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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Cooking with Banshee: Meatballs and Sauce

I like to cook, but I don't consider myself a chef.  Most of what I do in the kitchen comes directly out of a cookbook.  So, it's rare that I post a recipe on here that I can honestly claim as being "mine."  Of course, I didn't invent the concept of spaghetti and meatballs.  But, I have made enough of my own additions and changes to the original recipe that I consider this to be my own recipe.  So, I present to you: Wild Banshee's Meatballs and Sauce.


Serves:  A lot.  Makes about 24 medium sized meatballs.


Meatball Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs
1 cup finely grated Romano cheese
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbs fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup olive oil




Meatball Directions:
Combine all ingredients besides the olive oil in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Form about 24 meatballs and place them on a platter.  The meatballs should be about the size of a golf ball.  Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet.  Brown the meatballs on all sides.  Don't crowd them in the pan.  It will take a few batches of frying.  Place the browned meatballs on a platter.  Set aside the pan with remaining oil and drippings.



Sauce Ingredients:
2 large onions, chopped
4 oz white mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
6 oz can of tomato paste
6 oz red zinfandel wine
28 oz can of petite diced tomatoes
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 cups of water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 Tbs fresh chopped parsley

Sauce Directions:
Heat the oil in the pan that was used to brown the meatballs.  Add the onions, mushrooms and garlic.  Sauté over medium heat for approximately 3 minutes or until the onions start to soften.  Add tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the red zinfandel to the pan and continue to cook for another minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large stock pot, combine the cans of diced and crushed tomatoes.  Bring up to a boil then cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add the water and the tomato paste mixture from the skillet.  Add the salt, pepper and parsley.  Mix thoroughly.  Add the meatballs.  Gently mix.  Make sure all the meatballs are down in the sauce but be careful not to break them up.  Bring back up to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.  Cover and simmer for 2.5 hours.  Stir every 20 minutes.

Serving Instructions:
The traditional way to serve this meal is over al dente spaghetti.  It also makes wonderful meatball hoagies.  Place meatballs into a sub roll.  Top with mozzarella and provolone cheese.  Melt cheese under a broiler.

Enjoy!

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1 comment :

  1. Looks amazing. I wish I could use eggs in our meatballs (but can't for allergy purposes.) And the sauce sounds amazing!

    ReplyDelete