Italian Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs

SUBMITTED BY: Jeremy PHOTO BY: Allrecipes

"This is a recipe I got from my mother years ago -- it's great."

PREP TIME	20 Min
COOK TIME	2 Hrs
READY IN	2 Hrs 20 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 6 servings

USMETRIC

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INGREDIENTS

MEATBALLS
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg, beaten
SAUCE
3/4 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 bay leaf
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

READ REVIEWS (508)

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder and beaten egg. Mix well and form into 12 balls. Store, covered, in refrigerator until needed.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent. Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 90 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, basil, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more. Serve.

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REVIEWS

MORE MEMBER REVIEWS

Reviewed on Mar. 27, 2007 by Newlywedws

Five star rating is based on the following changes. Instead of using all ground beef, I opted to use a combination of ground pork and ground beef (12 oz ground beef, 4 oz ground pork) -instead of plain bread crumbs, I used pre-seasoned breadcrumbs, I increased the parmesan cheese to 4 oz. With the sauce, instead of using 2 (28 oz) cans of whole tomatoes, I used 1 (28 oz can) of whole tomatoes, and then two smaller cans (14 oz) of crushed tomatoes. After simmering the sauce, I ran half of it through the blender to make it smoother. I also added a small can of tomato sauce in addition to the tomato paste, plus for added flavour I added 1 tsp italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp basil, and 1 tsp garlic powder. YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!

18 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on May 8, 2004 by Navy_Mommy

I was leary of making this without first pre-cooking the meatballs, but this is by far the best spaghetti and meatballs I have ever made. The meatballs ended up a nice brown color, they were not over cooked and I think putting them in before browning allowed some of the meat flavor to seep into the sauce. I great recipe.

17 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Oct. 30, 2006 by MUSIC_MINX

For Celeste, who found the meatballs too dry, may I suggest adding 1/2 cup of water, or milk, or tomato sauce to the meatballs? The eggs will bind them, but not make them moister - adding liquid makes them exquisitely tender and juicy. Also, if you want a lighter meatball, substitute oatmeal for the breadcrumbs - measure it first, then run it briefly in the blender so you won't have any big bits in the meatballs. I added 1.5 tsp oregano and 3 tsp basil; added 1 tsp seasoned salt, 1 medium green pepper. I was very, very happy with the sauce. Put it into a 250 degree oven while I cooked other stuff, for about 2 hours,it was wonderful. :D

16 users found this review helpful

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