HOMEMADE ITALIAN SPAGHETTI SAUCE AND MEATBALLS

Steps:

• 1. This makes a lot of sauce, so you will need a very large soup pot with a good weight to it.
• 2. Cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil (you want just enough to barely cover the bottom of the pan) begin to warm the oil gently.
• 3. Place peeled garlic cloves in oil, on low heat cook cloves until just starting to lightly blister. Do not let the garlic brown or burn. Remove garlic.
• 4. Add tomato paste, one can at a time, thoroughly incorporating the olive oil into the tomato paste each time. I find this is easier to do with a wire whisk.
• 5. Add tomato puree mixing thoroughly. Add tomato sauce and mix well.
• 6. At this point, some water can be added, as the sauce will be cooking for at least 6 hours and will thicken as it cooks. I wouldn't add more than 2 of the paste cans full of water. Mix well.
• 7. Add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, bay leaves, and salt. Additional cloves of garlic can be added. depends on how garlicky you want the sauce.
• 8. Cover pan with lid cocked and simmer on low for at least 6 hours. Stirring occasionally, to keep the sauce from sticking to the bottom. While the sauce is getting hot, mix together the meatballs, see below.
• 9. My mother used veal in her meatballs. The price of veal is so expensive I have started using ground sirloin and ground chuck. The rule of thumb here is to use 2 parts lean veal or sirloin to 1 part ground chuck.
• 10. Mix together, ground sirloin (or veal), ground chuck, finely diced onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, ground black pepper, parsley, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and eggs.
• 11. Using a spoon (I like to use my large cookie scoop), take a good amount of meat mixture and roll in the palm of your hand, forming a ball. The meatballs should hold together and be about the size of a golfball. I like to get a plateful of meatballs made then drop them into the hot sauce. Then go back and make another plateful to be dropped in the sauce. Repeat until all meatballs have been added to the sauce. Gently, so as not to break up meatballs, push and stir the sauce to get the meatballs down into the sauce.
• 12. Cover with lid cocked, so steam can escape and thicken the sauce. Simmer on low on the stovetop. After about 1/2 hour check the meatballs and stir carefully, making sure the meatballs do not stick. The sauce and meatballs should cook for at least 6 hours or longer if you like. About 1 hr before serving add a pinch of sugar and stir well, being careful not to break up the meatballs. Add the Parmesan cheese. Mom never stirred the cheese into the sauce, she just let it melt into the sauce. Be careful after adding the sugar and cheese, as they could cause the sauce to stick on the bottom. Remove bay leaves before serving.
• 13. Serve sauce and meatballs over hot cooked pasta and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top.