were wonderful, I will be taking the left overs into My Hubbys work tomorrow for him and his 2nd in charge.

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  5. Sheena, thanks!!!! It took a lot of work, as I kept losing a bunch of stuff and I still hardly know what I'm doing on here..haha! Chantal: I'm really glad you and your family liked it! I love sharing good recipes!

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