Spaghetti Sauce with meatballs and sausage
2 cans Contadina tomato paste (15 oz)
2 large ripe tomatoes
2 cans tomato puree
1 package sweet Italian sausage (I have found, though, that some boys like hot sausage)
1 LB hamburger (use peppers, and mushrooms for vegs)
bread crumbs
1 egg
garlic cloves
onion
spices
Mix egg, breadcrumbs, hamburger and spices (and salt and pepper) in large bowl. Form into meatballs, about the size of a golf ball.
Sauté garlic and onions in the bottom of a pan with some olive oil. Add meatballs, cook until almost done. Throw in sausage.
In another pot, mix tomato products with a few cans of water (watch liquid level, it can get pasty) with some oregano, thyme and garlic.
When meatballs are done (they will burn the bottom of your pan a little, but you want this,) transport to sauce. Use some of the brown stuff in the meatball pan in the sauce. Cook all day, adding water (or wine) if it is too dry and pasty.
Let cool, scrape off any fat that gathers on top. If too acidy, add a tablespoon of sugar or honey, or a carrot when you heat it up next.
Don’t eat the carrot. Throw it out; it is full of acid.
Author Notes: I have switched up this recipe to make it less acidic. 2 jars of roasted red peppers (the larger jars, not those tiny 1/2 pt jars–I get mine at Trader Joe’s) half a jar of Spanish olives, and half a yellow onion into the blender—and take out half the tomato product. Add in a cup of red wine. Don’t worry—the alcohol cooks off.
I also bake meatballs in the oven, 350˚ for about 15 minutes or so–they don’t have to be cooked all the way through because they’ll cook in the sauce too. I make my meatballs now with a few big tablespoons of shredded hard cheese–parmesan or whatever Italian cheese I have in the house, plus a few tablespoons of milk–makes the meatballs just so tender. Don’t overwork the meat once you add the eggs, just mix up “enough.”
ALSO: I also use chicken sausage now, instead of pork sausage–there are so many nice sausages out there in the world, no reason not to try them.